ADHD Service & Price
GP Referral
A GP referral is required for all undiagnosed & diagnosed ADHD assessments.
Please see your GP prior to contacting our clinic.
Your GP will send your referral directly to us.
Booking Approach
Text message confirmation within 3 days of the clinic receiving your GP referral.
Phone call and text contact to book your appointment within 7-10 days of receiving your GP referral
Appointment Location
Video appointments
RMC will be moving in to new premises in Belconnen in November.
Undiagnosed ADHD Diagnosis
$1500 with a Medicare rebate $255.90 = $1244.10
2 to 3 hour clinical assessment
30 mins consultation with Psychiatrist
Telehealth Review by Dr Lewis within 4 weeks
Already Diagnosed ADHD
Diagnosed ADHD by a neurologist or paediatrian or psychiatrist:
Reviews, changes or optimisation of current ADHD medication
Diagnosed ADHD by a Clinical Psychologist :
Commencement on ADHD medication
Price :
60 minute appointment $750 with a Medicare rebate of $192= $558
90 minute appointment $900 with a Medicare rebate of $192= $708
Undiagnosed ADHD
Part 1 : ADHD Clinical Assessment
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Part 1 : ADHD Clinical Assessment
1. Clinical Assessment
2 to 3 hours with either our GP Mental Health Specialist, Psychiatric Nurse or Social Work Practitioner
2. Psychiatric Consultation & Diagnosis
30 mins with Psychiatrist
3. Medication Support
check-in call from Dr Lewis
email helpdesk
phone review
clinical support to help with finding the correct dose Details
RMC practices a Neurodiverse Affirming assessment.
We allow 3 hours for this aspect, typically the average duration is about 2.5 hours.
This aspect is a relaxed and yet structured approach which allows clients the freedom to
engage in a conversation style assessment.
Our team are very aware that individuals with neurodiverse presentations may benefit from
movement and a comfort break from the assessment for a brief period.
For video consultations we encourage our Clients to be in a physical space where they feel safe and at peace.
The ADHD clinical assessment explores :
1. Executive Functioning
This investigation explores symptoms across Self Organisation, Self Restraint,
Self Motivation, Self Regulation of Emotions, & Self Management to Time.
Executive Functioning challenges encompasses:
Difficulty with focused and sustained attention
Hyperfocusing , Distractability, Procrastination,
Verbal & cognitive impulsivity, Behavioural Impulsivity,
Difficulties with emotional regulation & Rejection sensitivity,
Planning & prioritisation, Time Blindness
Working Memory, Inner Restlessness, Insomnia & Sleep hygiene
The clinical assessment uses :
Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS)
Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS)
Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ)
2. Clinical Interview
This activity is conducted using the :
DIVA-5, The Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in adults
The Adult ADHD self-report Scale (ASRS)
Insomnia Severity Scale
3. Functional Impairment
Functional impairment is central to ADHD and consequences and difficulty functioning in certain areas of daily life are for the most part what triggers the request for an ADHD assessment.
This activity is explored using :
The WEISS Functional Impairment Rating Scale .
Impairment typically occurs across Family, Work, Education, Life Skills, Self Esteem ,Relationships
4. Mental Health Disorders
The symptoms of ADHD are common in other mental health disorders.
An evaluation will consider whether the symptoms belong to ADHD,
another mental health condition, another physical health condition,
or if they represent more than one disorder.
ADHD can be present with other mental health disorders.
The clinical assessment uses the:
SCID-5, The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5.
Screening for Trauma, Autism, Bipolar Mood Disorder,
Borderline Personality Disorder, Anxiety & Depression.
A referral to a Clinical Psychologist may be required if the
Clinical team identify a possible Intellectual Disability.
Our diagnostic approach does not include the use of neuropsychological tests.
Further information
Approach to the assessment
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Part 1 : ADHD Clinical Assessment
Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience significant challenges in self-management, including organisation, planning, initiating and completing tasks in a timely manner, shifting between activities, self-monitoring, and inhibiting responses.
These skills are collectively described as executive functions (EFs), which can be viewed as “those self-directed actions needed to choose goals and to create, enact, and sustain actions toward those goals” (Barkley, 2012).
When executive functions are impaired, individuals typically struggle with reduced productivity, inefficiency, missed deadlines, poor planning, disorganisation, “careless” errors, and frequent loss or forgetting of items. For some—particularly those with the combined presentation of ADHD—reduced inhibitory control can also manifest as emotional dysregulation and inappropriate verbal or physical behaviour in interpersonal contexts.
Over the lifespan, these difficulties contribute to repeated failures to achieve goals personally, academically, and occupationally. Such persistent struggles often increase the risk of secondary anxiety and depression, which are highly prevalent in adults with ADHD.
Clinical Framing: Executive Functioning Deficit Disorder
Our diagnostic clinical assessment is undertaken through a semi-structured clinical interview, which explores ADHD symptoms as manifestation of executive functioning deficits. ADHD is understood as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by executive dysfunction, impairing the brain’s ability to select, monitor, and regulate behaviour in pursuit of goals.
Executive dysfunction affects:
- Task management and planning
- Time awareness and scheduling (time blindness)
- Goal setting and persistence
- Concentration and resistance to distraction
- Working memory, organisation, and self-monitoring
- Self-inhibition and attentional shifting
From this perspective, ADHD is best conceptualised as a disorder of self-regulation rooted in EF impairment.
Misleading Terminology
The term “Attention Deficit” is misleading, as it obscures the broader self-regulatory impairments that characterise ADHD. Similarly, “Hyperactivity”—while valid in describing childhood behaviour—does not capture the adult presentation. Adults are not “hyperactive” in the same way as an 8-year-old boy; instead, impulsivity better reflects the adult clinical profile. Impulsivity has clear potential for negative consequences in decision-making, relationships, and occupational functioning.
Gender Bias and Diagnostic Inadequacy
Current diagnostic criteria and terminology are insufficient and discriminatory when applied to women and adolescent girls. Symptoms in these groups often manifest less in disruptive behaviour and more in internalised difficulties such as disorganisation, emotional dysregulation, rejection sensitivity, and cognitive/verbal impulsivity. These differences have contributed to widespread under-recognition and late diagnosis in women.
A more accurate diagnostic approach reframes ADHD as a broader Executive Functioning Self-Regulation Deficit Disorder, particularly in women, encompassing:
- Emotional dysregulation and rejection sensitivity
- Cognitive, verbal, and behavioural impulsivity
- Persistent executive functioning challenges across domains
Part 2: ADHD Psychiatric Consultation
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Psychiatrists are specialists in diagnosing, and treating the range of adult mental health and psychiatric disorders. See ADHD diagnostic frameworks.
The Psychiatrist confirms the diagnosis of ADHD.
Psychiatrists are trained in understanding how medication works on the brain and body and any interactions or potential complications between different medications.
Dr Lewis will collaboratively discuss ADHD medication:
- How it works.
- Long & short acting.
- Benefits & effectiveness.
- Explore the results of your ECG, urine drug screen and blood pressure test results.
- Review your Blood Test results to exclude any possible medical conditions that may be leading to difficulty with attention and short term memory.
- Review all medications you are prescribed with the aim of assessing if there are potential side-effects.
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Part 3: Medication Clinical Support & Guidance
Explanation of ADHD medication
Clinical trials highlighting effectiveness and safety
Studies on Safety of Vyvanse medication:
How ADHD medication works: click here for more details
Finding the correct dose
With stimulant medication is fundamental to gaining benefits of longer attention, less distractibility, greater focused attention, less difficulty with starting and finishing activities that are boring, long, tedious, repetitive, difficult, needing a lot of thought or preparation or do not offer an immediate reward.
The optimal dose
For ADHD medication is not determined by height or weight, but is determined by how efficiently the medication is metabolised in the GI tract, how efficiently the medication is metabolised and how efficiently the medication passes across the blood brain barrier.
The correct dose is specific to each person and one person may require a much higher dose to obtain the same benefits as another individual. Some people may experience mild physical side- effects, and so an approach of gradually testing out a gradually increased dose, incrementally, is required.
Dr Lewis has created a comprehensive Improvements & Side Effects Diary to help monitor your progress and decide on the most suitable dose of ADHD medication.
The easy to read diary includes explanations and answers to any common occurring side effects which sometimes present while a person in adapting to the medication at different doses.
Our approach follows an established approach of diluting medication in water, and by using a plastic syringe, gradually increasing the amount of the solution every three days.
Blood Test, ECG & Urine Drug Test
Blood Test, ECG & Urine Drug Test
A pathology visit is required where a brief ECG test on your heart and Urine Drug test and
Blood Test will take place.
Click here for more detail Blood Pressure reading Obtained from any pharmacy
Blood Test
At the pathology clinic the nurse will undertake a full blood test which explores a number of different medical conditions and presentations.
This is important to rule out any possible medical causes of long-term challenges with attention, concentration, energy, and motivation.
Your GP may have undertaken this blood test at the time of your appointment with them when you first discussed the possibility of ADHD.
If the blood test has not been undertaken by your GP then our clinic will send you a script which will include the ECG and urine drug test.
Detail on a Full Blood Test can be found here at Health Direct Gov AU
ECG and Urine Drug Test
Emailed to you
Please print this form out & take to either:
Laverty Pathology
Capital Capital
Both have multiple clinics
Results sent directly to our clinic
ECG
This is a brief test that which monitors your heart.
This is required as ADHD can cause an increase in heart rate.
Further details found here
Urine drug test
This is to ensure that any prescribed ADHD medication does not
interact with any possible substances an individual is using.
Blood Pressure Reading
Any pharmacy offers a reading. It takes a few minutes and does not require an appointment.
Please take a picture on your smart device and email this directly to the clinic
Blood Pressure readings explanations
Functional Impairment in ADHD
Functional impairment in adult ADHD frequently impacts an individual’s overall quality of life. A thorough clinical assessment therefore explores the different areas where these impairments may emerge.
At RMC, our diagnostic approach includes the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale – Self Report (WFIRS-S).
This scale captures the individual’s perspective on their own functioning across seven domains:
- Family (8 items)
- Work (11 items)
- School (10 items)
- Life Skills (12 items)
- Self-Concept (5 items)
- Social (9 items)
- Risk (14 items)
A functional impairment occurs when an individual’s available resources are insufficient to meet the demands of their environment. These resources include:
- Internal resources – e.g., the ability to concentrate, remember, and inhibit impulses
- External resources – e.g., support from family, teachers, or colleagues
As people age, environmental demands (academic, occupational, financial, and social) typically increase in number, scope, and complexity. When resources fall short, impairments emerge.
Because each person’s profile of internal and external resources is unique, the timing of impairment onset varies. Some individuals may show impairments early in childhood, while others may not experience significant functional difficulties until later in adolescence or adulthood.
At RMC, we place strong emphasis on exploring your lived experience of impairment: how it has shown up in your daily life, and when it first emerged for you. For some, this may become apparent only in adulthood—especially as independence and responsibility increase.
Co-occurring Disorders
More than two-thirds of individuals with ADHD have at least one other coexisting condition. The symptoms of ADHD—constant motion and fidgetiness, interrupting and blurting out, difficulty sitting still and need for constant reminders, etc.—may overshadow these other disorders.
But just as untreated ADHD can present challenges in everyday life, other disorders can also cause unnecessary suffering in individuals with ADHD and their families if left untreated. Any disorder can coexist with ADHD, but certain disorders tend to occur more commonly with ADHD. ADHD may coexist with one or more
Disruptive behaviour disorders
40 percent of individuals with ADHD have
oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). ODD involves a pattern of arguing; losing one’s temper; refusing to follow rules; blaming others; deliberately annoying others; and being
angry, resentful, spiteful and vindictive.
Among individuals with ADHD, conduct disorder (CD) may also be present, occurring in 27 percent of children, 45–50 percent of adolescents and 20–25 percent of adults with ADHD. Children with conduct disorder may be aggressive to people or animals, destroy property, lie or steal things from others, run away, skip school or break curfews. Adults with CD often exhibit behaviors that get them into trouble with the law.
Learning disorders
Up to 50 percent of children with ADHD have a coexisting learning disorder, whereas 5 percent of children without ADHD have learning disorders. Learning disorders can cause problems with how individuals acquire or use new information such as reading or calculating. The most common learning disorders are dyslexia and dyscalculia. In addition, 12 percent of children with ADHD have speech problems, compared with 3 percent without ADHD.
Sleep disorders
One-quarter to one-half of parents of children with ADHD report that their children suffer from a sleep problem, especially difficulties with falling asleep and staying asleep. Sleep problems can be a symptom of ADHD, may be made worse by ADHD or may make the symptoms of ADHD worse.
Anxiety
Up to 30 percent of children and up to 53 percent of adults with ADHD may also have an anxiety disorder. Patients with anxiety disorders often worry excessively about a number of things (school, work, etc.) and may feel edgy, stressed out, tired and tense and have trouble getting restful sleep.
Mood disorders
Bipolar and ADHD treatment for combined presentations
In adults, approximately 38 percent of ADHD patients have a co-occurring mood disorder. Mood disorders are characterized by extreme changes in mood. Children with mood disorders may seem to be in a bad mood often. They may cry daily or be frequently irritable with others for no apparent reason. Mood disorders include depression, mania and bipolar disorder.
Approximately 14 percent of children with ADHD also have depression, whereas only 1 percent of children without ADHD have depression. In adults with ADHD, approximately 47 percent also have depression. Typically, ADHD occurs first and depression occurs later. Both environmental and genetic factors may contribute.
Up to 20 percent of individuals with ADHD may show symptoms of bipolar disorder, a severe condition involving periods of mania, abnormally elevated mood and energy, contrasted by episodes of clinical depression. If left untreated, bipolar disorder can damage relationships and lead to job loss, school problems and even suicide.
Executive Functioning
Cluster 1. Activation
Organising, prioritising, and getting started on tasks
- Trouble organising tasks and materials
- Chronic procrastination, waiting until urgency/punishment to start
- Difficulty following instructions and keeping track of tasks
- Daydreaming or rushing through work
Cluster 2. Focus
Focusing, sustaining, and shifting attention
- Difficulty sustaining focus, especially for boring tasks
- Easily distracted by external or internal stimuli
- Trouble shifting between tasks when required
- Reading comprehension issues (re-reading to retain meaning)
Cluster 3. Effort
Regulating alertness, sustaining effort, and processing speed
- Good at short bursts, but struggle with long-term sustained effort
- Slower processing and reaction time
- Difficulty completing tasks consistently or on time
- Sleep regulation problems: staying up late, difficulty waking, daytime drowsiness
- Trouble persisting when tasks get harder
Cluster 4. Emotion
Managing frustration and modulating emotions
- Not recognised in DSM-5, but very common in ADHD
- Emotional reactions feel overwhelming and hijack attention
- Struggles with frustration, anger, disappointment, worry
- High sensitivity to criticism, irritability, unhappiness
Cluster 5. Memory
Using working memory and accessing recall
- Forgetfulness in daily routines (losing items, forgetting instructions)
- Hard to hold multiple things in mind while working
- Good recall for distant memories, poor short-term recall
- Struggles retrieving learned information when needed
Cluster 6. Action
Monitoring and self-regulating behaviour
- Impulsivity in speech, actions, and thoughts
- Poor context monitoring (noticing social cues)
- Trouble adjusting behaviour in real time
- Restlessness, interrupting, careless mistakes, disruptiveness
- Difficulty regulating pace (too fast/too slow)
Resources on ADHD
Resources on ADHD
Resources on ADHD
Click here for resources on Women and ADHD
Causes of ADHD
By Dr Russell Barkley Video
Why ADHD is so impairing
Dr Russell Barkley video
Introduction to ADHD
By Dr Tracy Marks YouTube
Dr Thomas Brown Video
Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Boys
Dr William Dobson
Executive Functioning
Dr Thomas Brown
Time Management & ADHD
Dr Ari Tuckman video
ADHD as a disorder of Self Regulation
by Dr Russell Barkley video
ADHD as a Motivation Deficit Disorder
by Dr Russell Barkley video
Inner Restlessness & ADHD
By Russell Barkley video
ADHD & Caffeine
By Dr Russell Barkley
Men with ADHD
Resources for managing disregulation, shame & anger
Executive Functioning
ADHD & Executive Functioning
By Dr Russell Barkley
Causes of ADHD
By Dr Russell Barkley
Why ADHD is so impairing
By Dr Russell Barkley
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria
Rejection Sensitivity & Borderline Personality Disorder & ADHD
Video By Dr Sanil Rege
An ADHD guide to Emotional Dysregulation &
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria
By Dr William Dodson
Rejection Sensitivity & Social Anxiety
By Dr Sharon Saline
Hyperfocusing
by Dr Russell Barkley
Perfectionism
By Dr Sharon Saline
Sleep
Sleep & ADHD
By Dr Russell Barkley
Diagnosed
Already Diagnosed ADHD :
Diagnosed ADHD by a neurologist or paediatrician or psychiatrist will cover
changes or optimisation of current ADHD medication.
Diagnosed ADHD by a Clinical Psychologist will cover
trialing and starting on ADHD medication.
Price
60 minute appointment $700 with a Medicare rebate of $192= $508
90 minute appointment $900 with a Medicare rebate of $192= $708
1. Clinical Assessment
60 mins or 90 mins with Medical Practitioner & Mental Health Specalist
2. Prescribing of ADHD Medication by Dr Lewis
Dr Lewis to prescribe or amend stimulant medication.
Detail. Read for detailed information on ADHD stimulant medication
Dr Res to prescribe all classes of psychiatric & physical health medication
3. Medication Support
email helpdesk
phone review
clinical support to help with finding the correct dose
review phone call from Dr Lewis or Dr Res
