After diagnosis
After a diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), you can access follow-up services. These include training and strategies to help self-manage and support life with ADHD.
Understanding ADHD Course
The course is delivered online over two 2 hour sessions. Session 3 can be opted in if your young person has a co-occurring diagnosis of Autism. Each family can have important caregivers take part. The child or young person with ADHD should not come to the sessions, but we will give families resources to use together.
There’s also a Nurse-led ADHD email helpline that you can use anytime once diagnosed. You can find the details on your young person’s clinic letters.
For diagnoses received or validated after 1st September 2026, session 1 and 2 of the course are mandatory.
The Understanding ADHD course is delivered online in two 2-hour sessions. Important people who help care for your child or young person can also take part.
Your child or young person with ADHD does not need to attend. We’ll give you resources that you can use together at home.
There is an optional third session if your child or young person also has an autism diagnosis.
If your child or young person’s ADHD diagnosis was made or ratified on or after 1 September 2026, you must attend sessions 1 and 2.
Once your child or young person has a diagnosis, you can also contact the nurse-led ADHD email helpline at any time. You’ll find the contact details on their clinic letters.
If medication needs to be considered as a support strategy
Medication is not needed for every child or young person and is a personal choice of the family. The reasons for considering medicines will vary from situation to situation and over time.
Medicines are not a cure for ADHD but may help someone with the condition concentrate better, be less impulsive, feel calmer, and learn and practise new skills. Some medicines need to be taken every day, but some can be taken just on school days.
After you have completed the Understanding ADHD course, you can ask for an appointment with a medical prescriber to discuss whether medication could help.
Appointment with medical prescriber
Before starting medication, the medical prescriber will carry out a heart health check.
If your child or young person starts medication, we’ll usually review how they are getting on after 2 to 4 weeks and again 4 weeks later. These appointments will be at the Community Families Hub in Taunton.
You’ll also have regular appointments with the Neurodevelopmental Nurse Specialist to review the medication. They will monitor things such as your child or young person’s height, weight, blood pressure and pulse. These appointments are available at:
- Robert Blake NHS Centre, Bridgwater
- Ballidon Centre, Yeovil
- Community Families Hub, Taunton
- Minehead Community Hospital, Minehead
- Bracken Centre, Chard
- Wellington Community Hospital, Wellington
Moving into adult services at 18 years old
Between the ages of 14 and 18 if you are on medication, you’ll meet with the ADHD nurse every 6 months for a check-in, or if not on ADHD medicines then as you request. We will go over a checklist about your understanding of ADHD , lifestyle issues, and self-care. If we need to talk more about something, we might refer you to other experts. We will send you copies of any letters we write, and you can come to the check-in without your parents if you want. You can also request an appointment to discuss transition or other related topics (this may include for example the impact of ADHD on learning to drive or exam accommodations)
At the last 6 monthly review before 18 with the ADHD Nurse specialist, the transitions checklist is completed. We will send a letter to your GP and also share it with the Community Mental Health Team for more details. If you are taking medication, you’ll need to see your GP for a medication review in 6 months.