About me

The training I've done, the way I actually work in session, and the reasons ADHD is the thing I chose to build a practice around.

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Portrait of Saif Walajahi, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) and founder of helloadhd

A note from Saif

Why ADHD

I grew up with undiagnosed ADHD and was diagnosed as an adult, after years of working hard and still falling short of what I knew I was capable of
It made sense of a long stretch of my own history, and it changed how I sit with people who've spent years being told to try harder
I know what it's like to pick up a system that works for everyone else and watch it slide straight off
The diagnosis came before my therapist training. Once I was practising, I kept meeting people who'd sat through years of therapy that was never really built for an ADHD brain
I built my practice around that gap: we start from how your attention, memory and motivation actually operate

Saif Walajahi Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

How I got here

The long way to helloadhd

From an undiagnosed kid to a clinician who couldn't ignore what he was seeing, here's the path that led to building this.

The early years

Growing up “scattered”

My parents used to say I was like a wind-up toy: set me down and I was off. Sitting still was the hardest thing anyone asked of me, and the feedback never changed, try harder, focus, stop forgetting. Undiagnosed ADHD looks a lot like character flaws when you're a kid, so I got good at masking and kept most of it to myself.

Before training

Getting diagnosed

I was diagnosed as an adult. It explained a lot, and it was the first time I had strategies that fit how I actually work rather than ones I had to force.

In practice

What I kept seeing

Once I was practising, I met a lot of people struggling with ADHD who weren't getting what they needed. Not for lack of good therapists, but because ADHD-specific training is rare, and fewer clinicians still have lived it themselves. I had both, and it was obvious how much difference that made in the room.

Today

The practice I run now

So this is what I built: a practice devoted to ADHD, where people walk in already understood and don't have to justify how their brain works. We meet weekly, and the work goes wherever it needs to: the systems and follow-through some weeks, the emotions and relationships other weeks.

The standard

What sits behind the work

The training behind the work, in plain terms.

Registered

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

I hold a Master's degree in Counselling Psychology and I'm listed on the public register of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario.

ADHD training

ADHD-CCSP

ADHD Certified Clinical Services Provider (ADHD-CCSP), an intensive certification training through Evergreen Certifications. Covers ADHD across the lifespan, executive functioning, psychopharmacology, and ADHD at work, school and in relationships. Faculty included Russell Barkley, Edward Hallowell, Ari Tuckman, Sharon Saline and Stephanie Sarkis.

Modalities

CBT, ACT and DBT

Formal training in all three: cognitive behavioural therapy through the Beck Institute, acceptance and commitment therapy, and dialectical behaviour therapy. These are the approaches with the strongest research base for ADHD and what tends to come with it.

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