BRAND-NEW!
Health Equity or Cultural Competence Continuing Education Credits (CEs)
Lunch & Learn: ADHD’s Hidden Risk: Toxic Relationships and Clinical Interventions
Presented by: Kate Mageau, MA, LMHC
When: Monday, July 27th, 2026 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM, Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours (NBCC and NASW-WA Approved CEs): 1.5 Health Equity or Cultural Competence CEs | $25.00
Continuing Education Workshop Description
Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects nearly one in three people worldwide, and it is frequently overlooked in neurodivergent populations. Adults with ADHD are 2.5 times more likely to experience IPV, yet the specific neurological and psychological mechanisms behind this elevated risk are rarely addressed in clinical training. Equipping clinicians to recognize the signs of IPV in this population is a matter of client safety.
This continuing education workshop provides a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for understanding why ADHD brains are neurologically and psychologically vulnerable to toxic relationship dynamics. Clinicians will explore the specific ADHD traits that create relational vulnerability, the neuroscience of why clients stay, and evidence-based treatment approaches particularly well-suited to the ADHD-IPV intersection, including ACT, narrative therapy, and feminist-informed psychoeducation. Attendees will leave equipped to recognize relationship vulnerability patterns, understand the neurological barriers to leaving, and support ADHD clients who are at risk of being in a toxic or abusive relationship.
Presenter’s emphasis on culture and intersectionality: This continuing education workshop centers intersectionality as a core clinical framework. Prevalence data on BIPOC populations are woven throughout, including racial disparities in ADHD diagnosis.
White individuals are 26% more likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis than Black individuals, meaning BIPOC ADHDers are disproportionately undiagnosed and unsupported. Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Hispanic and Latina women all experience disproportionately high rates of IPV, compounded by medical mistrust, systemic barriers, and discrimination when seeking help.
LGBTQ+ populations are addressed explicitly, including elevated ADHD prevalence in transgender adults, IPV rates of 61% in bisexual women and 54% in transgender and non-binary people, the 44% of LGBTQ+ survivors denied shelter services, and how abusers may weaponize homophobia and transphobia, including threats of outing as tools of control.
This workshop uses gender-neutral language throughout, including gender-neutral pronouns, reflecting the reality that ADHD and intimate partner violence affect people of all genders and that clinicians serve clients across the full spectrum of gender identity. Clinical examples and research cited throughout reflect diverse gender identities, sexual orientations, and racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Continuing Education Workshop Objectives:
- Discuss the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms by which ADHD increases vulnerability to intimate partner violence.
- Apply this framework to recognize relationship vulnerability patterns in ADHD clients.