Adult ADD Strengths

Good news to Adults with ADHD in the lower mainland. There is a clinic that focuses on adults with ADHD that recently opened up in the Vancouver area. It’s called the North Shore Adult ADHD Clinic. They’re  located within Continuum Medical Clinic at # 201 - 520 17th St, West Vancouver, BC. It’s a private run clinic, but some services are covered under MSP and some you have to pay for out of pocket. ADHD Diagnosis will be covered under MSP. It will be focused on adults with adhd who live in North Vancouver and West Vancouver but will be open to those who live in other cities as well.

Ex Bowen Island doctor Dr. Anthony Ocana who recently moved to the North Shore is the driving force behind it is the driving force behind it. He’s a family doctor, registered dietitian and physician psychotherapist. He has a BSc in Pharmacology / Toxicology and a MSc in Clinical Nutrition, and does public speaking and workshops on health and wellness. He’s also has focused on ADHD patients for quite some time and spoke to the Vancouver adult ADD Support Group a few years back and had good reviews from the participants.

He’s joined by Lawrence Sheppard MA, RCC, (Registered Clinical Counsellor) and life coach who spoke at CHADD Vancouver on parenting and ADHD who also runs an ADHD parent group with his wife Kathy Sheppard (who used to run the Vancouver ADHD parent program).

They also have a psychologist at the clinic Dr. Stephen Holliday, who among other things can do psycho ed assessments.

This is a much needed clinic. Especially since the BC government and Children’s hospital closed the waiting list for the BC Adult ADHD clinic at children’s hospital after it had a wait list of one year for an entire year.

I have heard far too many adults in the Vancouver area who think they might have ADHD complain they can’t find someone who know’s enough about ADHD to be able to diagnose it. While I do have a list of people known to diagnose and treat ADHD that I email out to those that ask, I know that many of those on the list have very lengthy waiting lists and sometimes even close their waiting lists.

Ideally I’d like one of the major hospitals to have an adult ADHD clinic, since VGH, St Pauls and UBC hospitals all have mood disorder clinics for depression anxiety and bipolar. But in BC and in Vancouver, adults with ADHD are 2nd class citizens that have been abandoned by the BC Liberal government and the health bureacracy.

So I’m glad that Dr. Ocana and the North Shore Adult ADHD Clinic has stepped up to help fill the void. I’m sure they’ll be busy.

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