Session 2: Your personal mind map
Today’s focus areas
- Create a personal mind map to visually explore your ADHD traits, challenges, and strengths.
- Identify how ADHD shows up in your daily life.
- Practise how to explain your ADHD experience to others—family, friends, or colleagues.
- Build strategies for asking for help and self-advocating confidently.
- Strengthen self-awareness and boost your confidence in managing ADHD.
What is a personal mind map?
A personal mind map is like a visual “snapshot” of your ADHD experience. It helps you:
Organise your thoughts:
Gather symptoms, impacts, strengths, and strategies in one clear picture.
Reflect:
Understand how ADHD shapes your life – both the challenges and the positives.
Communicate:
Use it as a tool to explain your ADHD to others in a simple, structured way.
Why are mind maps helpful for ADHD?
- Clarity: Breaking down complex ideas into visual branches makes it easier to understand your unique ADHD profile.
- Empowerment: Seeing both strengths and struggles side by side can boost self-compassion and motivation.
- Planning: It can guide you to find the right strategies for managing tasks, emotions, and relationships.
How to build your mind map?
Understanding My ADHD Traits
- Hyperactivity: Feeling restless, fidgety, or constantly “on the go.”
- Impulsivity: Acting quickly without always thinking things through (e.g. spending money impulsively, interrupting others).
- Inattention: Struggling to stay focused or getting easily distracted, which can affect work, home, or relationships.
Questions to consider
- Which traits do I notice the most in myself?
- When and where do they show up (work, social situations, home)?
My perspective
In your own words: How does ADHD feel to you?
- Feelings: Do I feel frustrated, anxious, excited, misunderstood, or something else?
- Experiences: What are my daily challenges or high points?
- Positives: What do I enjoy or excel at because of how my mind works
How ADHD affects different areas of my life
- Workplace: Meeting deadlines, dealing with distractions, managing work relationships.
- Social life: Keeping up with conversations, feeling comfortable in social settings.
- Home: Managing chores, finances, and relationships with family or housemates.
- Emotional wellbeing: Self-confidence, handling stress, resolving conflicts.
Reflection: “What specific situations are tricky for me, and why?”
Recognising my strengths
Recognise that ADHD also brings many positives.
Creativity: Thinking outside the box, being imaginative.
Hyperfocus: Deep concentration on topics or tasks of high interest.
Energy and enthusiasm: Bringing excitement to projects or conversations.
Problem-solving: Spotting solutions quickly, thinking differently from others.
Question: “Which of my strengths do I want people to notice and celebrate?”
Identifying my challenges
Organisation and planning:
Losing track of time, forgetting tasks, feeling overwhelmed.
Regulating emotions:
Difficulty staying calm, managing frustration, impatience.
Social communication:
Interrupting others, missing social cues, talking a lot.
Self-esteem:
Feeling different, misunderstood, or criticised.
Building my strategies
Based on what you discover, what can you do differently?
Communication:
- Clear instructions (written, visual, or repeated).
- Use reminders and technology tools.
- Ask for check-ins to make sure you’re on the same page.
Organisation:
- Digital calendars, project apps, prioritised to-do lists.
Environment:
- Minimise distractions (quiet workspace, noise-cancelling headphones).
- Take movement breaks or short exercise sessions.
Emotional wellbeing:
- Mindfulness or breathing apps, journaling, talking to a therapist or trusted friend.
Reflection: “Which of these strategies could help me most right now?”
Who can support me?
- Family: Parents, partners, siblings, extended family.
- Education (for students): Teachers, tutors, learning mentors.
- Workplace: Managers, HR, occupational health teams.
- Support Services: Adult ADHD or mental health services.
- Friends and Peers: Understanding friends who “get it” and offer practical help.
Question to consider: “Who do I want to share this mind map with, and how can they help me?”
Next steps and personal goals
- Personal goals: What do I want to achieve or improve?
- Support plan: What actions will we take together?
- Review: How will I check in to see what’s working and what needs changing?
Tips for using your mind map
✅ Use visuals or colours to make it more engaging and memorable.
✅ Be honest and open – it’s for you first and foremost.
✅ Share it with others who support you, like family or work mentors.
✅ Revisit it regularly as you grow and learn more about your ADHD.
Communicating about your ADHD
Why communication matters
Talking about your ADHD helps others understand what you’re dealing with, reducing misunderstandings and helping you build stronger support networks.
Tips for sharing
- Be specific: Use real-life examples of what’s hard (e.g. noisy environments make it tough to focus).
- Use everyday language: Skip the jargon; use your own words.
- Highlight strengths: Let people know what you’re good at and what energises you.
- Ask for support: Share practical ways people can help (e.g. reminders, patience).
- Encourage questions: Make it a conversation – invite them to ask questions so they can learn too.