Is it ADHD, or is it just Motherhood?

The Momwell ADHD Assessment is a doctoral-level, virtual diagnostic process designed specifically for mothers who are trying to understand why their brain works the way it does. Whether you are questioning whether you have ADHD, wondering if what you are living with is burnout, postpartum anxiety, or something else entirely, this assessment is built to untangle all of those possibilities at once. It is a private pay service, currently available to adults living in Ontario.

Online ADHD screens are designed to flag whether symptoms exist, not explain what is driving them. A GP visit is typically 15 minutes, which is not enough time to distinguish ADHD from postpartum anxiety, perimenopause, or the mental load of motherhood. These conditions overlap significantly, especially in women. Our assessment is a comprehensive, 7.5-hour clinical process conducted by a doctoral-level psychologist, designed to identify what is actually going on so your care plan actually works.

The assessment has three phases. First, a 90-minute virtual clinical interview where your psychologist reviews your full developmental, academic, hormonal, and maternal history. Second, a comprehensive battery of eight or more standardized tests and observer reports, completed remotely over approximately two to three weeks from home. Third, a 60-minute feedback session where your psychologist walks you through your Mental Health Roadmap, your diagnosis or clinical findings, and a personalized treatment plan. The full process takes an estimated four to six weeks.

Mimics are conditions that look and feel like ADHD but have different root causes and different treatment paths. For mothers, the most common mimics are maternal burnout, postpartum anxiety, trauma responses, and hormonal shifts associated with perimenopause or the postpartum period. Because these conditions overlap significantly with ADHD, treating one when you actually have the other can mean years on the wrong path. Our assessment screens for all of them simultaneously so nothing gets missed.

Yes, and this is one of the most common stories we hear. ADHD in women is frequently misdiagnosed as anxiety or depression because the emotional dysregulation, overwhelm, and sense of failure look like mood disorders rather than executive dysfunction. Many women spend years treating downstream symptoms without identifying the underlying neurodevelopmental driver. Our assessment is specifically designed to examine whether your mood symptoms are primary conditions or whether they are secondary effects of unmanaged ADHD.

After the C$397.50 diagnostic interview is completed and paid for, the remainder is billed in two equal installments of C$795. The first is due upon signing the appraisal, and the second is automatically charged 4 weeks later, before your feedback session and report release. Any additional time would be discussed and approved with you in advance.

Momwell assessments are a private pay service, meaning we do not bill your benefits plan directly. At your feedback session, you receive one itemized receipt for the full assessment, which you submit to your extended health benefits plan yourself. Plans only accept claims once the service is complete, so the interview fee and installments are paid as you go and claimed together at the end.

Coverage for psychological services varies a lot from plan to plan, so before you book, we recommend calling your benefits provider. The number is usually on your benefits card or in your plan booklet. Ask whether your plan covers psychological services by a registered psychologist (C.Psych), how much coverage you have left this year, and whether the coverage resets in January or on another date. Some plans also have a per-session or yearly maximum, so it helps to know that number before you start.

In Canada, our virtual ADHD assessments are currently available to adults living in Ontario. The quickest way to find out if we can support you is to start a booking, where you can check your eligibility in a few steps.

Not necessarily, and that is not a flaw in the process: it is the point of it. Our goal is accuracy, not confirmation. Some clients complete the assessment and discover their symptoms are better explained by postpartum burnout, unresolved trauma, or a mood disorder that has gone untreated. That clarity is equally valuable because it means the support you pursue will actually address what is driving your experience.

No. Psychologists diagnose; they do not prescribe. Your assessment report will include a recommendations section that may include a referral to your GP or psychiatrist to discuss whether medication is appropriate for you. Many clients with ADHD find significant relief through behavioral strategies, executive function coaching, and targeted therapy without medication, and our recommendations reflect that full range of options.

You start with the same Get Started flow as our therapy clients. It takes approximately 10 minutes and includes a quick ADHD screener along with some onboarding information: a few questions about your current situation and mental health history, and some basic details about your location and insurance coverage. Our clinical team reviews every submission and will respond within a few business days to confirm whether the assessment is a good fit for you.

From your first payment to your feedback session, the typical timeline is four to six weeks. This accounts for questionnaire completion, report writing, and scheduling. The 90-minute clinical interview happens early in the process, and the feedback session happens at the end once the report is finalized. If you have questions at any point, our Care Team is available to help.

Doctoral-level means your assessment is conducted and reported on by a licensed psychologist with a PhD or PsyD. This matters because psychologists are trained to administer and interpret standardized psychometric tests, understand the overlap between neurodevelopmental conditions and mood disorders, and write formal diagnostic reports that meet the requirements for workplace accommodations, medication consultations, and benefits reimbursement. A therapist or GP cannot provide the same scope of assessment.

ADHD in women presents differently than the textbook version built on research that predominantly studied young boys. In mothers, it is frequently masked by perfectionism, people-pleasing, and compensating. It is also compounded by the invisible load of parenthood, hormonal fluctuations, and the relentless cognitive demands of running a household. Our entire assessment process, from the questions we ask to the tools we use, is built around this reality. We are not adapting a general model. We built one for you.

The clinical interview is the foundation of the diagnostic process. Your psychologist uses a structured format called the DIVA-5 to review your ADHD symptoms across two time frames: how they appear now in your adult life and whether they were present before the age of 12, which is a requirement under DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. This includes exploring your academic history, occupational patterns, relationship dynamics, hormonal health, and how symptoms specifically affect your experience of motherhood. This conversation cannot be shortened without compromising the accuracy of the diagnosis.

The battery includes the CAARS 2 (the gold-standard ADHD rating scale, completed by you and an observer), the WURS (a retrospective childhood ADHD history measure), the BRIEF-A (which measures executive function in daily life, including the mental load), the PSI-4-SF (which specifically measures stress rooted in the parenting role), the WFIRS-S (functional impairment across work, family, and social domains), the PCL-5 (a trauma and PTSD screen), the CAT-Q (which screens for autistic camouflaging, which is common in neurodivergent women), and the PAI (a comprehensive personality and validity measure). These tools work together to build a complete clinical picture.

Your report is a clinical document of approximately 20 to 25 pages written by your psychologist. It includes a summary of your history and presenting concerns, your test results and scores in context, a diagnostic conclusion, and a personalized multimodal recommendations section. Recommendations cover executive function strategies, therapy referrals, pharmacotherapy consultation if relevant, and workplace or parenting accommodations. It is designed to be a document you actually use, not one you file away.

ADHD and maternal burnout can coexist, which is part of what makes them so hard to untangle on your own. In our assessment, we use the PSI-4-SF specifically to measure stress rooted in the parenting role. This helps your psychologist distinguish between a brain that is structurally wired differently and a brain that has simply been depleted. The distinction matters because ADHD requires neurodevelopmental support, while burnout requires rest, boundary restructuring, and often a different kind of therapeutic approach.

Along with your written report, you receive a diagnostic letter for your doctor, so your family doctor or psychiatrist has what they need to talk through next steps with you.

We recommend calling your benefits provider and asking: Does my plan cover services by a registered psychologist? How much of that coverage do I have left this year? Do you need anything beyond an itemized receipt to process my claim? The answers will help you estimate your out-of-pocket cost.

This assessment is designed for mothers who are struggling to understand why their brain works the way it does. You may have been told you have anxiety or depression and feel like something is still missing. You may have always suspected ADHD but never sought a formal evaluation. If you are a mother in the postpartum period, in the thick of the toddler years, navigating school-aged kids, or in perimenopause wondering if your brain has fundamentally changed, this assessment was built with your experience in mind.

Yes. Our virtual assessment is not the right fit for clients who are in the acute postpartum phase within 12 months of giving birth, experiencing a severe unmanaged mood disorder that has not yet stabilized, or presenting with a complex psychiatric profile such as active bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. If that applies to you after you complete our screening form, we will let you know clearly and help point you toward the right resource.

Yes. Existing Momwell therapy clients can request an assessment referral through their current therapist or by completing the screening form directly. Your therapy relationship and your assessment are handled separately, which protects the integrity of both. Your therapist does not write the assessment report. A specialized assessment clinician does.

Observer reports, completed by someone who knows you well, are a standard component of a thorough ADHD diagnosis under DSM-5 criteria. They help your psychologist see how your symptoms appear in the context of your relationships and daily environment, not just how you self-report them. If you do not have a partner, a close friend, sibling, or parent who has known you for years can complete the observer portion. We will walk you through how to involve them as part of your onboarding.

If the clinical team determines that your needs are better served by an in-person neuropsychological evaluation, you will receive a clear, compassionate email explaining that decision and guiding you toward next steps. This is not a rejection. It is clinical triage, and it exists to protect you from spending time and money on a process that will not give you what you actually need. We will suggest contacting your family doctor for a referral to a local neuropsychologist.

We anticipated this. To prevent the questionnaire workload from feeling like one more thing on an already full plate, we provide a visual 14-day sample timetable that breaks the assessment materials into small, manageable daily tasks. We also send gentle follow-up reminders along the way. If you are struggling or hitting a wall, reach out to the Care Team directly. This process is designed to be something you can complete from home, on your terms, without adding to your mental load.