The traditional ADHD pathway usually means a GP referral, a full psychiatric assessment, and a separate treatment plan, often taking six months or more from first appointment to answers.
Here, the assessment is done by Rachel, a Nurse Practitioner. The psychiatrist step is a treatment plan only, not a repeat assessment, because that part’s already been done properly, the first time.
Health Smitten’s pathway is $425 for both appointments and your written report, with no waitlist stretching into next year.
You’ve wondered your whole life if something was different about the way your brain works.
You are not lazy, failing, or broken.
You’ve coped. You’ve compensated. You’ve built systems, made lists, set alarms, apologised for things you couldn’t control and pushed through exhaustion that nobody else seemed to feel. And it worked, until it didn’t.
For many women, ADHD goes undetected for decades. The symptoms look different in women than in the diagnostic criteria written for boys. By the time perimenopause arrives and oestrogen begins to fluctuate, the neurological scaffolding that was quietly holding everything together starts to give way, and women who were managing suddenly aren’t.
If you’ve been wondering whether ADHD is part of your story, Health Smitten’s adult ADHD telehealth support is where you start.
How this Pathway Works
How ADHD Assessment Works
1.
Assessment Appointment — included in your fee
Your first appointment is a comprehensive clinical assessment. Rachel takes a full history covering your symptom presentation, psychosocial background, hormonal health, and lived experience and applies the validated diagnostic tools used in adult ADHD assessment. This is not a checklist. It is a thorough, unhurried clinical conversation designed to see the whole picture, including the hormonal and neurological overlap that most assessments miss entirely.
No GP referral required to book.
2.
Diagnostic Review Appointment — included in your fee
Your second appointment reviews the findings from your assessment. Rachel will share her clinical conclusions, discuss the outcome with you in plain language, and prepare a comprehensive written report for your records.
Both appointments are included in the $425 fee. No hidden costs, no additional charges from Health Smitten.
3.
Psychiatrist Treatment Plan — separate fees, Medicare rebates may apply
In Australia, ADHD treatment planning sits across different regulatory frameworks in different states. To ensure your care is fully supported regardless of where you live, Health Smitten’s pathway includes a referral to a psychiatrist for a treatment plan.
This is not a requirement for diagnosis, Rachel diagnoses. It is a step that ensures your treatment plan carries the highest clinical authority across Australian state laws, protecting you and giving any treating practitioner or prescriber the clearest possible foundation to work from.
Rachel will provide the psychiatrist with your full assessment report, making that appointment as streamlined as possible. Psychiatrist fees are separate to Health Smitten’s fees. Medicare rebates may apply depending on your circumstances and referral pathway.
4.
Ongoing Management — available for South Australian patients
Ongoing ADHD management in collaboration with Health Smitten is currently available for patients based in South Australia. This reflects the complexity of individual state regulatory frameworks across Australia, not a limitation of scope.
Women in other states will be supported with referral letters and clinical documentation to continue their care with an appropriate local provider.
Rachel can and does diagnose ADHD. The psychiatrist step isn’t about diagnosis — it’s about your treatment plan.
Australia’s ADHD prescribing rules vary by state. A psychiatrist-authored treatment plan is recognised everywhere — by any GP, any pharmacist, any state you move to.
It’s the safest path for your long-term care. Not the easiest one for us.
What makes this assessment different?
Most ADHD assessments weren’t built for women.
Not for the woman who’s masked it for 30 years.
Not for the woman whose symptoms shifted in perimenopause.
Not for the woman whose ADHD, hormones and burnout have blurred into one.
This one was.
Rachel looks at the whole picture — neurological, hormonal, emotional — because for women, they’re never separate.