CBT for Adult ADHD: Transformative, Evidence-Based Skills for Real-World Results

CBT for Adult ADHD: Transformative, Evidence-Based Skills for Real-World Results

Clients with adult ADHD often know precisely what they ‘should’ do but struggle to turn insight into consistent action. This training gives clinicians practical, evidence-based CBT tools that help clients build the skills, structure, and self-trust they need to create meaningful change in their daily lives.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): A Practical, Evidence-Based Approach for Adult ADHD

Adults seeking support for ADHD often arrive with long histories of frustration and uneven coping. Their challenges with executive functioning can disrupt work, relationships, and daily routines. This 6-hour live webinar provides clinicians with a clear, practical framework for delivering CBT for adult ADHD in ways that support real change.

The training is led by Dr. Laura Knouse, licensed clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Richmond. Dr. Knouse is an award-winning educator, a leading researcher in CBT for adult ADHD, and co-author of Living Well with Adult ADHD with Dr. Russell Barkley. With more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and advanced training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, she brings deep expertise to this applied learning experience.

Understanding ADHD Through the CBT Lens

The course begins with a clear review of the origins and evidence base for CBT for adult ADHD. Clinicians explore the cognitive-behavioural model and learn how to explain the “why” behind treatment components in a simple, engaging way. The training also covers best-practice guidelines for assessing adult ADHD, which is a growing area of demand.

Participants learn how to provide psychoeducation that strengthens engagement and reduces self-blame. The course also shows how symptoms, habits, and environmental factors interact to create barriers in daily life.

Core Behavioural Skills for Executive Functioning Challenges

A primary focus of this training is the development of behavioural skills. Dr. Knouse uses case material and demonstrations to show how specific CBT skills support daily functioning. Clinicians learn practical methods to help clients improve:

• Organization and planning
• Time management and scheduling
• Motivation, activation, and reducing procrastination
• Environmental design that supports consistent skill use

These strategies highlight how CBT for adult ADHD helps clients build systems that reduce cognitive load and cue success throughout the day.

Cognitive Strategies and Real-World Skill Implementation

This course also addresses cognitive interventions that are tailored to ADHD. Dr. Knouse explains how avoidant automatic thoughts and self-doubt patterns can derail new habits. Clinicians learn how to help clients challenge these patterns while building self-compassion and resilience.

Techniques that improve skill carryover between therapy sessions are also covered in this training. These methods help clients turn new learning into daily routines. Attendees finish the workshop with a personalized plan for integrating these strategies into their clinical work.

“Dr. Knouse is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology and a well recognized expert in the field of adult ADHD, especially concerning the topics of executive functioning deficits and the application of cognitive behavioral therapy and other behavior strategies to address them. She has authored multiple research articles and reviews in these topics and published several books, including her most recent with me on Living Well with Adult ADHD. Participants can expect the most up to date information on adult ADHD and the clinical strategies needed to address the many executive deficits associated with it. “

1. Explain the cognitive-behavioural model of ADHD in adults and how it relates to key CBT treatment components.
2. Describe the key components and current evidence base for CBT approaches to adult ADHD.
3. List the components of an evidence-based assessment for ADHD in adults, including best practices for first-time diagnosis.
4. Identify core behavioural skills to address the executive functioning challenges that adults with ADHD experience in daily life, including the importance of structuring the environment to support skill use.
5. Explain the application of cognitive therapy strategies in CBT for adult ADHD, including avoidant automatic thoughts and schemas of self-mistrust.
6. Describe strategies for enhancing clients’ implementation of skills in everyday life.
7. Develop a personalized plan to integrate the skills learned during the session into clinical practice.

This training offers 6 hours of direct contact (not counting breaks or lunch). It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards/regulatory body to verify CE requirements for their license to practice.

Attendees of the original live broadcast receive instructions on how to obtain their Certificate of Participation at the end of the course and in the “recording ready” email, which is sent 1-2 days after the live course has ended.

Attendees watching the previously recorded/on-demand version must complete a Post-Webinar Quiz with a passing grade of at least 80% to verify their attendance and receive their Certificate of Participation.

Note: The course recording is available only after the live broadcast has ended.

The Certificate of Participation includes:

• Name of participant.
• Title of training.
• Name of presenter plus their credentials.
• Number of hours of training.
• Date of training.
• Confirmation of 100% attendance at the original live broadcast OR a passing grade of at least 80% on the recorded on-demand version post-course quiz.

Get details about CE credits for Canadian and non-US international participants.

Get details about CE credits for US participants.

Please check with your regulatory body/organization to ensure that this certificate is sufficient proof for you to claim CE credits.

In this clip, Laura Knouse, PhD, discusses a core challenge in adult ADHD treatment: the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. She outlines how linking goals to personal values, normalizing implementation struggles, and using functional assessment can strengthen follow-through and reduce self-blame in therapy.

Many adults with ADHD don’t struggle because of negative thinking — but because of subtle, overly optimistic “avoidant” thoughts that delay action. In this excerpt, Laura Knouse, PhD, shares findings from her ecological momentary assessment research, revealing how frequently these thoughts occur — and why recognizing them is critical in treatment.

In this excerpt, Laura Knouse, PhD, introduces the concept of the “desire path” — a powerful metaphor from design that helps clinicians rethink how environment shapes behavior. Drawing on Russell Barkley’s “point of performance” model, she explains how small environmental adjustments can dramatically improve follow-through and self-regulation in adults with ADHD.

Use discount code KNLES26 at Guilford Press and receive 15% off Dr. Laura Knouse’s new book, co-authored with Dr. Russell Barkley, Living Well with Adult ADHD: Practical Strategies for Improving Your Daily Life.

Coupon expires June 30, 2026.