send this page
printer friendlyHistory of Attention Deficit Disorder Resources
In the fall of l992 Cynthia Hammer was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) by her son's pediatrician. She discovered Adults with ADD by Lynn Weiss and learned, from the book's resource list, there was another adult with ADD in Washington State--Lisa Poast in Bellingham. Cynthia called and learned that there were several of us. What a relief and joy to no longer feel alone.
In the spring of 1993 the first national ADD conference for adults was held in Ann Arbor, MI. While there, Cynthia met Brian Howell, also from Tacoma. We decided to start a support group. For over one year we met monthly at Allenmore Hospital.. Our attendance ran from three to ten, but the same people rarely came twice. We changed the format to education, more than support, with a speaker at each meeting and time for questions and answers. We relocated to Jackson Hall. With these changes, our attendance grew to forty or more people. We celebrated our 10th anniversary of being incorporated as a non-profit on February 17, 2004.
Since then we have grown to have four additional support groups:
- A Seattle adult ADHD support group that meets monthly in the Plaza Café at University Hospital. The usual attendance is 60 or more people. In addition, they simultaneously run a group for non-ADHD partners in an adjoining room
- A parents' ADHD support group that meets on Mercer Island area. This group generally is attended by 30-40 or so people.
- A parents' ADHD support group that meets in Tacoma at Tacoma General Hospital, Jwing, Room #3. It generally has up to 10 attending.
- An adult Support Group that meets in Olympia.
Each support group has membership materials and forms to send monthly reports to the Attention Deficit Disorder Resources (ADD Resources) office. Guidelines for support groups and for Attention Deficit Disorder Resources (ADD Resources) volunteers have been established as well as an application form for volunteers.
We produce theAdult ADD Reader, an l35 page booklet with articles written by adults with ADD as well as national ADD authorities. Past issues of our eight page quarterly newsletter ADDult ADDvice are now available to members online. We send out a free monthly eNews to members and nonmembers who have subscribed. Membership for $45 the first year and $25 for renewal, includes the Adult ADD Reader, as well as discounts on workshops and conferences. At our website we have a National ADHD Directory with over 1000 service providers in the U.S. listed. Currently, listing in the Directory is free. We hope to grow this Directory to over 5000 listings. In addition, our website (www.addresources.org) has over 100 free articles on ADHD. We are working to increase traffic to our website, believing that this will increase membership, a major source of revenue for us.
Each fall we sponsor a conference on ADHD with both national ADHD authorities and local ADHD professionals presenting. In addition, we offer one or more workshps during the year for teachers, parents, adults with ADHD or professionals. We offer teleconferences and teleseries for those who don't live in the Puget Sound area.
In 2002 we opened an office, legally changed our name from ADDult Support of Washington to Attention Deficit Disorder Resources, and expanded our services to all ages of people with AD/HD. The office is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 10 am-3 p.m. People are encouraged to contact our office for information and support.
Our sources of income have beenmembership fees, sales of books and materials, an occasional grant, as well as workshop/conference fees.
