Elaine Collins Psychologist

Home
Ireland
Wicklow
Elaine Collins Psychologist

Helping adults with ADHD navigate life’s hurdles with confidence
Boy mum 👣🐾🐾 🇮🇪🇦🇺🇪🇸
🏴‍☠️ Navigating breast cancer
↓ Self Referral & Programs ↓

02/11/2026

What’s on your list?

I love being a psychologist and helping adults with adhd (my type of people!) but it’s only one of the many hats I wear!

I also wear a bicycle helmet..
Balance is key…
Energy out needs energy in, too. 🤍

13/10/2026

Breast cancer clearly didn’t realise I’m Irish and already operating on dark humour and pure stubbornness. 🖤😂

Navigating it all in Spain, with 2,735 things going wrong and still finding something to laugh at.

If humour is helping you through a brutal chapter too, you’re in good company.

🇮🇪 🇪🇸 🇦🇺

10/10/2026

I found out I had breast cancer through an app.

Not in a consultation. Not from a doctor sitting across from me. Through an app.

No human being looking me in the eye. No compassion. No explanation of what those biopsy results meant. Just a notification that changed everything.

And I’m handling it well. I know I am. I’m in full-blown problem-solving mode because I can’t yet fully trust the process.

I had to find my own oncologist and hospital in a country where I didn’t know the first thing about the medical system.

As a psychologist, I found the beginning of this process soul-destroying - a complete disregard for the human being on the other side of those biopsy results.

Navigating breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in Spain is certainly… “an experience.”

And no one talks about the exhaustion.

My body can go from 100% to completely floored in minutes.

I’ve got fierce determination, zero energy to back it up at times, and just dark, badly timed humour and sheer stubbornness doing the heavy lifting. 🖤

I would be lying if I didn’t say.. some days I think it would be easier to just go home 🇮🇪

Breast Cancer Ireland

20/09/2026

It’s been a big year. So much can change in twelve months. Face the sun when you can find it, keep the right people close and hold on to the moments that matter. Feeling very loved today. Thank you for all the birthday wishes ☀️

20/08/2026

"Your ADHD isn't a flaw. It's a spark."⁠
⁠
ADHD brings challenges.⁠
⁠
But it can also bring creativity, resilience, curiosity, innovation, humour and determination.⁠
⁠
The goal isn't to pretend the challenges don't exist.⁠
⁠
The goal is learning how to manage the difficulties while recognising the strengths.⁠
⁠
The Adult ADHD Foundations Program™ was designed to help adults build practical skills while developing a more balanced understanding of their ADHD.⁠
⁠
📩 Prebook / SEND REQUEST TO JOIN THE WAITLIST⁠
⁠

18/05/2026

As a child you learned:
⚡ stop talking
⚡ stop forgetting things
⚡ stop being “too much”
⚡ stop daydreaming
⚡ stop feeling everything so intensely
⚡ just try harder

So naturally your brain responded with:
✨ anxiety
✨ overcompensating
✨ people pleasing
✨ perfectionism
✨ panic productivity
✨ and pretending you definitely knew what was going on 😂

From the outside?
You looked organised enough.
Successful enough.
Functional enough.

Meanwhile internally:
🧠 forgetting why you entered rooms
🧠 emotionally buffering 24/7
🧠 surviving on caffeine and fear
🧠 one minor inconvenience away from lying face down on the floor ✨

Then midlife arrives and suddenly:
🔥 the tabs stop tabbing
🔥 the coping strategies stop coping
🔥 the masking software crashes
🔥 and now a loud fridge feels personally disrespectful ✨

Meanwhile everyone around you is saying:“It’s probably stress.”

And you are sitting there like:“No Sharon… I think the unpaid intern managing my executive functioning has finally quit.” 😂

The funniest part?

Realising neurotypical people were not actually:
✨ manually forcing themselves through every day
✨ rehearsing conversations
✨ emotionally recovering from emails
✨ or pretending to understand instructions since primary school 😂

If this feels painfully specific…there is probably a reason ❤️

Take my FREE Adult ADHD Patterns Quiz exploring:
⚡ emotional regulation
⚡ executive functioning
⚡ time management
⚡ goal setting
⚡ rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD)

Start here: FREE Adult ADHD Patterns Quiz (linked below)

16/05/2026

ADHD adults do not just go for bike rides.

We accidentally:
• go on side quests
• emotionally process our entire life
• stop for snacks
• explore random roads
• create unrealistic future plans
• rediscover happiness through mild overstimulation 😂

One minute you are:🚴 “just getting some fresh air”

The next minute your ADHD brain is:
⚡ fully regulated
⚡ deeply philosophical
⚡ romantically staring at sunsets
⚡ convinced cycling has changed your life forever

Honestly movement feels different for ADHD brains.

Sometimes the bike ride is not about fitness at all.

It is:
• dopamine
• stimulation
• freedom
• emotional regulation
• novelty
• escape from routine
• finally feeling mentally awake again

And weirdly…some ADHD adults feel more calm cycling for hours than sitting still for 20 minutes 😂

If this feels painfully relatable…your nervous system probably loves movement more than you realise 🚴‍♀️✨

Want to understand your own ADHD patterns more deeply?

Take my FREE Adult ADHD Patterns Quiz exploring:
⚡ emotional regulation
⚡ executive functioning
⚡ time management
⚡ goal setting
⚡ rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD)

Start here:FREE Adult ADHD Patterns Quiz (link in bio)

14/05/2026

If you’re an adult with ADHD and this feels familiar…

Feeling overwhelmed by everyday life
Struggling to start or finish what you need to do
Constantly trying to “get it together” but nothing seems to stick

You’re not alone, and you’re not the problem

Most of the people I work with are intelligent, capable, and trying incredibly hard
But they’re using strategies that don’t match how their brain actually works

That’s where things start to change

When you understand your ADHD patterns
When you regulate the overwhelm first
When you build simple systems that actually fit your life

You don’t need everything to work
You just need a few strategies that work for you

That’s exactly what I focus on inside my Adult ADHD Foundations Program

If you’re not sure where to start, I’ve created an ADHD Quiz to help you identify your patterns and main problem areas so you know exactly what to focus on

DM me “Quiz” if this sounds like you

Make your ADHD work for you

🧠🎯🎓

14/04/2026

Hi everyone, it’s me - Elaine 👋🏼. With a few new faces on here I thought I’d share a bit more about myself..

For years, I’ve worked with adults living with ADHD who are intelligent, capable, and trying incredibly hard… yet still feel overwhelmed, inconsistent, and stuck.

They’re not lazy, and they’re not lacking motivation. They’ve just never been shown how to work with how their brain actually functions.

That’s what led me to focus on adult ADHD. Not just understanding it, but helping people build practical systems that actually work in real life.

Because when you understand your patterns and have the right tools, things start to shift. Life feels more manageable, and you start to feel more in control.

This is why I do what I do.

You’re not the problem. You’ve just never been shown what works for you.

Follow me if this resonates with you and you’re ready to stop feeling stuck and start building a way of life that works for you. I might not pop up on your feed again, and this could be the level of support you’ve been needing.

13/04/2026

NEW BLOG POST 📣📣📣 (link in bio 👆🏽)

Discover a curated selection of evidence-based books and podcasts designed to deepen your understanding of ADHD and enhance the practical skills learned in structured CBT programmes. These supplemental resources are most effective when they provide the “why” of ADHD, while a structured, self-paced system like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) provides the “how” for lasting change. This approach helps you move beyond simply knowing what to do and empowers you to actually do it, building systems that work with your unique brain.

Key Takeaways
Psychoeducation is Key
Understanding the neuroscience behind ADHD helps reduce shame and improves emotional regulation by validating your lived experience.

Vet Your Sources
Prioritise resources from qualified clinicians that align with evidence-based frameworks like CBT to avoid misinformation.

Match Resources to Your Needs
Select books and podcasts that address your specific challenges, whether it’s executive functioning, emotional regulation, or reframing your ADHD identity.

Integrate Learning with Action
Use supplemental resources to reinforce concepts from structured programmes. The goal is to move from passive consumption to active application of strategies.

Systems Over Motivation
Lasting change comes from building reliable systems, not from waiting for motivation. These resources can help you understand your brain, so you can build systems that support it.

Table of Contents
• Beyond the Therapy Room: Why Supplemental Learning is Vital for ADHD Progress

• Selecting Evidence-Based Resources: How to Filter the ADHD Information Overload

• The Essential ADHD Bookshelf: Deep Dives into Executive Function and Emotional Regulation

• Audio Empowerment: Top Podcasts for ADHD Insight and Community Connection

• Combining Resources with Structured CBT: Moving from Insight to Action

• Frequently Asked Questions

• References

Address

Wicklow

Website

https://www.collinspsychology.com/, https://quiz.collinspsychology.com/, https://quiz.collinspsychology.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Elaine Collins Psychologist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.