You Are Doing Everything Right and Still Running on Empty
Therapy & consulting for women with ADHD, exhausted parents, & families navigating pregnancy & postpartum.
Move out of survival mode and into grounded, steady confidence.
Explore my services:
In-person and virtual in Vancouver. Therapy across BC. Consulting across North America.
I’m Lisa Brooks, Registered Clinical Counsellor with a foundation in Occupational Therapy. I support women and parents navigating ADHD, postpartum, perimenopause, and other seasons of life where hormonal shifts, nervous system depletion, and emotional overload can make everything feel harder than it should.
Whether you’re parenting a neurodivergent child, navigating late-diagnosed ADHD, or feeling the mental health impact of midlife hormonal change, we work together to make sense of what’s happening beneath the surface and build practical, regulation-based support that helps you feel steadier, clearer, and more like yourself again.
You may be in the right place if:
You are a high-achieving capable person who always feels stretched thin and can never get caught up.
You feel like having a family, being a parent, having a career and running a home feels like its harder than it should be.
You hold the mental load in your home, are exhausted all the time and feel like it’s unsustainable to keep going like this.
You are pregnant, postpartum or in your transformation of matrescence trying to navigate parenthood without much support.
You are neurodivergent, have a neurodivergent partner or child and are trying to navigate daily life.
You and your partner don’t see eye-to-eye on parenting.
You are a woman diagnosed with ADHD and could use some support in understanding what works for your brain and how to reduce stress.
You spend a lot of time managing everyone else’s needs while losing touch with your own
You are tired of surviving, over-functioning, or holding everything together alone
You want support that is practical, compassionate, and grounded in how real life actually feels
Virtual therapy across BC | In-person in Vancouver | Certified ADHD Professional |Perinatal Mental Health Professional
Support Across Major Nervous System and Hormonal Transitions
Parenting Burnout & Overwhelmed Parents
Many parents come to therapy because something feels off. They’re worried about their child’s behavior, navigating ADHD or other neurodivergent needs, or managing the constant overwhelm of family life. You might not call it burnout yet, but you know you’re running on empty.
For some, this exhaustion began in pregnancy or the postpartum period and never fully lifted. For others, it built slowly over years of caregiving, sensory overload, and emotional labor. Either way, the depletion is real and you don’t have to keep pushing through alone.
Together, we understand what’s driving your child’s behavior and strengthen your own nervous system capacity so you can respond with steadiness instead of survival.
Parenting neurodivergent or highly sensitive children
Chronic overwhelm and capacity depletion
Sensory overload from daily parenting
Co-regulation with your children
Rebuilding your nervous system capacity
ADHD Support for Women Across Hormonal Transitions
ADHD in women often shows up as chronic overwhelm, emotional flooding, executive functioning strain, and exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix. You may be managing everything on the outside while feeling like you’re drowning on the inside.
For many women, symptoms intensify during major hormonal shifts including postpartum and perimenopause. Systems that once worked suddenly stop working. Focus drops. Irritability rises. Sensory sensitivity increases. You may find yourself wondering what changed.
I help ADHD women understand their nervous systems, reduce masking, and build regulation and executive functioning strategies that actually work for your brain not against it.
Emotional dysregulation and overwhelm
Executive functioning challenges
ADHD and motherhood
Late diagnosis processing
Reducing masking and building capacity
ADHD symptoms intensifying during perimenopause
Perinatal & Postpartum Support
From pregnancy anxiety and birth trauma to postpartum depression and the exhausting early months of new motherhood, this season can be both tender and destabilizing.
The nervous system demands of pregnancy, birth, and caring for a newborn often set the stage for the overwhelm that continues into parenting. I support women through perinatal anxiety, postpartum depression, birth trauma, and identity shifts with steady, grounded care.
Hormonal shifts, sleep disruption, and the invisible mental load of early motherhood can intensify anxiety, emotional reactivity, and self-doubt. Together, we slow things down, process what your body and nervous system have been holding, and build practical tools so you can feel more regulated, supported, and confident in this new season.
Perinatal and postpartum anxiety
Postpartum depression and mood changes
Birth trauma processing
Identity shifts in new motherhood
Pregnancy anxiety and overwhelm
Does This Sound Like Your Days?
✓ You try to rest, but your nervous system won’t power down. Even when you have time to sleep, your body stays alert.
✓ You’re parenting a child with ADHD or big emotions, and their dysregulation pulls yours with it.
✓ You carry the invisible mental load of your family and feel completely depleted inside.
✓ You’re pregnant or postpartum and the anxiety feels bigger than sleep deprivation.
✓ You’re in midlife and noticing irritability, brain fog, or emotional intensity that feels unfamiliar.
✓ You were diagnosed with ADHD later in life, and the strategies that once worked aren’t working anymore.
✓ You snap at small things because you’re past capacity.
✓ You love your family and you’re not enjoying this. Both are true, and the gap between them feels painful.
If this feels familiar, it doesn’t mean you’re failing, it often means your nervous system has been running beyond capacity for too long. And that’s something we can work with.
My Approach: Compassion, Clarity, and Collaboration
My work integrates nervous system science, attachment theory, and my foundation in Occupational Therapy to support women and parents navigating ADHD, hormonal shifts, and burnout. Therapy here is practical, trauma-informed, and grounded in real-life change.
Compassion I hold a steady, non-judgmental space for the parts of you that feel overwhelmed, ashamed, exhausted, or stretched thin. Rather than pathologizing your struggle, we look at what your nervous system has been managing and why it makes sense that you feel this way.
There is room here for the rage, the grief, the mental load, the identity shifts. You don’t need to have it together to deserve support.
Clarity Together we make sense of your internal patterns, the stressors in your relationships, and the daily demands that shape your capacity. You learn how your nervous system communicates, why certain moments feel harder, and what you and your family actually need to feel safer, more regulated, and more connected. Clarity helps you see patterns and understand what you and your family actually need to feel safer and steadier.
Collaboration Therapy is a co-created process. We build tools and strategies together — practical, attachment-based, sensory-aware supports that fit your real life. No generic scripts. No pressure to be someone you’re not. Just grounded, evidence-informed work that helps you move forward with steadiness and choice. Collaboration means we build this together. No generic scripts. Trauma-informed, attachment-based tools that fit your real life.
This work is grounded in over a decade of experience working directly with children, youth, and families. Before focusing my practice on parent support, I worked extensively as an occupational therapist in pediatric and school-based settings. This means I understand child development, sensory needs, and nervous system regulation deeply, not theoretically. When we work together, we address both what's happening with your child and what's happening in you. Both matter. Both get attention.
Why Choose Nurtured Foundations Therapy & Consulting
✓ Registered Clinical Counsellor with a foundation in Occupational Therapy
I bring over a decade of experience working with children, families, and neurodivergent individuals, combining nervous system-informed therapy with deep knowledge of sensory processing, executive functioning, and child development.
✓ Certified ADHD Professional with sensory integration expertise
I understand how ADHD brains and nervous systems work not just emotionally, but neurologically and functionally.
✓ Advanced Perinatal Mental Health Training (PSI)
Specialized training supporting pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and the identity shifts of early motherhood.
✓ Over a decade supporting neurodivergent families
Extensive experience with ADHD, autism, sensory processing differences, and highly sensitive children.
✓ Practical strategies for real life
We build tools that work in your actual day not idealized routines that collapse under real-world stress.
✓ Autism Funding Unit (AFU) approved provider
Families can use Autism Funding Unit allocations for parent support and family sessions.
What Clients Say
“I was drowning in postpartum anxiety and couldn’t tell anyone because I felt so guilty. Lisa gave me space to say the hard stuff and helped me regulate my nervous system. I feel like myself again.”
“I got diagnosed with ADHD at 39 and didn’t know where to start. Lisa helped me understand why I’ve been overwhelmed my whole life and gave me tools that actually work for my brain. For the first time, I’m not fighting against myself.”
“Lisa helped us make sense of our child’s big emotions and sensory needs and showed us how to respond with confidence instead of panic. We finally understand what’s happening and have a plan.”
“Parenting with ADHD meant I was always dysregulated, and my kids could feel it. Lisa helped me understand my nervous system and my kids’ nervous systems. Our whole house is calmer now. I finally have tools that work.”
“ I thought I was a bad parent because I was so depleted and irritable. Lisa helped me understand that I wasn’t broken - I was just running beyond my capacity. Learning about nervous system regulation changed how I parent and how I take care of myself.”
Ready to explore how therapy can help? Learn more about parent support or book a free consultation.
Common Questions
Answers to common questions about ADHD therapy, parenting burnout, and nervous system-informed support.
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Yes. I work with women who have ADHD or suspect they might especially those navigating burnout, overwhelm, and the invisible load of managing work, family, and daily life. Many women aren’t diagnosed until adulthood because ADHD in women often shows up as anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, or constantly “trying harder,” rather than the hyperactive presentation most people recognize.
In ADHD therapy, we focus on building systems that match how your brain actually works instead of forcing yourself into neurotypical strategies that never quite fit. We address executive functioning challenges, emotional regulation, sensory sensitivities, and the shame that can come from years of feeling like you're falling behind.
ADHD therapy isn’t about fixing you. It’s about understanding your nervous system and creating a life that feels more sustainable.
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Parenting burnout often develops when the demands of caregiving consistently exceed your capacity to recover. Over time, chronic stress, emotional labor, and constant responsibility can leave your nervous system stuck in survival mode.
Many parents notice feeling emotionally flat with their children, snapping more easily, fantasizing about escaping, or moving through the day on autopilot instead of feeling present and connected. Common signs include feeling touched out, crying over small things, or struggling to regulate your emotions the way you normally would.
Parenting burnout isn’t a personal failure. It’s often a sign that your nervous system has been under sustained stress for too long. Therapy can help you rebuild capacity, regulate your nervous system, and create rhythms that actually support your family.
Check out my blog on parenting burnout here: https://nurturedfoundations.com/blog/building-capacity-isnt-about-doing-more-its-about-resourcing-what-you-already-have
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Many parents begin to wonder about ADHD or sensory processing differences when their child has big emotional reactions, difficulty with transitions, constant movement, or strong sensitivities to noise, clothing, or other sensory input.
These behaviors don’t automatically mean a child has ADHD, but they can reflect differences in how a child’s nervous system processes stimulation, frustration, and emotional stress. When children become overwhelmed, their behavior is often communicating that their system is struggling to regulate.
In therapy, we look at what may be driving your child’s behavior and help you respond with strategies that support both your child’s nervous system and your own capacity as a parent.
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Yes. Many women notice that ADHD symptoms intensify during perimenopause as estrogen levels fluctuate. Changes in hormones can affect executive functioning, emotional regulation, sleep, and attention. Women who previously managed their ADHD symptoms well may suddenly feel more overwhelmed, irritable, or mentally scattered. Therapy can help you understand these shifts and build strategies that support your nervous system during this transition.
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Yes. I offer in-person therapy in Vancouver as well as virtual therapy for clients across British Columbia.
Online sessions allow parents and busy professionals to access support without needing to travel, while in-person sessions are available for those who prefer meeting face-to-face. Both options provide the same nervous system-informed approach to therapy.
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The length of therapy varies depending on what you’re navigating and what kind of support you’re looking for. Some clients come for short-term support around a specific challenge, while others benefit from longer-term work as they move through parenting transitions, ADHD discovery, or periods of burnout.
Many people begin with weekly or bi-weekly sessions and adjust over time as their capacity increases. Therapy is collaborative, and we regularly check in to make sure the pace and focus of our work continues to feel helpful.
Have More Questions?
Answers to all the most important questions about what to expect, how sessions are scheduled and more are on my Frequently Asked Questions Page.
You Don't Have to Keep Carrying All of This Alone
Whether you're seeking support for ADHD overwhelm, parenting burnout, or perinatal anxiety, there's room here to slow down, catch your breath, and find solid ground again.
Therapy can help you feel steadier, clearer, and more like yourself again.
In-person and virtual in Vancouver. Therapy across BC. Consulting across North America.