Word by the author Annick Vincent

Word as a physician...

I work as a psychiatrist with adult patients living in the Quebec City (Canada) area where I am in charge of the Clinic for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec. My team and I do clinical work and research on ADHD and on Mood Disorders.

I also work as a clinical professor at Laval University. I am very implicated in teaching health professionals about ADHD as well as with the people suffering from this neurobiological disorder and their family members. An access to good and valuable information on ADHD is essential. There are excellent Canadian initiatives made towards this direction. For example, in 2006-2007, the Collège des médecins du Québec created a program consisting of workshops on ADHD intended for the physicians of this province.

Since 2006, I have joined the executive committee of the Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance (CADDRA) who produce the Canadian guidelines on ADHD. I also act as consulting physician on the following support organizations: Center for ADHD/ADD Advocacy (CADDAC), Canada, Parents Aptes à Négocier avec le Déficit d'Attention (PANDA) eand Learning Disabilities Association of Quebec (LDAQ), in addition to being on various committees for the pharmaceutical industry as an advisor.

Word as a mother...

I am also the proud mother of four boys. Two of them have ADHD. I can speak about ADHD as a clinician as well as a mother. Like many parents, I want to be able to educate my child and people around us about ADHD. There are several very good reference works and assistance books on the subject.

However, the majority of them can be difficult to read because of the language used or by their impressive number of pages. Very little is in French. This is why this website is bilingual and why I published my books dinitially in French and why, with the CHRG, we produced the first DVD on ADHD in French called Portrait du Trouble Déficitaire de l'Attention avec/sans Hyperactivité.

Objectives of this site...

I would like to share with you what we know on ADHD, perhaps even to dispel some associated prejudices, to teach how to recognize the symptoms and which type of help can be brought if needed.

In Quebec, with the reorganization of the mental health services, it is necessary to meet initially with your family physician. The access to mental health services is now with the health and social services center or, in French 'Centre de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CSSS)' of each given territory. They have service agreements with specialists when a consultation is required. If you believe you need to consult a physician, I invite you to inquire what resources are available in your given area.

Please note that I do not offer consultation outside my work at the hospital and that we are governed by service agreements. The department I work for does not have sufficient human resources - nor the mandate - to answer the telephone calls from people seeking information on ADHD or the services offered by the public healthcare system.

The objective of this site is precisely to give general information. This site cannot, in any way, be used to exchange personal information with the aim of obtaining a diagnostic or therapeutic opinion. What I actively offer is to train physicians and other health professionals on ADHD, while working to develop tools to help those diagnosed with ADHD, their family members and the general public.

Good browsing!