About Audrey Farley, PMHNP-BC

You’ve heard it before. Too smart for that. Did fine in school. Weren’t the hyperactive kid. Had good grades. That’s often exactly backwards.

I’ve worked in healthcare for over 25 years, the last ten as a registered nurse before becoming a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Mental health always pulled at me most, and over time I chose to focus just on ADHD. Not because the rest stopped mattering. A dedicated, focused clinic gives closer attention than a general practice usually can, and closer attention means less gets missed. That’s why I practice this way. Nothing rushed, nothing guessed at.

Capable adults, often women, who’d spent years compensating. Careers marked by burnout. College majors changed more than once, chasing something that would finally click. Sleep that never settles. Weight that won’t budge. Appointments missed, not from not caring, but from not being able to track it all. Underneath a lot of it, shame. Years of believing they were just lazy, or too sensitive, or not trying hard enough. Usually, ADHD was the piece nobody had named.

I’ve heard the same story from a lot of patients. They saw another psychiatric provider and were told they didn’t have ADHD. Good grades, held down a job, didn’t fit the picture of a hyperactive kid. Instead, they were treated for anxiety, or something else, with medication that never quite worked and never quite explained why. Being told that, especially more than once, does something to a person. It’s years of believing something was wrong with you, when it wasn’t. Once they were finally evaluated properly, I’ve watched real relief happen. Sometimes grief too, for the years spent not knowing. There’s also real stigma around stimulant medication, and I understand the hesitation. These conversations deserve real time, not a rushed prescription or a blanket no.

I also kept seeing people sent out to neuropsychological testing. Months of waiting, thousands of dollars, for something that doesn’t require it. Not every psychiatric provider is comfortable diagnosing and treating ADHD themselves, so they refer it out instead. A psychiatric nurse practitioner can do both, with the same rigor, without the wait. Here, it’s one evaluation, one clinician, one plan, starting the same day you get your answer.

What keeps me doing this work: people who start showing up to appointments they used to avoid. Sleep that settles. Focus that finally makes sense instead of feeling like a personal failure.

“If you’ve talked yourself out of reaching out more than once, I understand. Most of the people I see have too. If you’re tired of feeling unheard and ready for someone to actually take the time, I’d welcome the chance to work with you.”

Audrey Farley, MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC — board-certified, licensed in Maine.