In the last few years, Wendy Richardson, a Licensed Marriage/Family Therapist and Certified Addiction Specialist in private practice in Soquel, California has witnessed the transformation of lives that were once ravaged by untreated AD/HD and addictions.  She has worked with people who had relapsed in and out of treatment programs for ten to twenty years and seen them finally attain ongoing and fulfilling sobriety once their AD/HD was treated.  And she has seen people with AD/HD achieve recovery once their addictions were treated. She routinely consults with individuals, probation officers, and attorneys to create alternative sentencing to treatment programs for those whose crimes were influenced by untreated AD/HD and co-occurring addiction.

Wendy Richardson began her career in the addictions field in 1975 counseling heroin addicts at the Santa Clara County Methadone Detox Program, followed by working at an inpatient psychiatric hospital as a Licensed Psychiatric Technician for eight years and returning to the chemical dependency field in 1983 when she developed the Youth Alcohol Awareness Program, the Minor Driving Under the Influence Program, and the First Offenders Diversion Program for Santa Cruz County in California.

In the early eighties Wendy read a book on Attention Deficit Disorder and related to almost all of the symptoms, however, the book stated that children outgrew ADD by adulthood. Wendy knew that she had not outgrown her ADD. But it wasn’t until the late eighties and early nineties that information about ADD in adults began surfacing, and it was 1994 before Wendy was diagnosed and began treating her ADD. She was later diagnosed with Dyslexia, and other learning disabilities. Getting help for her conditions opened up a new world.

Today, she is the author of When Too Much Isn’t Enough, Ending the Destructive Cycle of AD/HD and Addictive Behavior and The Link Between ADD & Addiction, Getting the Help You Deserve. She has written numerous articles, and contributed chapters on AD/HD and co-occurring addictions to books focusing on criminology, and women with AD/HD. In 2005, she has released three videos, The Truth About AD/HD, ADHD and Addiction and The Bottom Line: Recovery or Relapse. She has earned a bachelors degree in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Counseling from the American Academy of Family Studies.

Wendy Richardson has devoted the last decade of her 30 year career in mental health to treating people with AD/HD and co-occurring addictions, eating disorders and behavioral addictions. She is inspired and motivated by her personal and professional passion to help others whose lives have also been affected by AD/HD and addiction. Wendy believes that educating others about AD/HD through her writing, international speaking and trainings are huge steps towards smashing stigmas, reducing shame, and helping people get the treatment they deserve.

She practices the suggestions that she makes to those who have the active type of AD/HD. She keeps her brain stimulated by parenting two teenagers, and traveling to exotic parts of the world. She is a nature and wildlife photographer, a rock and mountain climber, enjoys hiking intense trails, she is also an avid downhill skier.