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Finishing an ADHD course gives you the framework. What it cannot give you is the experience of sitting in a real assessment and watching an experienced clinician make decisions in real time. That is the gap a clinical observership is designed to fill.
This guide explains what an ADHD observership is, what you actually see, what it does and does not count towards, and how to get the most from one.
The jump from certificate to first independent assessment is often harder than the course itself.
An observership is a placement in which you watch a qualified clinician at work. You are present for real clinical contact, but you are there to learn, not to treat. You do not run the assessment, make the diagnosis or prescribe.
Because a real patient is involved, the patient has to agree to an additional clinician being present. Confidentiality applies to everything you see and hear.
NICE guideline NG87 says ADHD should only be diagnosed by a specialist psychiatrist, paediatrician or other appropriately qualified healthcare professional with training and expertise in diagnosing ADHD. Our guide to who can diagnose ADHD in the UK sets out what that means in practice.
Training builds knowledge. Expertise comes from seeing how that knowledge is applied to real people, whose histories are rarely as tidy as a case study. An ADHD assessment depends on judgement at almost every stage:
These are hard to learn from slides. They are much easier to learn by watching someone do them well.
In the Global ADHD Network Observership Academy, you join a senior clinician by secure video link while they carry out genuine private ADHD assessments and, where applicable, titration reviews. There are no role-plays and no recorded cases.
You see the whole assessment unfold, including:
Where a titration review is included, you may also see how one is conducted. Our adult ADHD titration protocol sets out what a titration plan should specify.
Each session includes protected debrief time with the supervising clinician. This is often where the most useful learning happens. You can ask why a question was phrased a certain way, why one diagnosis was ruled out, or how the clinician would word the report.
It is also the time to ask the questions you would not want to ask in front of a patient.
An observership is valuable, but it helps to be clear about its limits:
The Observership Academy is designed for clinicians who have already trained with us, so that what you see builds on a framework you already know.
The Observership Academy currently offers two remote placements, each delivered live with a paired clinician:
Every placement comes with a CPD certificate. Limited places are released each month, and you are paired one-to-one with a senior assessor matched to your background.
Clinicians who complete a full-day observership can ask for a personal written reference from the supervising clinician. Because the day includes extended discussion and a closing reflective conversation, the supervising clinician can comment on your clinical curiosity and professionalism, based on the discussion across the day.
That can help when you apply for clinical roles, ICB contracts or insurer panels, where a certificate on its own often says little about how you work.
Each placement involves a patient consenting in advance, matching you to the right clinician and case mix, and confidentiality and information governance arrangements, including a non-disclosure agreement. Teaching alongside a live assessment also slows the session for the assessing clinician.
The fee covers that coordination and protects the placement for clinicians who want to make full use of it.
Many clinicians start with our ADHD Assessor Training course, and many go on to the ADHD Prescribing and Management course. An observership comes after that, when you are preparing to assess on your own.
For the full route from training to your first ADHD role, see our guide on how to become an ADHD assessor in the UK.
An observership will not make you an assessor on its own. What it does is show you how an experienced clinician handles the parts of an assessment that training can only describe: the uncertain history, the competing explanations and the conversation at the end.
You can read more and register your interest on the Observership Academy page. If you are not sure whether you are ready for a placement, contact our team and we will talk it through with you.
