How do I get an adult ADHD diagnosis in New Brunswick?

The insured route starts with a family doctor or nurse practitioner under New Brunswick Medicare

New Brunswick Medicare insures visits to physicians, and nurse practitioners employed by the Horizon and Vitalité health networks see patients at no charge in community health centres and clinics across the province. Either can assess adult ADHD. If you have a family doctor or NP, book a visit specifically as an ADHD assessment; a standard appointment is short, and most practices will extend it or run the assessment over two or three visits.

Where your provider wants a specialist opinion, the referral goes to a psychiatrist through Horizon's or Vitalité's Addiction and Mental Health Services. Non-urgent adult psychiatry waits in New Brunswick are commonly many months, with the longest waits outside Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton, and adult ADHD is rarely triaged as urgent. Community mental health centres offer walk-in single-session counselling, which can help with coping in the meantime but is not an assessment.

Nurse practitioners in New Brunswick are regulated by the Nurses Association of New Brunswick and can diagnose, order tests and prescribe, including controlled drugs once they have met the Association's requirements. Which professions hold diagnostic authority is covered in Who can diagnose ADHD in New Brunswick?.

Without a family doctor, NB Health Link, Patient Connect NB and 811 are the public doors

Many New Brunswickers have no regular provider, and the province has built services specifically for them.

• Patient Connect NB is the provincial registry for a family doctor or nurse practitioner; registering is the long-term fix, and a practice that takes you on can do the assessment.
• NB Health Link provides publicly funded primary care, by phone, video and in person at its clinics, to people on the registry while they wait for attachment. Its physicians and NPs can begin an ADHD workup and refer to psychiatry.
• Tele-Care 811 can direct you to local options and to Addiction and Mental Health Services intake in your zone, which takes self-referrals.
• Walk-in and after-hours clinics can order blood work and write a psychiatry referral but seldom conduct the assessment itself.

Registered psychologists and online clinics take self-referral and are paid out of pocket

Psychologists registered with the College of Psychologists of New Brunswick can assess and diagnose adult ADHD and are the route when you need a full psychoeducational report with cognitive testing, for example for a university accessibility office. Medicare does not cover private psychology; a full assessment spans several hours at the psychologist's hourly rate, and extended health plans often reimburse part. Psychologists do not prescribe, so if medication is a goal the report goes to a physician or NP afterwards. Bilingual assessment is available but not everywhere, so ask about language when you enquire.

Online clinics are the other self-referral route. Finding Focus provides online ADHD assessment and treatment for adults in New Brunswick: after a short online intake, you have one consultation with a licensed Canadian clinician by video, with no referral needed, from $399. The assessment follows DSM-5-TR criteria and can conclude that ADHD is not the explanation. Treatment can continue with the clinic or be handed to your family doctor or NP.

Medicare covers physician, public NP and psychiatry assessments but not private psychology or online clinics

A private diagnosis can be carried back into the public system: your family doctor or NP can accept the report and continue care, and prescriptions then fall under the New Brunswick Drug Plan or your private plan. Coverage detail is in Is an ADHD assessment covered by Medicare in New Brunswick?.

Whichever route you take, prepare the same evidence before the assessment

Every New Brunswick assessor works to DSM-5-TR criteria and CADDRA's guidelines: symptoms beginning in childhood, impairment in at least two settings, and a check for anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, substance use and other explanations. Having the material ready saves a visit on any route.

1. Gather childhood evidence: report cards, a parent's recollections, or an early school or psychology assessment.
2. Write down specific recent examples, with dates, of how attention, organization or impulsivity has cost you at work, in study or at home.
3. List current medications, past mental health diagnoses, substance use and any heart conditions.
4. Complete a screener such as the ASRS so you can speak to specific items.
5. Decide what you need afterwards: medication (physician or NP), a psychometric report (psychologist), or both.

If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 9-8-8, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline, or call 911. An ADHD assessment can wait; that cannot.

After the diagnosis, New Brunswick's Prescription Monitoring Program and drug plans shape what comes next

If medication is part of the plan, the stimulant medications used for ADHD are monitored drugs under the New Brunswick Prescription Monitoring Program, run by the Department of Health, which records every dispense and lets prescribers and pharmacists review a patient's history. Because they are Controlled Drugs Part I under federal law there are no refills, so expect a new prescription at each follow-up; part-fills can be specified so one prescription covers a longer supply in portions. Adults without employer coverage can enrol in the New Brunswick Drug Plan, which has income-based premiums; see Does New Brunswick Drug Plan cover ADHD medication?.

Ask for your documentation at the time of diagnosis: a diagnosis letter for an employer or school, and a fuller report for any clinician taking over care. It is easier to get while the assessor's notes are fresh.