ADHD and addiction treatment · Hopkins, Minnesota
ADHD Treatment in Minneapolis, Minnesota
An outpatient ADHD treatment center approach for adults whose attention and impulse struggles have become tangled with alcohol or drug use.
Northwoods Haven Recovery treats attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder alongside substance use disorders on an outpatient basis for adults across Minneapolis and the Twin Cities, from our center in Hopkins. Group therapy built for people who lose the thread, individual counseling with your own licensed alcohol and drug counselor, and skills for the impulsivity, restlessness, and disorganization that so often drive the drinking or the using. Then you go home.
In-network with Minnesota Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, HealthPartners, UnitedHealthcare, and Medica
ADHD and substance use
Two conditions that hide each other. One plan.
ADHD and substance use
Often found together, treated together.
Adults with ADHD are far more likely than most to develop a substance use disorder, and many never knew they had ADHD until treatment for the substance made it obvious. We treat both together.
Both
ADHD and substance use treated together, in the same plan
2 to 4
Months in IOP, then the Relapse Prevention Program step-down
18+
Adults, including young adults
0
Nights away from home. Every level of care here is outpatient
What ADHD is
ADHD is a difference in how the brain manages attention and impulse, and substances often step in to manage it
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition, meaning the brain’s systems for attention, working memory, impulse control, and motivation developed differently and stay that way into adulthood. It shows up as trouble starting and finishing tasks, losing track of time and objects, restlessness, acting before thinking, and an emotional volume that runs higher than other people’s. In adults the hyperactivity often quiets into an inner restlessness, which is one reason so many people reach their thirties or forties without a diagnosis.
ADHD and substance use travel together for understandable reasons. Alcohol and cannabis quiet a brain that will not settle. Stimulants like cocaine, methamphetamine, or a friend’s Adderall produce the focus and calm that people with ADHD rarely feel on their own, at least for a while. Impulsivity makes it harder to stop at one drink, and years of feeling like you are failing at ordinary life makes the relief harder to give up. None of this is a character flaw. It is a brain that found a shortcut and a shortcut that turned into a disorder.
At Northwoods Haven Recovery we treat ADHD as it shows up in addiction treatment: we build structure into the program, teach skills for impulse and attention, and treat the shame that comes with both diagnoses. We do not diagnose ADHD or prescribe medication for it. If you have a diagnosis and a prescriber, that care continues alongside ours. If you suspect ADHD and have never been evaluated, we will say so and help you find an evaluation while your recovery work begins.
Who this treatment is for
We treat ADHD alongside substance use, not on its own. If you are looking for an ADHD evaluation, medication management, or ADHD coaching without a substance use concern, a dedicated provider is the better fit, and we will point you toward one. Every caller leaves with resources.
Our space
Inside our outpatient treatment center in Hopkins, Minnesota
A safe haven should feel like one. Our suite on Green Oak Drive looks out over water and trees, and the rooms where groups meet were built to feel calm, comfortable, and homey. Not clinical, not institutional. You are more than your diagnosis here, and the space is meant to say so before anyone does.
The lounge
Where people land and catch their breath before group.
The group room
Three hours a day, in a circle, with people who understand.
The view
Water and treeline out every window: the northwoods, in the metro.
Another Group Room
Three hours a day, in a circle, with people who understand.
Quiet corners
Somewhere to sit with a thing before you say it out loud.
Room to breathe
Daylight and treeline out every window. No clinical fluorescence.
Signs and symptoms
Signs ADHD and substance use may be feeding each other
Many adults learn they have ADHD only after the substance is out of the way and the restlessness is still there. If several of these fit, both deserve attention.
Cognitive
Attention and follow-through
Starting things and not finishing them, losing hours to distraction, missing appointments and deadlines, and a lifelong sense of underperforming relative to your ability.
Behavioral
Impulse and restlessness
Acting before thinking, interrupting, quick decisions you regret, an inner motor that will not idle, and trouble stopping once you start, including with alcohol or drugs.
Pattern
The substance as a tool
Drinking or using cannabis to slow your mind down, using stimulants to focus or get through work, or noticing that your use spikes when the unstructured hours do.
Consequences
The wreckage
Jobs lost to disorganization or conflict, relationships strained by forgetfulness or emotional outbursts, money trouble, driving incidents, and shame that the substance temporarily quiets.
How the two interact
Why untreated ADHD makes recovery harder, and what treating both looks like
Untreated ADHD is one of the most reliable predictors of trouble in addiction treatment. Impulsivity makes cravings harder to sit with. Trouble with planning makes relapse prevention plans hard to follow. Restlessness makes sitting in a group feel impossible, and forgetfulness makes appointments slip. People then read every missed session or slip as further proof that they cannot do this, when the real problem is that nobody treated the ADHD. Substance use, meanwhile, makes ADHD worse: alcohol and cannabis dull attention and memory further, stimulant crashes wreck sleep and mood, and the chaos of active addiction removes every external structure that had been holding things together.
There is also the question of stimulant medication. Prescribed ADHD medication, taken as prescribed and managed by a medical provider, is not a substance use disorder, and people with a substance use history can be treated for ADHD safely under good medical care. That decision belongs to you and your prescriber. What we ask is that you tell us about it during the assessment so your plan accounts for it, and that you tell us honestly if a prescription has ever turned into something else. Misuse of prescribed stimulants is its own pattern, and we treat it.
Treating both at once looks like this at Northwoods Haven Recovery: groups that run on predictable structure with the same people each session, individual counseling that helps you build the routines and reminders your brain does not generate on its own, DBT skills for impulsivity and emotional intensity, CBT for the self-critical thinking that ADHD leaves behind, and a relapse prevention plan written in a form you will actually use. Sobriety also tends to reveal the ADHD more clearly, which is why many people pursue an evaluation during treatment rather than after.
If you are in crisis right now
If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or call 911. Both are available every hour of every day. Treatment here can begin once you are safe, and we will be glad to hear from you.
Who it is for
Outpatient ADHD and addiction treatment is probably the right fit if you
- Have an ADHD diagnosis, or a strong suspicion of one, and your drinking or drug use has become a way to manage it
- Have tried addiction treatment before and struggled to stay with it because of restlessness, disorganization, or impulsivity nobody addressed
- Misuse a prescribed stimulant, or use someone else's, and want treatment that understands why without treating you like a stereotype
- Take ADHD medication from a prescriber and want a program that accounts for it rather than ignoring it
- Have a job, a family, or school you are not willing to step away from for weeks to get treatment
Not sure yet
A comprehensive assessment answers it.
A chemical use assessment establishes whether you meet criteria for a substance use disorder, screens for co-occurring conditions including attention and impulse concerns, and identifies the level of care that fits, here or somewhere better suited to you. We do not diagnose ADHD; if the assessment suggests an evaluation would help, we will say so and help you find one. If you already have an assessment, send it over and we will review it instead of repeating it.
For families
About half our calls are from someone else.
You can ask a question without committing anyone to anything, and family involvement is part of the work when the client wants it.
How we treat it
How ADHD and addiction treatment works at Northwoods Haven Recovery
ADHD shapes how the program is built around you: more structure, more reminders, skills for impulse. It does not change the level of care or the counselors you work with. Relapse prevention planning covers the ADHD as well as the substance.
Step one
Chemical use assessment
An hour with a licensed counselor that maps the substance use, screens for co-occurring conditions, and lands on a level of care. If an ADHD evaluation would help, we say so and help you find one.
Where everyone starts
Most people start here
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Three-hour groups with predictable structure, individual counseling with your own counselor, and DBT and CBT skills for impulse, attention, and the thinking that follows years of ADHD. About two to four months.
Explore IOP →
Then
Relapse Prevention Program
Ten to twelve weeks of low-intensity outpatient care with the same counselors. A written plan built for a brain that needs it written down, and support while the new routines take hold.
Explore relapse prevention →
Therapies
Evidence-based addiction therapies, taught as options, not prescriptions.
We’ll walk you through every approach we use and why, then build your plan around the ones that fit your beliefs and your life. No single pathway, no ideology, no judgment.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Find the thought patterns that drive use, and learn to interrupt them.
Dialectical behavior therapy
Skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and hard relationships.
Acceptance & commitment therapy
Move toward what you actually value, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Motivational interviewing
Your reasons for changing, in your words. Nobody lectures you here.
Individual counseling
Your own licensed counselor, where the plan gets built and adjusted.
Group therapy
Three hours a day with people who know the terrain you’re crossing.
Addiction counseling
One-on-one counseling with your own chemical dependency counselor.
Trauma-informed care
Care that accounts for what happened to you, not what’s wrong with you.
Relapse prevention and aftercare planning run through every level of care rather than sitting off to the side, and whole-person care means mental health psychoeducation happens alongside all of it.
Mental health
Co-occurring mental health conditions we treat alongside addiction
Treating one and ignoring the other does not work. Northwoods Haven Recovery treats co-occurring mental health conditions alongside chemical dependency programming. If your needs are mental-health-primary, a program built for that will serve you better, and we will help you find one.
Trauma and PTSD
Care that accounts for what happened to you, not what is wrong with you.
Depression
The loop between using and feeling worse, treated from both ends at once.
Anxiety
Using to quiet it works for an hour and costs more than that.
Bipolar disorder
Care that steadies mood episodes while chemical dependency programming continues.
ADHD
Structure and skills for adult ADHD when stimulants, alcohol, or cannabis became the coping strategy.
Something else?
If a mental health condition is tangled with substance use, tell us. We treat both together or help you find who can.
Substance use
Every substance use disorder we treat in Minnesota
Seven groups, one outpatient path. The substance shapes the withdrawal risk and the early weeks, not the level of care or the counselors you work with.
The most common reason people call us, and the one most often hidden behind a functioning life.
Prescription opioids, heroin, and the fentanyl that now contaminates most of the illicit supply. Detox often comes first. We do not provide it, but we help you find it.
Methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription stimulants. Group work is where most of the traction comes from.
Benzodiazepines, sleep medications, and other prescriptions that started as treatment. Stopping abruptly can be dangerous, so a medical provider guides the taper.
Legal does not mean harmless. Cannabis use disorder is a real diagnosis.
LSD, ecstasy and MDMA, ketamine, and PCP. Usually part of a wider pattern, which is what the assessment sorts out.
Inhalants, nitrous oxide, and substances that show up faster than the research does.
Not on the list?
This list is not a filter. Call us and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit, and help you find who is if we are not.
Paying for treatment
Insurance-covered addiction treatment that's accessible to anyone who wants it.
Medicaid was the first network we joined, on purpose. We’re also in-network with major commercial plans. We’ll verify your benefits and tell you plainly what your plan covers before you commit to anything.
Minnesota Medicaid
Blue Cross Blue Shield
HealthPartners
UnitedHealthcare
Medica
Hennepin Health
Private pay accepted
Not listed? Call and we'll check.
Common questions
Questions people ask about ADHD and addiction treatment
If yours is not here, ask us directly. We would rather tell you honestly that we are not the right fit than have you find out later.
LegitScript Certified
Verified addiction treatment provider
Do you treat ADHD on its own?
No. Northwoods Haven Recovery treats ADHD alongside substance use disorders, as part of chemical dependency programming. If you want an ADHD evaluation, medication management, or coaching and do not have a substance use concern, a dedicated ADHD provider is the better fit, and we will help you find one.
Can you diagnose ADHD?
No. Diagnosing ADHD is a medical or psychological evaluation that we do not provide. Our chemical use assessment screens for attention and impulse concerns alongside other co-occurring conditions, and if an evaluation would help, we will say so and help you find one while your recovery work begins.
Can I keep taking my ADHD medication in treatment?
Medication decisions belong to you and your prescriber. We do not prescribe, adjust, or stop medication. Many people with a substance use history are treated for ADHD safely under good medical care. Tell us what you take during the assessment so your plan accounts for it.
What if my problem is misusing Adderall or another stimulant?
That is a substance use disorder and we treat it, whether the prescription was yours or someone else’s. Having ADHD does not make stimulant misuse impossible, and misusing a stimulant does not mean you do not have ADHD. Both can be true, and the assessment sorts out what is going on.
Why does ADHD make it harder to stay sober?
Impulsivity makes cravings harder to sit with, trouble with planning makes relapse prevention plans hard to follow, and restlessness makes structured treatment feel impossible. When those are treated as ADHD rather than as a lack of willpower, most people do far better.
How do you adapt treatment for ADHD?
Predictable group structure with the same people each session, individual counseling that builds routines and reminders, DBT skills for impulsivity and emotional intensity, CBT for self-critical thinking, and a relapse prevention plan written in a form you will actually use. Mental health psychoeducation runs through the whole program.
Can I keep working during treatment?
That is what outpatient care is built for. Programming is scheduled around work, school, and family rather than in place of them, and most people keep their jobs throughout. Many people with ADHD find the added structure of several sessions a week helps the rest of the week hold together too.
Does insurance cover ADHD and addiction treatment?
We are in-network with Minnesota Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, HealthPartners, UnitedHealthcare, and Medica. Give us your plan information on the first call and we will verify your benefits and tell you plainly what is covered before you commit to anything.
Related articles
Related reading on ADHD, stimulants, and recovery
Getting started
How to get started: four steps, no waiting eleven days.
Reaching out doesn’t commit you to anything. It means you asked a question, and we answered it.
01
Call
We listen to what’s going on and where you are in the process. No script, no pressure.
02
Chemical use assessment
A comprehensive assessment to determine diagnosis and the level of care that fits.
03
Referral to the right care
Ideally with us. If another program fits you better, we’ll connect you to it.
04
Intake
Programming starts immediately after intake. Already have an assessment? Send it over and we’ll review it.
Your team
Meet the counselors who answer the phone and guide your treatment.
Take the first step
When you're ready, we're here.
Reaching out doesn’t mean you’ve committed to anything. It means you’re asking a question, and we’ll answer it honestly, even if the answer points somewhere else.
100% confidential
Insurance verified fast
No commitment to ask
Outpatient only
Referring professionals
Send a comprehensive assessment, plus treatment plan reviews, discharge summary, med list, and insurance information if applicable. A list, not a portal.
Visit us in Hopkins
Northwoods Haven Recovery
5900 Green Oak Drive, Ste 306
Hopkins, MN 55343