The Race Car Brain
A Ferrari engine with bicycle brakes. In one focused webinar, Isabel Fraser turns that picture into five evidence-based, developmentally-staged strategies you can use on Monday - all grounded in the empirical literature.
A powerful engine and brakes that are still being built
“A person with ADHD has the power of a Ferrari engine but with bicycle brakes. Strengthening the brakes is the name of the game.”
It's the picture the psychiatrist Ned Hallowell has used for decades and it's not just kind, it's neurologically honest, mapping closely onto Barkley's model of ADHD as a disorder of inhibition and self-regulation. This webinar uses it as a shared language with families and children, then puts evidence-based strategy underneath every part of it.
The reframe changes everything: these children usually know what to do - the brakes just don't engage in time. So the work isn't to install willpower. It's to strengthen the brakes.
Powerful, fast, not faulty
Energy, drive, speed of thought, the capacity to hyperfocus - real strengths to build on, not symptoms to suppress.
Inhibition, still developing
Stopping, waiting, holding the plan in mind. This is where the difficulty lives and where every strategy does its work.
Practical, staged, and grounded in the evidence
No theory for its own sake. You'll leave with a clear framework, the clinical language, and concrete moves matched to a child's developmental stage.
Five ways to strengthen the brakes
The spine of the webinar - each strategy clearly named, mapped onto the metaphor, and tied to the literature.
Psychoeducation
Assessment-informed formulation and externalising, matched to the child's age - so the family stops blaming the driver.
Parent Training
Behavioural parent training and the Regulated Parenting Model™ - first-line for preschoolers, with named, evidence-based programmes.
Self-Regulation
The pause, cooling the engine, co-regulation and emotion coaching - concrete, practised skills, honestly evidenced.
Organisation & CBT
Externalising time and memory, task initiation, and the CBT bridge that retrains a teenager's negative self-talk.
Identity & Team
Repairing self-esteem, re-authoring the story, and working with parents and school inside multimodal care.
Three exercises
Hands-on exercises - the ABC Plan, the Engine Gauge & Cool-Down, and a plan that runs itself - to take straight into your sessions.
Evidence you can stand behind with families
Built for clinicians who work with young people
This is for you if…
- You're a psychologist, counsellor, social worker or allied-health clinician seeing children and adolescents
- You want clear, evidence-based strategies for ADHD rather than generic behaviour tips
- You value knowing where the evidence is strong, modest, or absent and being able to say so
- You want concrete language and exercises you can use in your very next session
Good to know
- This is skills-informed training for generalist practice - not certification
- It is not a diagnostic protocol, and confers no authority to diagnose or prescribe
- Deliver everything within your own scope, training and supervision
- It complements, and sits alongside, the medical pathway for ADHD
Isabel Fraser
Isabel Fraser
Isabel is a clinical psychologist and co-founder of the Clinical Psychology Resource Centre, and a Psychology Board of Australia board-approved supervisor. She works with children, adolescents and families, and is known for a warm, practical style that helps clinicians turn the evidence into everyday practice.
In this webinar she walks you through the framework step by step - clear, honest about the evidence, and built to be used in your very next session.
Get the Race Car Brain course
Everything you need to treat ADHD in children and adolescents with confidence - the full presentation, the strategies, the exercises, and the references.
- The full 2.5-hour webinar
- Five evidence-based, developmentally-staged strategies
- Three take-away clinical exercises
- Full reference list - 31 sources, APA 7th edition
- Certificate of completion for your CPD records
Keep the strategies alive - in the Ongoing Supervision Group
The real growth doesn't happen in the training. It happens afterwards, with real cases. Join a fortnightly group so you never sit with a hard case on your own.
- Six 90-minute sessions a quarter - one every fortnight
- Live case consultation structured around the Race Car Brain strategies
- Led by two board-approved clinical supervisors
- Board-approved supervision that complements your existing arrangements
- No lock-in - billed quarterly, pause or cancel anytime
The clinicians who keep growing are, almost without exception, the ones who keep showing up to a group - so that you never have to sit with a hard case on your own.
— Isabel Fraser- Six fortnightly 90-minute sessions
- Live case consultation & supervision
- Led by Isabel Fraser & Dr Anna Cohen
- Board-approved, complementary supervision
- A standing community of child clinicians
Good things to know
Who is the webinar for?
Is it evidence-based?
Does it qualify me to diagnose ADHD or advise on medication?
What is the Ongoing Supervision Group?
Do I have to join the supervision group?
Do I get a certificate?
A magnificent engine deserves brakes that can keep up.
Start with the webinar. Stay with the group. Treat the engine with respect and build the brakes.
