On January 2, 2026, the Chesapeake Center for Specialized Health Care in Bethesda permanently closed its doors. This Chesapeake Center closure means thousands of adults with ADHD in the Washington DC area will be impacted.

The Chesapeake Center served as a significant ADHD provider in Bethesda for years. According to reporting from The Banner, the clinic’s closure leaves patients searching for alternatives in an already-crowded market. The ripple effects extend beyond individual inconvenience. When a major provider closes, wait times at remaining clinics increase, and patients face months-long delays for initial appointments.

We’re currently accepting new patients at the Center for Neurocognitive Excellence (DCNE) with wait times of less than a week. If you’re a former Chesapeake Center patient or have been struggling to find care, read on to understand what’s driving these closures and how we can help.

Why Demand for ADHD Services Is Surging

The Chesapeake Center’s closure reflects broader systemic pressures affecting ADHD services nationwide:

Dramatic Increase in Diagnoses: According to CDC data, 7.1 million U.S. children were diagnosed with ADHD in 2022—an increase of 1 million since 2016. Among adults, diagnoses have surged even more dramatically, with 15.5 million adults diagnosed as of 2023, nearly double the 8.7 million diagnosed just five years earlier.

Better Recognition: Research from Syracuse University identifies key factors driving this increase: better awareness of inattentive-type ADHD (historically unrecognized), increased recognition in women and underrepresented groups, and pandemic disruptions that exposed previously masked symptoms. Many adults seek evaluation after their children’s diagnoses.

Medication Shortages: Since October 2022, persistent shortages of stimulant medications including Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin, and Concerta have created treatment bottlenecks. DEA-imposed production quotas haven’t kept pace with legitimate medical demand.

Workforce Challenges: Behavioral health facilities struggle with provider shortages, particularly specialists trained in ADHD assessment and treatment. The national average wait time for behavioral health services is 48 days. These staffing challenges limit capacity even when demand would justify expansion.

These national trends play out differently across regions. In the DMV area specifically, access challenges create additional barriers for people seeking ADHD care.

What This Means for ADHD Care in the DMV

The DMV area faces additional challenges beyond clinic closures. As we explored in our article on mental health services in Virginia, access to care varies significantly across the region. Maryland and Virginia residents seeking ADHD treatment often face longer wait times than those in Washington DC, where more providers offer in-person services.

The United Kingdom offers a cautionary example of what happens when demand vastly exceeds resources. Research published in BMC Psychiatry documents how NHS ADHD services stopped accepting new adult referrals due to overwhelming demand and funding constraints. Wait times stretched into years. The ADHD Foundation, a major support organization, ceased operations due to insolvency.

Similar pressures affect US providers differently, manifesting as closures, restricted intake, or months-long waitlists rather than complete service halts. But the underlying dynamic remains: rising demand, insufficient funding, and capacity limitations create access barriers that force difficult decisions.

The Challenge of Finding New Care When You Have ADHD

Losing your ADHD provider isn’t just inconvenient. You already know this. The disruption affects you neurologically in ways that make the already-difficult task of finding new care even harder.

The executive dysfunction that brought you to treatment in the first place? It’s now making the search for new care overwhelming. Researching options, making phone calls, tracking paperwork, following up—these are exactly the tasks ADHD makes hardest. Add stress and uncertainty to already-compromised executive function, and what would challenge anyone becomes nearly impossible.

You need care that works with how your brain functions, not against it. That means finding providers who understand ADHD at a neurological level and offer treatments that address root causes.

What Former Chesapeake Center Patients Should Know

If you’re searching for a new ADHD provider after the Chesapeake Center closure, you’re probably feeling frustrated, worried about continuity, and overwhelmed by the process. That reaction makes sense. Your treatment just got disrupted through no fault of your own, and now you’re expected to navigate a complex system to restore it.

The good news? We’re accepting new patients now, with wait times of less than a week.

What Makes DCNE’s Free Consultation Process Different from Other DMV Practices

Always Free: We provide this service at no cost for every service we offer—ADHD assessments, comprehensive evaluations, counseling, EMDR therapy, and neurofeedback.

Less Than a Week Wait Times: We’re currently accepting new patients with wait times of less than a week—not months. Schedule your consultation and start care quickly.

Easy Online Scheduling: Schedule your free consultation directly through our website using our SavvyCal system. No phone tag required.

Learn more about our free 15-minute consultation process and what to expect.

When evaluating any provider, look for those who understand that ADHD is neurological, not behavioral or motivational. The right provider addresses underlying brain-based causes rather than just teaching coping strategies for symptoms.

What We Offer at DCNE

If you’re coming from Chesapeake Center, you’re looking for continuity of care with providers who understand ADHD at a neurological level. Here’s what we offer:

ADHD Therapy for Adults: Specialized therapy that targets the organizational, time management, and planning challenges stemming from executive dysfunction. This builds external structures that work with how your brain actually functions.

Neurofeedback Training: Brain-based training that monitors your brainwave patterns in real time, helping you regulate the neural patterns underlying attention and impulse control. Available in-person at our Washington DC location (required for this service, regardless of where you live in the DMV).

EMDR Therapy: For adults with ADHD who also experience trauma. Trauma and ADHD often co-occur, and unresolved trauma worsens ADHD symptoms.

Comprehensive ADHD Assessment: If you need updated testing or never received formal assessment.

All approaches focus on addressing neurological causes, not just managing surface symptoms.

Ready to Find the Right ADHD Support?

If you’re looking for a new provider after the Chesapeake Center closure, if you’ve been on a waitlist for months without progress, or if your current treatment isn’t addressing the root neurological causes of your symptoms, you don’t have to navigate this alone.

We offer free consultations because we want to answer your questions about how neurofeedback and therapy can address the neurological factors underlying ADHD. No pressure, no sales pitch. Just honest conversation about what might help.

Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to talk about what you’re experiencing and whether our approach is right for you.

We’re here to make this easier, even if you don’t end up working with us.

Three Locations in the DMV Area

Washington, DC Location:

In-person and online therapy available
Neurofeedback services (in-person only)
Address: 1629 K ST NW, Suite 450 (4th floor) Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: +1 202-998-ADHD (2343)
Email: [email protected]

Baltimore Location:

Virginia Location: