By Carole Dwelly (edited from original).
An ADHD coach is a life coach, a trained professional, who is tailored to help, specifically, anyone who has ADHD.
Coaching focuses on practical ways to problem solve within a non-judgmental safe space, and allows an unconditional support to aid the general well-being and health of the client/coachee.
When we have a clearer understanding of the neurobiology and how differently our brains work, it can help to be more accepting and gentler with ourselves, and this can lead to more flourishing and less frustration.
A coach can act as a sounding board to understand how your ADHD is impacting your life while recognizing your talents together and allowing new strategies to prevail where you previously struggled. We can help identify goals, look to the future, make plans, get motivated, tap into your core strengths, and help you use those strengths to thrive. Coaching can shed light on the all too common negative thinking ADHDers suffer from, re-framing the narrative into positive, action-based affirmations and bolstering our sense of self.
The most common challenges are:
- Executive functioning
- Goal setting
- Impulsivity
- Self-sabotage,
- Memory issues,
- Relationships
- RSD (rejection, sensitivity, dysphoria)
- Emotional dysregulation (including anger outbursts, irritability)
- Time management
- Confidence and self-belief
- Procrastination
A great coach can be there to guide you in all of these areas. They are there to encourage you to believe in yourself, even when you don’t. Imagine how often have you had the opportunity to only focus on yourself while simultaneously being supported and your needs nurtured?
What are the benefits of coaching?
If you are ready for change and committed to doing the work, there are huge benefits to coaching. Maintaining a regular amount of sessions is also essential, simultaneously helping in the area of time management too!
(Typically six, one-hour, 1-1 sessions are recommended.)
Understanding yourself and your ADHD will lead to recognizing your talents and strengths, enabling you to let go of the cycle of blame. By highlighting your attributes to work alongside your personal values, it will empower you to combat the negative cycles and will improve motivation and enhance your potential.
Whether you are diagnosed or not, coaching has a positive impact by helping you to adopt more positive behaviours.
It can boost:
- Confidence and self-esteem
- Self-belief
- Motivation
- Problem solving
- Organizational skills and focus
- Overall well-being and sense of self
The professional medical world also advocates that coaching helps manage traits instead of, or in conjunction with, medication. (If you are taking medication to help with your ADHD.)
From the perspective of the client/coachee, there is no quick fix or magic wand, and personal work is required to push yourself out of your comfort zone in order to achieve the results. ADHD or any neurological condition is for life, so embracing change and asking for help is a courageous move as well as being paramount in being part of the support network alongside your personal journey and growth.
It is very common to find ADHD coaches also with ADHD, bringing into the coaching fold not only their professional attributes but their lived experience, adding the extra bonus of empathy for the coachee to feel but also a sense of relief that they are really being seen, heard and understood. This helps develop a rapport between the coach and coachee, knowing immediately they have a deeper understanding of the issues you encounter.
Oh no! Not the dreaded ADHD Tax!
If you are worried about the cost of coaching or simply not believing that you are worth spending the money on, let me explain something called the ADHD tax!
ADHD tax is the overall annual cost that having the neurological condition has on your pocket!
Just think of all those costly mistakes made because impulsivity got in the way, forgetfulness, or the novelty wore off. Forgetting to cancel a subscription and having to pay more for something you already don’t want, or receiving a fine on top of a late payment of a bill. Countless books that never get read and the latest gadgets that never see the light of day. Or signing up for an expensive yearlong subscription at the local gym. Paying a fortune for the workout gear from head to foot, only to manage a meagre one or two visits before that venture fizzled out. And the list goes on and on and on!
To all you ADHD brains out there, support is available so don’t feel isolated. You are not alone, and you don’t have to continuously suffer the sometimes debilitating daily effects of living with ADHD. Help is at hand to guide you and illuminate the way to improving your mind set and believing that you are enough and your brain is an amazing part of who you are.
Author disclaimer: Coaching isn’t therapy or counselling.
This blog was edited from the original, and also published as an article in the health section in The Portugal News, January 10, 2025.
Featured photo credit, © Prateek Katyal.
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