Frequently Asked Questions
ADHD Coaching is a life-changing approach to support the needs and goals of adults with ADHD, and has been gaining recognition for its effectiveness in helping clients achieve right-sized results. However, if you’re new to the idea of ADHD coaching, you’re not alone!
On this page, I’ve addressed some of the questions I often get asked about ADHD coaching. I hope it helps as you consider if ADHD coaching might be right for you or someone you know.
Ready to get started?
Let’s meet to discuss your needs and goals, and see if we’d be a good fit!
Use this link to schedule a free discovery session to explore ADHD coaching with me!
Jump To:
Coming Soon:
Who do you work with?
How do I choose an ADHD coach that's right for me?
What does coaching entail? What happens when we work together?
What about Logistics?
How is ADHD coaching different from therapy?
Do you work with businesses or employers?
Are you open to connecting with other providers? (therapists, doctors, prescribers, etc.)
Do you offer any other programs or services for people with ADHD besides coaching?
Quick Answers:
-
ADHD coaches help adults with ADHD and executive functioning challenges build practical, personalized strategies for managing the ways ADHD shows up in their daily lives. ADHD coaching provides clarity, insight, and customized support to help people make real progress toward life and career goals and ambitions. See “What does an ADHD Coach do?” and “What does ADHD Coaching entail?” below for more details.
-
For many adults with ADHD, yes! My clients tell me that coaching has provided the support, insight, and strategies that other services, programs, and tools couldn't. See "Who is coaching for?" and "How do I know if an ADHD coach could help me?" below to see if it sounds like a fit for you.
-
While most clients come to coaching after receiving an ADHD diagnosis, it's not a requirement. Many come because they suspect they may have ADHD or relate to ADHD traits and challenges, and others are looking for practical support with executive functioning challenges from conditions like perimenopause. I coach through an ADHD lens, but this approach be very helpful whether or not you have a formal diagnosis.
-
Coaching and therapy serve different purposes. In short, where therapy is for healing or coping, coaching is about growth. Therapy is focused on addressing mental health disorders, diagnosis, and processing past crises and traumas. Coaching is forward-moving, practical, and action oriented. It is grounded in your strengths, and explores how you’re functioning now, examines what’s getting in the way, and helps you build practical ways to move forward in daily life and work toward the vision you have for yourself, the growth you want to see, and the goals you want to achieve.
What does an ADHD coach do?
As an ADHD coach, I help adults with ADHD and executive functioning challenges build practical, personalized strategies for managing the ways ADHD shows up in their daily lives. ADHD coaching provides clarity, insight, and customized support to help people make real progress toward their goals and ambitions.
I take a practical, holistic (whole-life), strengths-based approach to help clients with common ADHD challenges such as time management, follow-through, focus, overwhelm, procrastination, planning, prioritizing, organization, confidence, emotional regulation, and even energy management in their lives and work.
Unlike general life or productivity coaching, credentialed ADHD coaches like me start by helping you build a strong awareness and understanding of how your unique ADHD brain actually works, so that together, we can design strategies that work with your brain, not against it. As an ADHD Coach, I collaborate with you to move forward toward what you want in life. I help you pinpoint what's getting in your way, and build a clear, specific, and navigable path toward your goals. Along the way, I help you build knowledge, systems and skills you can start using now, and that will continue to be useful throughout your life, long after coaching ends.
Who is ADHD Coaching for?
ADHD coaching could be a great fit for you if:
You know you’re capable of success, but feel held back or frustrated due to challenges related to ADHD.
You're high-achieving on the outside, but on the inside, you’re overwhelmed, uncertain, and/or stuck.
You’re at a point where you want to explore what's actually meaningful to you, separate from what you've learned to perform for others. You’re ready to move from just managing appearances to living and working in a way that actually fits who you are.
You feel like you can barely keep up with all you have to manage. You’ve been handling everything on your own for years and are ready to figure out an easier way.
You're overwhelmed in your day-to-day life and want a better handle on things so you can feel less scattered.
You're in a time of change or transition (such as a new job, a move, a new phase of life). Life has become harder to manage, and your old systems aren't working anymore.
You're newly diagnosed (or newly self-identified) with ADHD and figuring out what that means for you.
You were diagnosed with ADHD as a kid and are ready for a more current, adult understanding of what having ADHD means for you now, and ways to manage it that fit this stage of life.
You've spent years masking and are tired of performing all the time instead of getting to just be yourself.
You want support to stay motivated and follow through on your goals or projects, but from someone who understands the challenges of ADHD.
You’d like to work toward meaningful goals for yourself but don't know where to start.
You know what you need to do, and maybe even how to do it, but something keeps getting in the way of actually making it happen.
You're tired of procrastinating on the things you need and want to do or accomplish, and are looking for motivation and a practical way to get started.
You're able to get started (sometimes on many ideas at once!), but struggle to see things through to the finish.
You want to better understand yourself and how your brain works, but the daily noise of life keeps getting in the way.
You've tried advice from social media, podcasts, books and videos online, as well as various systems and productivity apps, and are ready for more personalized support from a real human thought partner who can help with your specific needs and challenges.
How does ADHD Coaching help people with ADHD?
Coaching builds the self-awareness to pinpoint what you really need, then helps you turn that insight into learning, strategy, and action.
As a credentialed ADHD coach and someone who has ADHD herself, I have a deep understanding of ADHD and firsthand experience of what it’s really like. Working with someone who understands what helps and what doesn’t, and knows how to design strategies that make a real difference means:
Not having the frustrating time and energy drain that comes from explaining your experience and not knowing if it will be understood or validated (it will be!)
Getting some relief from the shame, uncertainty and/or frustration you might have experienced with other providers.
Combining your insight with knowledge of ADHD so we can pinpoint what’s at the root of your challenges and what you need to move forward
Leaving sessions feeling affirmed, equipped with new clarity, confident in yourself and your plan, motivated to get started, and excited to be taking action.
ADHD coaching can create change, skills, knowledge and insights you can use for a lifetime, by way of:
Dedicated time and mental space for processing, filtering, clarifying, determining strategies and defining a plan. Externalizing your challenges with a knowledgeable thought partner to create a clear path forward.
Directing your energy to what actually yields results. Getting clear on what “done” looks like and what is needed (and not needed) to get there. Removing obstacles and drains on your energy. Breaking larger, daunting tasks into actionable components and steps.
Real executive function support that works for your unique ADHD wiring. Building systems and strategies for planning, prioritizing, and time management that fit the way your brain works and actually stick. No more generic advice that just doesn't survive contact with your ADHD brain.
Moving away from "what's wrong with me" to "how does my brain work, and how do I work with it." Your brain doesn’t need to be fixed, as it isn’t broken. Your brain wiring is different, and it requires a mindset and approach that works with it, rather than against it.
Shifting from insight into action. Closing the gap between knowing and doing. Getting into action on the things you want to move forward.
Sustainable, personalized systems built for where you’re at now. Recognizing where you need foundational support in order to take steps toward larger goals. Strengthening your ability to reflect, remember and revisit what you already know works for you. Anchoring the strengths you already have and determining how you can use them. Carrying confidence from who you are and the success you’ve already achieved to take on new challenges.
Outsmarting procrastination and getting a strong and smart start. Defining what holds you back. Understanding overwhelm and either reducing it or putting it to good use.
Learning ways to regulate attention by finding out what you need to focus, understand and remember. Learning ways to regulate emotions so you can put your thoughts and energy into getting things done.
Increasing your follow-through skills. Creating accountability that flexes with your process, supporting you rather than shaming you.
Finding ways to enhance motivation and keep things stimulating and interesting.
Balancing your drive and ability to hyperfocus with your need to recharge (in order to avoid depletion and burnout).
Replacing the shame / avoidance cycle with curiosity, action, confidence and momentum that builds on itself.
Is ADHD coaching worth it?
For many, ADHD coaching is a genuinely life-changing investment! Clients who get the most out of coaching tend to be ready to invest time and effort, build self-awareness through reflection, consider new perspectives and approaches, and take action between sessions. Those who fully engage in the process tend to generate valuable insight, change, and strategies that they can use for a lifetime.
Clients tell me that the results they’ve seen (such as less overwhelm, less procrastination, less frustration, more energy, more motivation, more productivity, more confidence, and more satisfaction in life), are well worth the time and cost. They report feeling they’ve gotten more out of coaching than they had expected, and an excellent return on their investment.
If you've tried other approaches that didn’t help, missed the mark, or just weren’t enough, it may be very worth giving coaching a try. It’s often the thing that provides exactly what's been missing.
How do I know if an ADHD Coach could help me?
In addition to the considerations outlined in “Who is ADHD coaching for?” and “How does ADHD Coaching help people with ADHD?” above, perhaps other things you’ve tried haven’t worked as well as you had hoped:
You've tried a generic productivity coach, life coach, or executive coach, but it didn't quite fit, land, or stick.
You’ve tried therapy, and while it has helped with some things, you may feel a need for different approach than what a therapist offers. Perhaps you’ve moved past the shame of feeling there’s something wrong with you. Maybe you don’t feel the need to heal from something, but just want to better understand the reality of living with the brain you have in a positive light. Maybe you’re ready to tackle the practical and strategic aspects of living with ADHD that therapy doesn’t address, in order to figure out how to better navigate your life and achieve the goals you want to go after.
You’ve tried lots of apps, bought plenty of planners, and made all the lists, but despite the initial dopamine hit, they aren’t working like you had hoped.
You’re tired of the shame and negative judgment that so many other ADHD ‘supports’ come with! Too many services out there that are meant to help people with ADHD do more to breed shame and hold you back than to move you forward.
You’re ready to engage with support that actually fits, that understands and acknowledges the real challenges of ADHD, but also it’s strengths, and helps you build on how great you already are to live life even better.
Coming Soon!
Who do you work with?
How do I choose an ADHD coach that's right for me?
What does coaching entail? What happens when we work together?
What about Logistics? How much does ADHD coaching cost?
How is ADHD coaching different from therapy?
Do you work with businesses or employers?
Are you open to connecting with other providers? (therapists, doctors, prescribers, etc.)
Do you offer any other programs or services for people with ADHD besides coaching?