ADHD Coaching

What is ADHD Coaching?

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects millions of young children and teens, but also affects older kids and adults. While many adults who might have struggled with ADHD earlier in their lives find ways to cope through treatment or other means, many others don’t. Living with ADHD in adulthood can result in financial problems, difficulties with tardiness or procrastination, problems at work, difficulties in relationships, and problems with executive functioning, which includes planning, problem solving, and goal setting.

ADHD coaching is an intensive one-on-one treatment method where a person is paired with a “life coach” trained to address symptoms of ADHD through activities, exercises, and daily reminders aimed to improve planning and management skills, improve time management, improve self-esteem, plan and achieve career-oriented goals, and work on relationship skills and interpersonal communication.

The student attempts to explain a problem she is having with an upcoming assignment.

ADHD coaching is not a first line treatment for ADHD but can be a powerful tool to help form habits while taking medication and/or attending talk therapy.

Like other forms of therapy, ADHD coaching relies on healthy and effective communication. An ADHD coach and their clients work off a basis of trust and achieve long-term progress through methods that focus on accountability and consistency.

ADHD Coaching vs. Traditional Interventions

ADHD coaching is not meant to be an alternative to traditional interventions for ADHD, such as medication and talk therapy. ADHD coaching is a concurrent treatment method that attempts to focus on aspects of ADHD that are sometimes unaddressed or under-addressed by therapies that focus on the biological underpinnings of ADHD (such as medication) or the acute symptoms (impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity).

ADHD coaching helps people achieve their vocational and academic goals while in treatment for ADHD and can play an important role in improving crucial interpersonal skills and developing better emotional regulation. ADHD coaching is heavily goal-oriented, and entirely personalized. No two clients have the same exact game plan. Coaches adjust and adapt to what their clients are looking for and set short-term goals with their clients to create a roadmap to their ultimate long-term destination.

ADHD Coaching at Resolutions

When implementing ADHD coaching at Resolutions, we make sure to partner clients with coaches that best suit them. An initial conversation can give an ADHD coach greater insight into what a client is looking to accomplish while in treatment, while giving clients the opportunity to get to know their coach, ask questions of their own, and consider whether ADHD coaching is the right step for them.

Questions you might hear from an ADHD coach may include: “what changes do you want to make in your life? What kind of timeline or deadline have you set for yourself for some of these changes? Which changes would you want to prioritize? How do you usually motivate yourself to perform daily tasks?”

Learn more about how a Resolutions ADHD coaching plan can help give you better tools to cope with your ADHD.