10 Reasons Why I'm Training People To Become ADHD Coaches

In February, I'm launching a course to empower anybody coach people with ADHD - whether they're a coach, medical professional, teacher, therapist, parent, friend, social worker, or have ADHD themselves. Here's why:

1) More people than ever need support: but there's not enough of it

When my GP said their ADHD assessment waiting list was 7 years long, I wrote ADHD: an A to Z to help others through this experience, as I'd felt so alone myself. 5 years ago, I knew no one with ADHD - now, it seems like every single person I speak to has it, or knows someone with it.

This makes sense, as adults couldn't even be diagnosed until 2008 in the UK. Wondering whether you have ADHD is a horrific vortex to be in, drowning in the overload of information online and endlessly gaslighting yourself. Seeing someone you care about go through this must feel just as helpless, as you don't know how to support them.

People are diagnosed with ADHD when they meet the criteria of a 'disorder' - they desperately need help. The suicide risk is 5 times higher for people with ADHD, and 1 in 4 women with it have attempted to end their own lives.

My doctor recently told me how helpless they felt in only being able to refer people onto years-long waiting lists, unable to offer support in the meantime. Managers tell me how helpless they feel in being unable to know how to support people with ADHD at work. Parents say how desperate they are in not knowing how to help their children - or themselves.

This course will empower anybody to be able to cut through the confusion to provide practical support to people with ADHD.

2) An ADHD diagnosis doesn't help by itself

When you start wondering if you've got ADHD, an assessment can seem like the goal. Until you have it. Then you have a whole new set of problems: what next?

After I was diagnosed, my life initially became much worse. I questioned my entire life, and nobody else seemed to understand. I argued with my friends and family, who didn't know how to support me, because they had no understanding of how stressful it was to experience this identity crisis.

My symptoms became much worse as I started unmasking and became extremely angry at things I couldn't control, like the past. The people in my life who cared about me were just as helpless as I was.

I created this course to make things different for others. If there was one thing I needed at that time, it was someone who knew how to listen and help me to figure out what this diagnosis meant for me.

3) ADHD medication doesn't help by itself (or necessarily at all)

When I first went on ADHD medication, I became extremely unwell. This was the only 'treatment' offered by the psychiatrist charging me £400 an hour, who simply wanted to increase my dose as it 'wasn't working'.

The reason this medication didn't work was because I was so stressed out. Being told I'd have to pay £200 per month for the rest of my life to take medication to feel 'normal' felt like a tax on being unwell.

As I lost 10kg, developed acne, and had constant panic attacks, the people in my life understandably became extremely concerned. One suggested that ADHD was something invented by psychiatrists to exploit people financially. Although I met the criteria so obviously, my experience with the psychiatrist made me doubt everything, preventing me from accepting the diagnosis to move on with my life.

The medication helped me to see the mess around me more clearly, but gave me zero practical skills of how to deal with this. As a result, things spiralled out of control.

Coaching someone with ADHD isn't providing them with medical advice, but it does give them holistic tools to manage their life. As people with ADHD already have impaired self-awareness, learning how to increase this can help us to understand and address the core challenges we experience, instead of leaving us stranded. Pills do not give skills - but coaching does.

4) ADHD coaching helps people to transform their lives

It was only when I accessed ADHD coaching that I understood how to work with my brain, instead of against it - because I was taught.

Coaching moves people forward, empowering them to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. This should be accessible to everybody, regardless of how our brains are wired.

As ADHD is associated with an up to 30% developmental delay in executive functioning skills, these can be strengthened with tailored coaching. Self-motivation, organisation, planning, time-management, emotional regulation, self-awareness, memory; these things are not taught to us in ADHD-friendly ways.

I created this course to empower people to do this for people with ADHD, learning the skills, tools and techniques enabling them to do this confidently, regardless of background.

5) People with ADHD need support tailored to their unique brain wiring

When I first looked into coaching, I spoke to someone who didn't understand ADHD. This reminded me of the conversations with professionals who told me I just needed to 'try harder'.

Finding an ADHD-specific coach was my lightbulb moment: I realised there were people out there who 'got' me. Who could explain the things I couldn't even communicate myself, because I didn't have the knowledge.

Until then, I'd felt 'un-helpable'. This is something my clients often tell me, after negative experiences with therapists and doctors who invalidate their experiences. Working with someone who understands ADHD allows them to access the same support as everybody else.

I created this course to make this the norm, not the exception. Training teachers, doctors, managers, parents, relatives, coaches, and anybody who wants to know how to coach someone with ADHD will mean that nobody else feels the same sense of hopelessness that I did.

6) There isn't enough ADHD coaches, or ADHD-informed support

ADHD coaching is unique: it isn't something you typically dream of becoming from childhood. More often, it's something people fall into, maybe after being diagnosed themselves.

I trained at ADDCA, paying approximately £7000 for a course requiring hours a week of attendance for 9 months. The training I received from my own ADHD coach, and the experience I gained was most practically helpful for preparing me for this world, navigating everything from Access to Work quotes to online coaching platforms.

I have coached and trained people to become ADHD coaches, seeing them empower countless others to help themselves. As someone who strongly believes in accessibility, I wanted to make this available to everyone - so I made this course.

You don't have to become an ADHD coach, but you will feel confident in supporting people with ADHD. People will be able to find you from the ADHD Works website, regardless of whether you're an ADHD specific coach or just have this expertise as part of your wider skill-set. The world needs it more than ever.

7) Coaching is unregulated

You don't need to do this - or any - course to become a coach. This doesn't mean that you should, because coaching is an extremely vulnerable and sensitive job.

You can change somebody's life, or destroy it. Coaching gives you the power to be able to support someone to overcome their toughest challenges, but this comes with great responsibility.

People with ADHD are often amongst the most vulnerable and desperate for support. They put their trust in you to uphold your own moral duties and ethics, and to hold boundaries.

I created this course for people to be able to do so confidently and responsibly. Having an ADHD Works coaching certification means you have put in the work, effort and time to truly help people make ADHD work for them.

8) Coaching can be lonely and hard

I have felt extremely lonely in being an ADHD coach. A large part of creating this course is creating a community for mutual support, a network of ADHD coaches who can learn from each other.

In the last year of coaching, I've developed and implemented the vitally important self-care strategies to be able to give from a 'full' cup. These may be impossible to know until you understand what coaching truly involves.

One thing that puts people off becoming a coach is the fear of trusting people to help themselves. We have to set the example. Being an ADHD coach is not being a saviour: it's providing people with the tools and skills to help themselves for life, instead of doing it for them.

I created this course to help people do this whilst avoiding the complicated challenges that can arise from being a coach, such as burnout and compassion fatigue. Through the dedicated ADHD Works Coaching online community and group coaching sessions, coaches can access the vitally important continuing support to sustain the help they give to others.

9) People with ADHD need structure: so I created a 12 step strategy

Traditional coaching requires the 'client' to set the agenda. People with ADHD may often not know what they need - they just know they need help. I experienced this myself in being coached, and through coaching hundreds of people with ADHD, know the value of providing a framework for people to work with.

The first time I showed someone the 12 step strategy for coaching based on executive functioning skills impacted by ADHD, they burst into tears, saying 'IT'S PERFECT'.

I created this course to provide this framework to anybody looking to support someone with ADHD. It's a toolbox of strategies, exercises and session outlines to ensure coaches feel confident in supporting anybody through any challenges they may be experiencing.

10) ADHD Coaching is incredibly rewarding

There's no better feeling than seeing someone transform their lives through coaching. Every single day I get to see the real-life, tangible impact of my work. I get to go to sleep at night knowing I am 'being the change I want to see in the world'.

This course is a continuation of that. ADHD coaching should not be accessible for the few, but the many. Learning how to support the people in your life with ADHD will stay with you for life. Whether this becomes your full time vocation or skills you can use when needed, I am confident that if you do this course, your life will transform just as much as those you will help to do the same.

To join the ADHD Works coaching course , head here.

If you have any questions, email hello@adhdworks.info.