What is ADHD Life Coaching?

Dr. Hallowell explains ADHD coaching as:

“ADHD Coaching gets you on track and keeps you on track. It is different from therapy. Coaching helps people improve their performance and focus in the here and now. Coaches actively help you build scaffolding and develop strategies to better perform at work, school, and in interpersonal relationships. They help you develop a plan and then hold you accountable for following through with that plan.”

“ADHD coaching provides the external structure and support to change behavior, monitor progress and create a sense of accountability. Coaching helps you achieve your goals by breaking down and simplifying all the specific tasks you need to complete first in order to reach those goals. Our certified professional coaches work with you in a non-judgmental partnership that emphasizes practical tools for time management, planning, organizing, prioritizing, and decision-making systems for effective daily living.”

What Can Coaches Do for People With ADHD?

An ADHD coach is a “life coach” specifically trained to help adults (and teens and kids) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to better manage their lives.

  • As an ADHD coach, I can help you:

  • Get organized

  • Assist with time blindness

  • Task paralysis

  • Stress management

  • Anxiety

  • Goal setting

  • Prioritization

  • Planning and scheduling

  • Impulse control

  • Self-awareness

  • Education about ADHD

Benefits of Coaching by ACO

  • Numerous, varied studies examined diverse outcomes of coaching for ADHD. Findings include the following:

    • Improvements in ADHD symptoms and executive functioning related behaviors:

    • Improved social behaviors in elementary school students.

    • Improved grades in high school and college students

    • Improvement in learning and study skills in college students

    • Improved executive functioning skills and/or goal attainment in college students (not studied in adults)

    • Improvements in distractibility, and inattentive, social, and behavioral factors in adults

  • Clinical, symptom and/or functional improvement in all age groups

  • Improvements in self-esteem, well-being and quality of life:

  • Improved self-esteem in teens and college students

  • Improved life satisfaction in elementary, high school and and college students

  • Improved wellbeing in elementary and college students (not studied in teens or adults)

Summary

  • While results for individuals may vary, the research suggests that, across differing age groups, study designs, and approaches to coaching, including both individual and group coaching models: Coaching appears effective in supporting improvements in many realms of functioning for individuals with ADHD across the age span. ADHD coaching can be a stand-alone intervention or a component of comprehensive, multimodal treatment of ADHD.

Sources

Wright, S. D. (2014). ADHD coaching matters: The definitive guide. College Station, TX: ACO Books.

Tuttle, L. J., Ahmann, E., & Wright, S. D. (January, 2016). Emerging evidence for the efficacy of ADHD coaching. Poster presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of APSARD (The American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders), Washington, DC.

Ahmann, E., Saviet, M. & Tuttle, L. J. (October, 2017). Emerging evidence for the effectiveness of coaching for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Poster awarded Honorable Mention at the 2017 Coaching in Leadership and Healthcare Conference, Institute of Coaching/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

© 2018 Created for ACO by Ahman, E., Saviet, M. & Tuttle, L.J.