You’re not alone! Whether you searched “ad hd,” “add,” or “I can’t focus help,” welcome—let’s talk about what ADHD actually looks like and how coaching can help. In a nutshell, ADHD is defined as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It’s an inadequate name for a neurodevelopmental condition that affects all areas of a person’s life, at most life stages.  It can be viewed as a disorder or a difference, present as hyperactive or inattentive or both, and really at its core is a collection of brain and neurochemical differences that always include dopamine insufficiency and unreliability.

People with ADHD typically have executive function issues that can prevent them from achieving their goals.  However, many people who struggle with executive function don’t have ADHD, but can still benefit from the strategies and open thinking learned in ADHD Coaching.

It’s commonly understood that Executive Function means organizational skills, planning, and management of tasks. What’s not well known is that Emotional Regulation is a part of Executive Function: it’s seated in the same structure of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, and our ability to manage our feelings is not cognitively different than our ability to manage a project.  Many ADHD people find, with coaching, that the first barrier to productivity isn’t the task, it’s our big feelings about the task.  Let’s deal with those big feelings so we can get the darn thing done!  

Mostly, we share pictures of our pets.  No, I’m kidding.  We go over the Intake forms, and I get to hear all the ways that ADHD is making things harder than they should be, and hopefully learn what your strengths are, too.  We decide on some goals for coaching, and how many times a month and how long we need to see each other in order to get you where you want to be. And maybe share just one pet picture.

Well, as defined by Oxford dictionary, interoception is “sensation arising from stimuli produced within an organism, especially in the gut and other internal organs; perception or awareness of the inner state of the body”.  In normal human language, what that really means is the ability to perceive your body feelings, and by extension, emotions that might arise as a result of your body feelings.  A really typical neurodiverse problem is not noticing, or being able to name or act on your feelings.  Have you ever gone 10 hours without eating and not noticed hunger?  Or did you not notice you were angry until you were losing your mind?  That’s linked to problems with Interoception - and we can work on it.  It’s so much easier to eat, or to avoid a big meltdown if we notice the feelings earlier!