How my coaching
sessions work
How my coaching
sessions work
Getting Started - the first step
Before any coaching begins, the coach and client need to meet (online or in person) for the Initial Contact session - a free 30 minute meeting.
The session allows the client (you) and the coach (me) to meet each other.
This is vital so that you can:
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share your aims and current situation,
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meet me, your coach, to gauge how we will work together going forward
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ask any questions you may have
Also the session allows me to:
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begin to understand your situation,
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explain a little bit about how I work
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explain the key principles of an effective coaching relationship
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assess if my coaching will be useful and appropriate
By the end of the half-hour session, we will usually book the first coaching session, and the client will will be sent a coaching contract (which is available to download before the meeting, if you want to see it before), and the ways to pay for the coaching sessions.
After the Initial contact session, we will set up weekly hour-long sessions - usually in an 8 week block or if preferred in a 4 week block.
The Coaching Process - a simplified explanation
Each week we will meet (on zoom or in person) for a session lasting one hour.
Each session will focus on you, your aims and the progress you are making to achieve the goals that you will set yourself.
We will discuss your situation in detail. My close listening and careful questioning will help you to consider carefully your options. Through Our exchange, our engaged focus on you and your present situation - having the non-judgemental ear of a person that you trust, and an independent voice to offer support, You’ll find yourself able to see your situation with fresh perspective, clear focus, and you will begin to see solutions, formulate strategies to make the positive changes you need.
The situation or situations you choose to focus on could be work-related, specific personal frustrations with ADHD, about your relationships with certain people. It could involve financial concerns, perhaps you may be seeking ways to organise your daily life more effectively - it really depends on you, the client - what you most want to discuss, your priorities - and what you feel you most want to change in your life.
Whatever the concerns, aims or goals that surface in the session, I will, through questioning and discussion, help you focus on designing your own route to achieving the positive change that you seek. You will plan the steps needed to overcome your obstacles, you’ll plan how to navigate any potentially tricky situations ahead of you and you’ll design a clear route to achieve your goals.
You will decide the steps you need to take next. We will discuss them - carefully considering one. The discussion will flag and often iron out any potential snags - helping you find the best way to approach each task. Towards the end of the session, you will commit to undertake certain actions before the next session.
Because the process supports you to find your own solutions, you will nearly always end each session brimming with excitement and motivation - itching to put your plans into action.
At the start of our following session, we will discuss the progress made since the previous session.
By reflecting on what has gone well, you have time to acknowledge your own progress. You have a moment to realise you have accomplished the goals you set yourself. You will feel a growing confidence in your own ability to take control of the tricky situations life can throw at us and a growing confidence in your own ability to make long-lasting positive changes to your life.
And, by discussing tasks that may have proven trickier or the tasks that have not been achieved, you will consider what prevented you completing these tasks successfully, and thereby you will find, through reflection and discussion, a new way forward either to tackle the situation more effectively next time or to design different steps to take to achieve your aims.
How my coaching approach differs: my tailored approach for adults with ADHD
As with good coaching practice, my coaching will be tailored to fit the client, you.
At the end of each 8 week block, I prefer to spend the last session in the block reflecting on the progress made from 8 weeks ago, and give time to the client to appreciate how far they have come, how much has been achieved and how they feel now. I feel it is vital, especially as my clients have ADHD, to ensure some time is taken to discuss the successes, review the progress that has been made and acknowledge the changes that have been achieved. It is common otherwise, for those of us with ADHD. for us to ignore our achievements and only fixate on the challenges ahead.
The commitment of spending one hour a week discussing your life, your aims and the potential ways to realise your goals, is incredibly important, useful and empowering - especially today, when we live our lives at such a pace and filled with digital distractions. Often one of the most disabling elements of living with ADHD is the hectic overwhelming sense of not having any time to make changes or improvements to our lives - a sense we are on a daily neverending hamster-wheel.
As a coach of adults with ADHD, I also am attuned to the common scripts that plague people with the condition. I will help you to limit and stop tendencies of self-criticism. I will flag up to you any moments when the ADHD sufferer's negative voices surface. I will help support you to understand how the condition often causes self-doubt, emotional misunderstandings and I will support you to learn to control and avoid such self-defeating thinking. I will also be happy to suggest any relevant "life-hacks" that can help with day-to-day ADHD-caused annoyances.
How my coaching approach differs - healthy and balanced life
I do endeavour to support you to ensure you achieve a balanced approach to life and to consider the following key elements when we work together:
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health
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work
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relationships
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play
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creativity
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finances
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adventure
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learning
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purpose
It is vital to check in and revisit each of these important elements to make sure you don't neglect or ignore any as you work to realise your key goals.