ADD Coaching is the process of educating, instructing and training an individual with ADD on the pragmatic skills of living, and presenting the information in a manner that complements the ADDers learning style. As life has become more complicated, Business and Life Coaches have emerged to help with life's daily challenges. Coaches and clients engage in a continuous alliance focusing on mutually agreed upon issues, with the purpose of realizing specific goals. ADD Coaching is a specialized area within the category of Life Coaching, where the coaching process is delivered through an ADD lens with a focus on each clients particular subtype of ADD and presentation of symptoms.
A diagnosis of ADD adds another dimension to life's common demands. An ADD Coach is a Coach who has knowledge of, and training in, Attention Deficit Disorders. ADD individuals may take more effort and time to reach a goal because of the particular challenges ADD presents. An ADD Coach understands this can happen, and why. The ADD Coach is trained in specific techniques to assist ADD clients, and their families, in overcoming many of these challenges. An ADD Coach has the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to parent an ADD child. An ADD Coach helps the mother to meet the extra demands placed on her parenting skills.
The purpose of ADD Coaching is to facilitate goal setting, the execution of the means to those goals, and follow through to the realization of those goals. It is a very focused, organized and structured form of mentoring and education, carried out through the filter of ADD. The ADD Coach helps clients determine how ADD impacts behavior and individualizes strategies to address those behaviors.
Coaching and psychotherapy are not the same process. Psychotherapy employs specific therapeutic techniques, incorporating a variety of cognitive, behavioral and analytical approaches, to help one deal with explicit painful, emotional issues. Psychotherapy is generally long term and emotionally intense. Psychotherapy delves into an individual's past history and analyzes it's impact on present behavior and functioning. While an ultimately rewarding process, psychotherapy can be a long and emotionally draining process. When a client first enters therapy they may, or may not, be truly aware of their problem. The psychotherapeutic process is led by the therapist, guiding the client through a maze of personal issues, discovering the problem in the process, and shepherding the client to a place of healing. Therapy is done face to face because of the intense emotion and delicate nature of analyzing one's behaviors, past and present. Psychotherapy is a form of treatment for specific disorders and conditions.
Coaching is designed for people without compelling emotional and/or psychological issues. Coaching does not deal with painful emotional issues, and so does not need to take place face to face. Coaching deals with concrete and practical issues concerning daily living. Coaching is client led and more of a collaborative process than therapy. A coach deals with practical ways to change behavior the client wants to change. The Coach does not deal with the whys and hows of the existence of the behavior, but rather what can be done to change the behavior. Coaching is a form of mentoring, education and consulting combined.
There are times when there is a fine line between Coaching and Psychotherapy. Both disciplines are concerned with the individuals feelings but address those feelings at very different levels. The client may express feelings of frustration, anger, or lack of confidence. It is important for the Coach to have at least basic knowledge of psychopathology to distinguish between a client experiencing functional passing disappointment and clinical depression. A well trained Coach will recognize when an issue is moving into the realm of pathology and refer the client to a qualified Psychotherapist.
The client contacts the Coach and an appointment for an initial interview is set. During the interview the client shares their concerns, current challenges and with what in particular they would like help. The Coach and client, working together as a team, develop a pragmatic plan to deal with specific daily living challenges of concern to the client. Both the client and Coach take an equally active role in developing a plan that is client friendly. The client states the concerns to work on, the Coach helps clarify those concerns, set goals to address the concerns, and suggests ways to achieve those goals. Together, the Coach and client determine if the suggestions suit who the client is and if they are likely to be followed up on. The Coaching process is very individualized and specific in it's goal setting, planning, strategizing, organizing and managing. Coaching usually takes place via weekly phone appointments from 30 minutes to two hours. the average appointment time for the new client is one hour a week. Coaching sessions are supplemented with email messages on an as needed basis to help the client report on progress, ask a simple question, and/or maintain motivation and focus.
The coaching process takes as long as you, the client needs, and wants, it to take. The decision is yours and is dependent on your needs and resources.
A mom of one very severe ADD child with co-morbidities may require more coaching than a mom of three mildly ADD children. There are so many variables among individual situations that there is no "right" length of time for the coaching process. The coaching experience can vary from a one time interaction to a long term ongoing professional relationship. Some people prefer to hire a coach for a short period of time to address a specific need. Others prefer to have a long term relationship to address life goals.
During our exploratory consultation* we discuss the treatment period, coming to a mutual agreement regarding a general time line. It's unrealistic to begin coaching with a predetermined absolute time line in mind. Some clients are so ready and motivated that they move through each session flawlessly. These clients are able to conclude their coaching work in a shorter period of time than I could have estimated at the end of our first session. Likewise, some clients start out with terrific motivation and enthusiasm, but due to a variety of intervening variables, fizzle out, dragging their feet and lengthening the coaching experience far beyond what was originally anticipated.
Some clients come to coaching after years of successfully progressing through the many appropriate ADD treatments available. Coaching is just the "icing on the cake" and so their coaching needs are minimal. Others come to the process looking to the coach to oversee and manage them through the ADD maze of choosing doctors, therapists, understanding the diagnosis, making choices about medication, understanding which alternative and complimentary treatments are legitimate and which aren't, etc. These clients often benefit from a long term coaching relationship that spans several years. Wherever someone is on the continuum between these two examples determines, in part, where they fall on the coaching duration continuum.
* The first full session after the initial consult, is one to two hours long.
Coaching costs vary according to the coach's experience, education, training, the type of coaching contracted and the coaches geographical location. A coach who specializes in a specific area and has many years of experience and training in that specialty will cost more than a general coach or someone with no prior related experience who took a coaching course. Coach services are not covered by insurance. Please see my "Services Offered" page for specific fees.
As in most areas of life, you will only get out of it what you put into it. If you make a verbal commitment to do certain things between our sessions but then only follow through partially, or not at all, the coaching process will not be very effective. Success of the coaching experience is dependent on how much time and effort you are willing to invest in the process, on a daily basis. The client must be an active participant in the coaching relationship. The client has to accept responsibility for the degree to which he or she commits to the coaching process and the resultant outcome. A coach can lead, direct, manage and educate but a coach can not actually do the work for you or make you do the work. Coaching is only as successful as the client allows it to be. The degree of success is directly related to the effort made by both coach and client.
11. What Can I Expect After Requesting a Free Consult?
I will answer your request as soon as possible. My email will include a choice of dates and times for our appointment. Respond to my email with your choice. I will reserve the time slots emailed to you for 24 hours. If you do not respond with your preferred time within 24 hours I can not guarantee the time you choose will still be available. The response email will also include the protocol for the free consult.
Client calls Coach at the previously agreed upon time. I will usually have another client calling for an appointment within 5 minutes of our scheduled end time. Please keep a clock in view during our session so you are aware of the time and can avoid introducing a new concern without enough time for me to address it. The last five minutes of our session will be used to discus appropriate options to address your needs and determine, which, if any, of my services are right for you.
13. Why Do I Need To Pay for Services Before Receiving Them?
Let's be honest! Just a few common traits of ADD are:
~ distractibility
~ forgetfulness
~ poor time management
~ disorganization
All of which can inadvertantly lead to unpaid bills.
Since 90 % of ADD Coach Services clients are ADDers, or significantly impacted by the ADD of their loved ones, chances are great that these ADD traits could interfere in timely payments. While my work is my passion, it is also my business. Few among us can afford to work for free. Should an abundance of money materialize somehow, ADD Coach Service fees will gladly be lowered. (Really!) Until then, please recognize any concession to the payment policy would put ADD Coach services at risk. If ADD Coach Services is financially compromised, the office, phones, internet service, transportation and the multitude of other resources used to provide services would be jepordized.
