ADHD & Neurodivergence

I offer therapeutic and coaching support to those with ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions. I am ADHD myself, late diagnosed, so welcome anyone who recognises themselves in current neurodivergent descriptions whether diagnosed or not.

I never made a conscious decision to become an ADHD therapist/coach – rather it became apparent in the years following COVID that this was what I’d unknowingly been doing for years (I wrote an article about this career-changing revelation here). My clients and I connected and found strategies around life experiences we shared without knowing what our connection was

Because my approach developed organically, led by the people I worked with, it doesn’t neatly fit in a box: the closest description is probably therapeutic coaching or coaching-oriented therapy depending on where you need the focus to be. I don’t have a structured programme of strategies to practise – but I do have many, many suggestions compiled over years working with many people.

I am a therapist first: I will listen to your experience and support you as you face the emotional damage that years of misunderstanding and self-blame can cause. We will tease out where the work needs to be done and decide together how (or indeed whether) to structure our work. Sometimes the “pull everything out of the cupboard and rummage through it” approach reveals more than trying to organise things from the outset. Equally, we can make a clear plan and I can use established coaching techniques to help you stay focussed and moving forwards.

The following section gives an outline of where I currently stand in the neurodiversity conversation. I find working with neurodivergence benefits from more self disclosure than traditional therapy so I will share personal information where relevant. I have also linked to descriptions of the terms I’ve used*, given that many people are just starting out discovering this deep, rich topic.

Neurodivergence – my current take

ADHD and autism are huge, unwieldy, blunt objects of umbrella terms and nowadays I am inclined to see neurodivergence as a whole as “The Spectrum” (I am not alone – Prof Amanda Kirby has made a short video illustrating this here).

The rising recognition of the term AuDHD and the increasing acceptance that large numbers of autistic and ADHD people share multiple traits suggests divisions created by discrete categories are not always helpful. The now-recognised interconnectedness of neurodivergent conditions continues to excite me. (In my family, for example, I am faceblind and ADHD; one of my sons is autistic with great face recognition, the other faceblind but not autistic; my children have one dyslexic and one left-handed uncle… and so on). There is a love/hate relationship with the term “neurospicy” online, but a term to describe “neurodivergent in some way” would be a useful addition, as would a rebrand of “ADHD” (anyone who gets lost in hyperfocus regularly knows there is no attention deficit).

Neurodivergence has, as I’m sure is apparent here, become a special interest of mine. This creates a virtuous circle whereby my growing knowledge and understanding helps support my clients, while they (you!) constantly educate me on the endless nuances and creative strategies they have themselves come up with. Passing on this knowledge and understanding to each other I hope exponentially increases our collective self-acceptance and ability to navigate the world.

I will never share a client’s individual, identifiable situation, but I will offer generalised suggestions I have picked up along the way (a simple practical example: “many clients ask Alexa to remind them of a thought they just had to keep hold of the fleeting but important ideas that pop up throughout the day“).

“AI is both capable of profound harm and can be life-changingly helpful”Van Badham, The Guardian 11/09/2024

Technology is a marvellous aid. Having recently completed a MA in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence I am both wary of the ethical issues and aware of the benefits, especially since the launch of ChatGPT. As such, I am able to encourage and guide clients in how to use AI in ways that particularly support ADHD (the quote above is from an article describing this). AI won’t replace a human therapist or coach, but can be used as a therapeutic or coaching support, provided its limitations are understood (short version – take anything it says with a pinch of salt and use your own judgement!).

Join the Many-Exits, Multi-Lane Highway!

I have benefitted hugely from working (if unknowingly) with other neurodivergent people and I am hopeful our shared experience makes this a two way street. Indeed, given that many realisations go on to be shared across the community, this is more like a multi lane highway, or a many exit junction. We are all exploring together in many directions.

I certainly wouldn’t say that neurotypical people can’t counsel or coach neurodivergent people, but I do believe the experience is different when we match. I am always excited to work with new people and explore their individual story, optimistic that there are ways to mitigate the challenges and lifelong pain and struggle many of us have lived with for years, often decades. Come and join me and we can figure out your way forward together.

*these are not endorsements of the particular websites or organisations I’ve linked to and I have no connection with any of them, but the descriptions they use are hopefully informative as a starting point.