How do I find a great ADHD coach/facilitated group for professionals?
May 13, 2021 11:59 AM Subscribe
Where do I find the right ADHD/executive function coach or formal group for adults? Snowflakes inside.
I, like seemingly every other middle-aged woman on the internet in the past year, have been tentatively diagnosed with ADHD by my therapist. I agree with her assessment, and I've realized I need more/different help than therapy has been able to provide. Therapy is more about dealing with my depression/anxiety/etc., and I plan to continue it, but I am having serious executive function issues, especially with work, and I need someone to help me pick apart my workday and figure out logistically how to deal with all this shirt and apply specific tools/tactics to my specific life and job, not just talk about how it makes me feel. It's not a silver bullet, but, like, it will be a substantially mental load off if I can get on top of my gd email and schedule and task management.
I already know about podcasts, and webinars, and books, and subreddits, and Focusmate. I'm not a candidate for medication right now. I'm struggling to get through/apply those self-helpy things, and I am totally happy to pay for third party hand-holding to figure out what steps I, specifically, need to do to fix my crisis-level email inbox situation and how to get through the actual tasks of my job, and better gauge what is reasonable and manageable, and what I can legitimately push back on or request help at work for. I am incapable of consistently generating my own structure, and I sure as shirt can't do it when it's not a hyperfocus thing capturing my attention. I need a decent amount of personal attention and accountability. My therapist is lovely and wants me to be kind to myself AND ALSO no amount of breathing exercises or inner child work is going to change the fact that I am dropping balls left and right and in no way functioning at the level I can or should be expected to, even when accounting for the current state of the world.
I've tried searching generally for ADHD coaches. I swear I know how to use Google. I keep finding a lot of people who seem to focus on students, or parents of kids with ADHD. How do I find someone who works with professionals? I work in politics, I don't want to leave my field, and I need someone who can work with that fact and is comfortable with people in intense professions where it is never going to truly be okay to admit weakness or ask for accomodations at work. Like, someone good at working with attorneys would be GREAT. I'm not looking for someone to help me find my true calling, I just want to get through my work day like a competent human being not made entirely of flail and lateness.
I'm in the East Coast US, but I assume most people work virtually now, so presumably location shouldn't be a real limiter. Alternately, have any of you worked with someone you would recommend? I'm also open to groups, with the caveat that they need to be small and aggressively facilitated for structure and accountability, because I am the flakiest person alive and I will bail if I can just sit in the back of the room and am expected to be a self-starter with everything.
Thank you for any ideas!
I, like seemingly every other middle-aged woman on the internet in the past year, have been tentatively diagnosed with ADHD by my therapist. I agree with her assessment, and I've realized I need more/different help than therapy has been able to provide. Therapy is more about dealing with my depression/anxiety/etc., and I plan to continue it, but I am having serious executive function issues, especially with work, and I need someone to help me pick apart my workday and figure out logistically how to deal with all this shirt and apply specific tools/tactics to my specific life and job, not just talk about how it makes me feel. It's not a silver bullet, but, like, it will be a substantially mental load off if I can get on top of my gd email and schedule and task management.
I already know about podcasts, and webinars, and books, and subreddits, and Focusmate. I'm not a candidate for medication right now. I'm struggling to get through/apply those self-helpy things, and I am totally happy to pay for third party hand-holding to figure out what steps I, specifically, need to do to fix my crisis-level email inbox situation and how to get through the actual tasks of my job, and better gauge what is reasonable and manageable, and what I can legitimately push back on or request help at work for. I am incapable of consistently generating my own structure, and I sure as shirt can't do it when it's not a hyperfocus thing capturing my attention. I need a decent amount of personal attention and accountability. My therapist is lovely and wants me to be kind to myself AND ALSO no amount of breathing exercises or inner child work is going to change the fact that I am dropping balls left and right and in no way functioning at the level I can or should be expected to, even when accounting for the current state of the world.
I've tried searching generally for ADHD coaches. I swear I know how to use Google. I keep finding a lot of people who seem to focus on students, or parents of kids with ADHD. How do I find someone who works with professionals? I work in politics, I don't want to leave my field, and I need someone who can work with that fact and is comfortable with people in intense professions where it is never going to truly be okay to admit weakness or ask for accomodations at work. Like, someone good at working with attorneys would be GREAT. I'm not looking for someone to help me find my true calling, I just want to get through my work day like a competent human being not made entirely of flail and lateness.
I'm in the East Coast US, but I assume most people work virtually now, so presumably location shouldn't be a real limiter. Alternately, have any of you worked with someone you would recommend? I'm also open to groups, with the caveat that they need to be small and aggressively facilitated for structure and accountability, because I am the flakiest person alive and I will bail if I can just sit in the back of the room and am expected to be a self-starter with everything.
Thank you for any ideas!
(I realize I said therapy/therapist throughout there, but replace that with coach interchangeably. I provide therapy for individuals with ADHD and part of what I do is similar to what a coach would so I conflated the two.)
posted by brook horse at 1:06 PM on May 13, 2021
posted by brook horse at 1:06 PM on May 13, 2021
I recently came across this lady, a former attorney who now works as an ADHD coach. Haven’t tried her, as I’m not sure I have ADHD, but she may be worth a look.
posted by saltypup at 1:26 PM on May 13, 2021
posted by saltypup at 1:26 PM on May 13, 2021
Response by poster: Swear I won't threadsit, but to stave off further discussion along this line because yes, I get it - currently trying to conceive, so can't take meds! Really looking forward to the end of that process because I truly believe in better living through chemistry, but it is what it is for now. That does make the non-pharmaceutical interventions that much more mission critical though.
Thank you all for the ideas so far, please keep them coming!
posted by bowtiesarecool at 6:02 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thank you all for the ideas so far, please keep them coming!
posted by bowtiesarecool at 6:02 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
To be clear I am not personally recommending this person's coaching groups since I did not try it, but I was subscribed to this email list for a while, and she has a free PDF on her website you can download with tips for lawyers with ADHD. I found some of the stuff in the PDF helpful.
posted by lookoutbelow at 9:33 PM on May 13, 2021
posted by lookoutbelow at 9:33 PM on May 13, 2021
I have not personally used this person's coaching service but I find her to be very credible based on her writing: https://blackgirllostkeys.com/.
posted by dotparker at 8:33 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by dotparker at 8:33 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I do also want to say that first line treatment for ADHD is medication. This is not to say that therapy can't be helpful, but barring some quite specific circumstances (substance abuse, bipolar disorder, etc.--which do not automatically disqualify, but may change what types of meds you try) there is no such thing as someone who is not a candidate for medication. Unless you have some very specific and unique circumstances that make all ADHD medications (not all of which are stimulants) unusable to you, consider a second opinion on medication. Psychiatrists often assess/diagnose and prescribe for ADHD within one visit, if you want to pursue this option. Just mentioning it because I've seen doctors/therapists say "Well, your ADHD is mild, so you should try therapy first," but this is not evidence-based treatment unless there's the aforementioned specific extenuating circumstances.
posted by brook horse at 12:55 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]