What is ADD Coaching?

The idea of hiring a coach to improve one's performance in the worlds of work, athletics or the arts is certainly not new. But what about hiring a coach to help your overall performance and ability to live a balanced and fulfilling life? The field of Personal and Professional coaching aims to do just that.

A partnership with a personal coach will provide you with structure, support and feedback so you can take action toward the realization of your vision and goals in life. Through this process of personal discovery, you will build a greater level of awareness and responsibility to make lasting changes in your life. Even though personal coaching is still young as a profession, it has given rise to many "specialty areas" of coaching, including the coaching of individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder.

ADD coaching is a supportive, practical, concrete process in which you and the coach work together to identify and pursue your goals. The primary purpose of coaching is to help the individual with ADD develop the structures necessary to function effectively and to teach practical approaches to the challenges of daily life.

What is the role of the coach?

The coach provides encouragement, recommendations, feedback, and practical techniques such as reminders, questions, and calendar monitoring. Strategies are developed to address issues of time management, eliminating clutter in one's home or office, and becoming more effective in one's personal and professional life. ADD coaching is not psychotherapy. Coaches are not licensed therapists, nor do coaches make any representation of such.

What is the role of the client?

Coaching is a process that happens over time. Since it is a client-driven service, for coaching to be successful you must possess a strong desire for personal growth and improvement. Coaching focuses on your being in action towards self-education, self-improvement, creating life balance, and reaching goals.

How does ADD coaching work?

Regular meetings and check-ins are an essential part of the coaching process. These sessions can be done in person, by telephone, by fax or by e-mail, whichever is preferable to you. However, before coaching begins, you and the coach will need to have an in-depth, one- to two-hour initial meeting to develop the step-by-step plans needed to achieve goals. You might also arrange periodic progress reviews as part of the on-going coaching process.

Programming, structuring and guided-self exploration are the core elements of the ADD coaching process. By customizing the coaching service to meet your needs through PROGRAMMING, you are able to develop a user-friendly partnership to motivate and steer you forward. STRUCTURING improves your focus and attention so you are able to channel your abilities to function at your best and achieve goals. The non-judgmental questions of GUIDED SELF- EXPLORATION assist you to analyze the situation at hand and work toward an achievable resolution.

How does coaching help you take charge of your brain?

Coaching helps you learn about your brain and its deficits in order to demystify it. If you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your brain, you can develop strategies to sustain attention and maintain motivation to reach your goals. The concrete, practical strategies and tools explored through coaching transform an "I can't" attitude into "Yes, I can!" The brain can learn! There is hope for making positive, lasting changes in your life.

About the author: Nancy A. Ratey, Ed.M, has been active in ADD and LD issues for more than 15 years. Nancy coaches individuals, trains and supervises coaches and serves as an ADD coaching consultant to businesses and Universities. She is columnist for ADDvance, a magazine for women with ADD. As co-founder and director of the National Coaching Network, Nancy designed and implemented the nation's first training program for ADD coaches. She hasco-authored two books: Tales from the Workplace (1997) and That's Using Your Brain: A New Perspective on ADD/LD Coaching for Kids, Teens and Adults, due out in the Fall, 1998.

Nancy may be contacted at ADD Brain Works, Wellesley, MA, at (781) 237-3508 or e-mail address NRatey@addbrain.com