Why there are no letters behind my name. Yet.

Credentials are a great way to feel confident that the person you are working with has had some sort of training and has invested both time and money into becoming a coach. While some coaching programs and experts recommend going with a credentialed coach, the truth is that you can find fabulous coaches out there that are confident and competent even before taking an ICF approved coaching program.

After speaking with a few recent graduates and reviewing some of the course work offered by the top credentialing programs, I have decided to not complete a coaching program at this time. I have a few very specific and important reasons for this. The first is that I do not want to learn strategies that prevent me from seeing and treating each client as an individual. After reviewing the credentialing programs, I noticed that they provide great materials for setting up a successful business practice with normalized resources and recommendations. They value consistency of treatment styles across their ADHD coaches and hope that the client fits their training.

The credentialing programs also value supporting the industry by discouraging the recent graduates from choosing lower rates than their own rate recommendations. I feel the rates they encourage their graduates to set are out of reach for many who need treatment (examples are not charging less than $100 an hour). I was disappointed to hear that graduates felt pressured to charge more than they wanted to so that they did not compete with other coaches and devalue the industry. I see coaching as a calling and I want to continue to offer ADHD help at affordable rates without being pressured to conform from a credentialing community.

As far as the effectiveness of coaching without credentials, studies support that coaching works for ADHD even when it is only provided by peers. A 2018 literature review of 19 studies on ADHD coaching outcomes concluded that “research to date consistently suggests that ADHD coaching supports improved outcomes in varied realms of ADHD and EF symptoms, as well as in well-being. This is true across varied types of study designs; across both peer and “trained coach” approaches; across several individual coaching models, and also in group coaching;” -Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(1), 17-39 17.

But I am not simply a peer. I am a professional ADHD coach who has been coaching privately since 2020. I also run an Adult ADHD Meetup Group along-side one of my two mentor coaches. I have hundreds of hours of research invested, which is considerably more than the courses require, and my research has been both broad and deep in both ADHD and coaching and supporting strategies.

I have always been someone who prefers directing their own education and is self motivated to spend ample time researching their areas of interest. While I do see what works for one client often works for many clients, I never want to get to the point where I am moving clients through a prescribed program. My greatest strength in this field is really hearing my client and tailoring a package just for them.

If you are interested in what I do to help my clients and want to see if we might be a good fit, I recommend scheduling a free 30 minute call.