Bonnie J. Montgomery Ph.D.

What is Coaching?

Coaching involves engaging a person in a process to reach their full potential. The coach provides support to the person to promote growth in his or her current performance and potential performance.  Coaching helps people:

• Build on strengths
• Address developmental needs
• Identify goals they want to achieve
• Make plans to reach these goals.

Coaching holds people accountable for reaching their goals and this increases their commitment for change. 

What is ADHD?

 Research has clearly shown that ADHD is a brain – based condition, and the brains of those with ADHD are different than the brains of people without ADHD.  The primary areas affected by those with ADHD are the parts of the brain involving the executive functions, our highest level brain processes.  For example, people with ADHD often find it hard to stop and think before making a decision.  They also manifest such characteristics as:

1. A weak working memory
2. A poor sense of time
3. Difficulty in remembering things they are supposed to do
4. Difficulty in managing their emotions
5. Difficulty in getting started and persisting on a task
6. Difficulty pausing long enough to use lessons from the past to make good decisions for the future.

How Does ADHD Coaching Help?

 The ADHD coach helps the person develop needed tools, techniques, strategies, and interventions to deal with the deficits associated with ADHD.  These deficits can include: poor self- management relative to time, planning and goals; poor self-organization, problem solving and working memory; poor self-discipline; poor self-motivation; and poor self-activation, concentration and alertness.  ADHD coaching also provides a setting to discuss more about ADHD and how it impact lives.

In this collaborative relationship, the person can develop awareness of cognitive processes and behavioral patterns, which may be problematic and need changing. They can then develop environmental structures which will help to overcome performance deficits. They can also learn to anticipate road blocks which might derail them, and plan strategies to address the road blocks.

ADHD Coaching With College Students

Many college students are caught off guard when their old high school strategies fail them.  Why is college often so difficult for individuals with ADHD? Success in college depends of a number of skills that do not come naturally to individuals with ADHD: the ability to juggle social and academic demands; the ability to independently form daily routines for waking up, bed times, eating, study, and chores.  They lack strategies to complete long term papers and projects, read and absorb a lot of material, prepare for infrequent tests and all with little or no external structure.

Many ADHD college students are above average intelligence, but symptoms of ADHD can limit fulfilling their potential because of difficulty focusing, sustaining attention and the tendency to be easily distracted.  If college students with ADHD do not understand how these symptoms affect their lives, and have not developed the tools necessary to manage their symptoms, they may “hit bottom” in college.

Areas to be Addressed in ADHD Coaching with College Students

Daily living skills such as: time management; establishing routines and good habits; getting to class on time; studying; keeping track of things; exercising, eating regularly, waking up and staying up and getting to bed; taking medications; scheduling classes; paying attention in class and taking notes; managing long term assignments; planning and prioritizing; making decisions and solving problems; managing stress; establishing realistic goals; self-monitoring; and self-awareness

ADHD Coaching with Couples where one Partner has ADHD

In couples, the symptoms of ADHD can be particularly problematic.   Symptoms associated with ADHD, such as distractibility, impulsivity, and excess energy can leave each partner feeling angry, hurt and misunderstood.  This causes both partners to suffer. 

Part of the couples counseling process involves educating the non-ADHD spouse about the nature of ADHD, so that both members of the couple can tackle the challenges together. 

Another part of the process is to help both people identify the destructive patterns that occur predictably with such couples, and to find ways to avoid such patterns.  Couples can then be taught to establish healthy means of communicating and engaging with each other.