ADHD Coaching & Counselling for Adults

As an Adult with ADHD, You’re Not Alone

Whether you’re formally diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or not, you may benefit from coaching to help you understand, accept, and leverage your brain’s unique ‘operating system’.  ADHD looks different in adulthood, when people have had years to develop coping mechanisms (helpful or otherwise!), and have often set their lives and careers up in ways that work for them – sometimes performing highly in general with just one or two areas of life that feel disproportionately out of control.  How ADHD shows up in your life can vary widely among individuals, and not everyone with ADHD will have the same experiences, but there are some common themes:

1. 1. Frustration and Impatience
      Adults with ADHD may struggle with frustration and impatience, particularly when faced with non-preferred tasks that require sustained attention, or when dealing with unexpected interruptions, transitions, or delays.
   2. Difficulty Regulating Focus
      Concentration difficulties are a hallmark of ADHD. Adults with ADHD may find it challenging to stay focused on less preferred tasks, leading to feelings of distraction and inefficiency. However in contrast, when a task or project is a passion, the ADHD brain can often ‘lock in’ in powerful and productive ways – sometimes to the exclusion of everything else (even eating, sleeping, or taking bathroom breaks!)
   3. Relationship Challenges
      ADHD can create challenges in maintaining stable relationships due to difficulties with communication, forgetfulness, and impulsivity, which can be experienced as thoughtlessness or neglect by partners, friends and family members.
   4. Procrastination
      Because time horizons often feel irrelevant, adults with ADHD may struggle to initiate and complete tasks, even those that are important, without the adrenalin rush of an impending deadline as motivation.
   5. Forgetfulness
      Being known as scatterbrained or unreliable is a common symptom of ADHD.  Missing appointments, deadlines, or important details can lead to stress and feelings of guilt and inadequacy.  Often this is because the brain is busy with hundreds of ‘open tabs’, coupled with the lack of ability to sense time passing intrinsically.
   6. Impulsivity
      Experiencing impulsive behaviors is a core symptom of adult ADHD, where decisions are made hastily without fully considering the consequences – the brain rushes ahead to ‘fill in the blanks’ (sometimes with great accuracy, sometimes not!) – this ability to assess and act quickly and decisively is also what makes the ADHD brain so effective in crisis situations. In fact, neurodivergent adults are often highly intelligent and work in high-pressure, high-stakes environments.
   7. Restlessness and Hyperactivity
      While hyperactivity may decrease in adulthood, restlessness and a strong need for movement or stimulation may persist and cause fidgeting or restlessness – more often it’s things like a passion for running or sports, needing a standing desk or swiveling chair at work, needing to walk-&-talk for hard conversations, rearranging furniture regularly, etc.
   8. Mood Swings
      Emotional dysregulation is common in adults with ADHD. They may experience mood swings, irritability, and heightened emotional responses to situations. On the flip side, the ADHD brain can be great at letting loose and having fun, throwing itself fully into the moment and experiencing intense positive emotions more richly.
   9. Low Self-Esteem & Rejection Sensitivity
      Persistent challenges with organization, time management, and completing tasks may contribute to low self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy. Often this is related to the story they have been told about themselves over the years as flaky, unreliable, lazy, or ‘too much’.  This can lead to being highly sensitive and insecure around feelings of rejection, exclusion or disrespect, sometimes misreading situations and experiencing deep relational distress.
   10. Difficulty with Time Management
       Adults with ADHD may struggle to manage time effectively if they haven’t developed external strategies to scaffold their time blindness, leading to a lack of punctuality, missed deadlines, and inconsistent work performance.

Break Through ADHD Challenges

If you’re in Hamilton, ON and area and want to see positive change in your life by working through your ADHD challenges, contact us today

The good news is, there are many skills, shortcuts, and strategies that can be learned to successfully navigate your home, school and work environments. Understanding your brain, learning about the dopamine deficit effect, being aware of ADHD intersects with trauma, and developing a new, gentler story about yourself and how you move through the world can be an enormously empowering experience for adults who have always felt like they struggled more to achieve what seemed so easy for others, no matter how intelligent or hard-working they are.

At NowWhat, we specialize in providing personalized coaching for adults who are living with ADHD and other types of neurodivergence, as well as their families (spouses, parents and siblings).  Finding person-specific supports for working memory, processing speed, impulse control, and mental flexibility can break down barriers to relational, academic, and vocational success.

While these challenges are commonly associated with an ADD or ADHD diagnosis, Learning Disabilities, giftedness or other exceptionalities, you don’t need a diagnosis to benefit from learning these practical strategies.

ADHD Expert Coaches

Adult ADHD coach Rina Rodak offers straight-talking, realistic coaching that tackles each individual’s specific challenges head-on, with humour, warmth and compassion.  Rina is PEERS trained and incorporates many DBT and CBT principles into her adult coaching work. From calendar mapping to ease household scheduling craziness, to problem-solving sex and relationship challenges, to helping you navigate difficult workplace dynamics, Rina can help you take a new perspective and effect positive change in areas where you’re feeling stuck.

Rina is also a Parent Coach for parents of neurodivergent kids, and can help you tease out the subtle line between ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’ when it comes to your child, teen, or adult child’s journey, learn how to respond skillfully instead of reacting out of frustration to create a positive and validating environment for growth in your home.  This is particularly helpful when both parents and kids are neurodivergent – sometimes in different flavours!

We have a team of parent & Executive Function coaches working alongside Rina who specialize in this approach, and we match each adult carefully with a coach that will work well with them and their particular passions, interests, and challenges.

For post-secondary students and young adults entering the workforce, we also offer personalized coaching that involves training & ongoing support in area such as:

• Project/time planning & personal organization
• School/workplace advocacy & accountability
• Assistive tech selection & training
• Balancing leisure and work
• Priority setting & focus skills

Stuck trying to figure out what comes next for you in your academic or work life?  We can help with personality/aptitude profiling, vocation coaching, and guidance when determining your next steps.