Interview on hope

14. Final thoughts

Find an ADHD coach

Interview with David Giwerc, President ADD Coaching Academy

Andrew: So many Adults with ADHD that I speak with in the UK and Europe are only recently diagnosed. Do you have one final message for somebody who’s newly self-diagnosed or medically-diagnosed, or who maybe just figured there are ADHD from a friend or a web site – what can they hope for?

David: Well, I think they need to hire a person like you, Andrew, that’s a coach. Of course I’m biased but I’ve seen this transformation happen.

These people are coming to you hopeless, they’re coming to you not understanding their own ADHD, and they’re not able to convey it or articulate it. They go in for diagnosis and the doctor asks them “So tell me about your ADHD” and they convey symptoms and challenges that aren’t even impairing or are not really what’s going on.

They may feel sad because their ADHD is showing up, so the doctor treats them for depression instead of ADHD.

What’s going on with your ADHD?

I think it’s paramount to get a well trained coach like yourself, because we understand and can give them the language and tools to clearly and accurately articulate what’s really going on, what’s really getting in the way, so then when somebody asks them “So tell me what’s going on with your ADHD” they can articulate their most impairing challenges.

Once you can articulate and convey the accurate challenges a qualified health care professional can help you treat amd manage them, you’re finally getting the best kind of help. My experience is the same with every single person I have seen over the last 15 years. They came to me for help but do not understand their true picture and they do not have clarity around it.

They were hopeless because they were given a little bit of hope, with an explanation or diagnosis they didn’t understand.

ADHD is not an excuse but it certainly is an explanation that has been conveyed very poorly to the public. Our clients need to understand where their ADHD shows up so they can accentuate their strengths and manage their weaknesses and barriers that get in their way. I believe that ADHD coaches do this better than anyone.

Psychiatrists don’t have the time, most therapists and psychologists aren’t trained in it.

Lack of self-awareness

We as coaches have the tools, have the language to be able to say “You are not hopeless. By the time we are done in our next few sessions you’re going to know more about your ADHD than you ever have before”. That is what we hear from our clients over and over again, “now I understand”.

The coach can ask them “Have you conveyed this to your doctor?” of which almost every one of them of them says “No, I have not”. They are encouraged to discuss this new awareness with their doctor.

I cannot tell you how many people have been misdiagnosed because of their lack of self-awareness. How can you feel hopeful if you don’t even understand what’s getting in the way?

Hire a coach

So my advice is hire you, get a person like you, Andrew because I know you do this. I know you do this well. When you get a full understanding, it’s then and only then can you begin to work on all those invisible pieces that we discussed, like beliefs, values and guilt, and all these other things.

Andrew you know yourself, when you have those “Aha” moments it’s wonderful. That’s why we’re both in the ADHD coaching profession.

Andrew: Absolutely. Thank you very much, David.

David: My pleasure.

End of Interview

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis is an ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over 15,000 hours and 18 years of experience in coaching over 500 ADHD executives, ADHD business professionals and ADHD creatives. Andrew ran a major ADHD support group and an ADHD diagnostic clinic for a while. He is an ADHD specialist backed with business expertise from a twenty years career in software, from roles in programming, through marketing, sales and to running a few software start-ups. His ADHD insight is personal, with decades understanding his own ADHD experience and in bringing up his ADHD daughter. He has published his writing primarily via this website, with interactive ADHD courses in development.