What is ADHD Coaching?
- jeccabriggs
- Aug 20, 2025
- 4 min read
"What is ADHD coaching?"
This is often the first thing people ask when I tell them I'm an ADHD coach. Consider this scenario as a metaphor of how people sometimes think of coaching:
The early morning sun has just peaked over the horizon, highlighting the dew drops on the map in front of you. You squint at the lines crisscrossing the board, knowing you stand at the place marked "You Are Here." Beyond that a bold red line marks the trail, and you grab the little tri-fold map from the slot. "Hey, you ready to go?" your friend asks, starting down the trail before you even get the map put in your pack and you have to trot to catch up. Your friend has been here dozens of times, but this is your first time. Every fork in the trail they rattle off stories about this time and that when they took the other fork and they're 10 steps down the turn before you can take a breath to say "Wait!" It's not long before the trail runs up to the base of a cliff and your friend has already started climbing. Your heart sinks. This was not what you were expecting and you weren't prepared for this.
Eventually your friend notices how much you're struggling to climb this cliff. They come back down. "Why don't I just carry you up?" they offer, and before you know it you're at the top of the cliff and they've already reached the bottom again to retrieve your backpack. You look around and can see where the trail resumes. It looks pretty easy from here.
Your friend comes up next to you and hands you your bag, the map already in their hand. "This is where we are," they say, pointing to what looks like a blur, "and this is how we get to our destination." You look and see another trail that looks like it also connects. "What about that way?" you ask, but they've already taken off.
Now, consider this scenario as an metaphor of what coaching is at its best:
The early morning sun has just peaked over the horizon, highlighting the dew drops on the map in front of you. You squint at the lines crisscrossing the board, knowing you stand at the place marked "You Are Here." Beyond that a bold red line marks the trail, and you grab the little tri-fold pamphlet from the slot. "Hey, you ready to go?" your friend asks, looking at the map with you.
Neither of you have been here before, but you know your friend is down for an adventure. You point to a lake a couple miles away, "How about we go there?" Together you start down the trail, pausing to look at the map at each fork to make sure you're still heading toward the lake. The trail runs up to the base of a cliff and you both stand at the bottom looking up. "Do you want to climb that?" your friend asks.
Out comes the map again and you look for alternative routes, eventually finding one that's a little longer but goes around the cliff. You backtrack a little, and the new route is still steep but it's manageable. You arrive at the top--breathless, sweaty, and triumphant. The trail looks easy from here, and you ask your friend what they think of the route you've picked to your destination. You're almost there.
These two scenarios show the difference between what coaching is in general, and what it isn’t. In the first, your friend rushes ahead, makes decisions for you, and even carries you up the cliff. But coaching isn’t about someone else choosing the path, solving the problem, or doing the climb. It’s about having someone beside you—someone who helps you pause at the forks, notice the options, and find the tools that make the next stretch of trail manageable.
So what makes ADHD coaching different from life coaching, career coaching, or general goal-setting support? It’s built with the ADHD brain in mind. An ADHD-focused coach understands the cliffs and forks that can make it hard to follow through with your goals—things like time slipping away unnoticed, getting stuck deciding which path to take, struggling to start the climb, getting distracted along the way, or feeling overwhelmed by the terrain.
Together, we experiment with tools and strategies that fit how your brain navigates the trail. It’s not about forcing you onto a single “right” path, but about discovering systems and approaches that play to your strengths, helping you move forward step by step on your own journey.
Are there cliffs in your life that feel overwhelming? Do you find yourself faced with indecision at the forks in the road? Do you struggle to stay on the path you've set for yourself?
As an ADHD coach, my role is to help you decide where you want to go, notice where you are along the way, and support you as you take each step forward—on your own trail, in your own way. If this sounds like something you would be interested in I'd love to chat!
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