Structure of Sessions

Transition Exercise 

I've found over my years of coaching that just jumping right in can be disorienting, especially if you're running late or working on something else right before jumping into a zoom call or in person session. 

So, I start my sessions all the same. We do what I call a Transition Exercise. It's kind of like a mini meditation. We close our eyes, take a couple of deep breaths and then I guide us through a little visualization or exercise to bring us to this now moment. 

It only takes about 2-3 minutes and it's amazing how effective it is.

Wins 

I've found that people in general are typically hard on themselves. 

ADHDers are EXTREMELY hard on themselves. 

And contrary to what some may think, ADHDers are extremely self aware. And they are usually very aware of their "flaws" or things they know/think they need to work on. 

However, ADHDers are not has practiced in noticing their wins and taking the time to actually celebrate themselves. 

So we take a few minutes to practice celebrating. 

It can feel uncomfortable at first, especially if you're out of practice, but that's okay. 

What you focus on grows and if you're constantly focusing on the things you "suck at" then it's easy to miss the absolutely amazing person you are. 

I love supporting my clients in this practice. It's incredibly powerful to watch how, with practice, they become really great at taking space and time to celebrate themselves. 

What do you want to work on today? 

The next part of a coaching session I might ask, "What do you want to work on today?" 

Some folks already know this answer and we jump into that.

Some folks don't know the answer to the question which is perfectly okay. One of my superpowers is finding out how people best learn and leaning into my intuition to ask really great questions to figure out the best place to start.  

Either way coaching sessions may look like...

...brain dumping and then sorting through how to start or what to prioritize. 

...externally processing about a thing or emotions. 

...giving space to grieve. 

...coming up with systems and solutions to a particular issue and finding ways to immediately and easily implement that system. 

These are just a few examples but there are plenty of ways we can utilize our coaching session together.

Take Aways

I like to wrap up coaching sessions by talking about take aways. 

I often say, "You don't need more information, you need to implement and integrate."

It doesn't do us any good to have a really epic coaching session and then you leave without really reflecting on what you got out of the coaching session. 

From the take aways, we figure out what the next steps are. 

Some folks call this homework, some prefer side quests. 

No matter what you call it, my goal is to help my clients have very clear, easy, next steps to implement and integrate.