A diagnosis alone doesn’t give you much guidance on what to do next

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my forties, which made sense of many experiences and challenges I’d had throughout my career and personal life. However, a diagnosis alone doesn’t give you much guidance on what to do next. After a few months of trying medication, it became clear that wasn’t going to be a magic bullet that fixed everything.

I found Richard’s profile and got in touch. Our initial call to discuss what I was looking for went really well – I was quite pleased with how Richard came across, so we decided to book the 8-session programme.

Having no real experience of coaching before, I didn’t know what to expect. Richard has excellent material and context that he goes through in his initial sessions, which really helps you orientate yourself, think about ADHD, and understand yourself better. As the sessions progressed, Richard was brilliant at listening to what I was bringing each week and adapting each session to my specific needs.

I found Richard to be an absolutely brilliant listener – very attentive to what you’re saying. He’s also very good at challenging you when needed, particularly around setting expectations that might be too high or unrealistic. The level of his approach was just perfect for me: both affirming and challenging when it needed to be.

I’ve implemented some real changes in my day-to-day routines and life, particularly around managing my timekeeping issues. I’ve established patterns around scheduling appointments and being more aware of my family’s commitments. I think these habits are going to be really beneficial over the long term.

Obviously there’s only so much you can achieve in hour-long weekly sessions over 8 weeks, but this was an absolutely fantastic introduction to coaching in general. I’d strongly recommend Richard for people looking for someone with understanding who can help them practically address the challenging aspects of an ADHD diagnosis.

I’m very positive about ADHD coaching in general and very much hope to work with Richard again in future. For now, I want to give myself time to embed the learnings from those weeks together and make sure I’m applying them properly before coming back to see what else I can learn.

Pete Thorne