Thank you all for your posts! Here are some general thoughts of mine regarding some of the questions asked so far:
MEDS OR COFFEE?
Coaches are not qualified to advise clients on medication. They can help the client to set up schedules to remember to take their medication and to take them on time.
If other medication issues come up, or if a client is self-medicating by drinking excessive amounts of cola or coffee, I might, as a coach, suggest they see a Dr. who specializes in treating people with AD/HD.
Regardless, whether my client is on or off meds I suggest that they enlist good health practices and EXERCISE! EXERCISE! EXERCISE!
SIMPLIFYING A COMPLICATED LIFE
Many of my clients lead very busy lives and/or have a hard time saying no and end up with a lot on their plate.
As a coach, I help clients to simplify their lives by practicing saying no. I have them rehearse dialogues ahead of time, for example “I would love to help you out, but my schedule these days is really packed. Let me get back to you when things ease up.”
I also work with my clients to set out a schedule with clear boundaries as to how they will spend their time so all their activities are "contained" and don't "bleed" into one another.
TECHNIQUES FOR HANDING FINANCES
On the CHADD site www.chadd.org under the National Resource Center for AD/HD there are some great articles that have wonderful tips for adults with AD/HD and finances. The URL is:
http://www.help4adhd.org/gsearch.cfm?lr=lang_en&varLang=en&search=finances&srch.x=0&srch.y=0
FINDING A COACH IN YOUR AREA
The benefit of coaching is that it is done mostly by phone and can be done from anywhere in the world, so the coach doesn’t have to be from the client’s immediate geographic area. However, coaching is very individualized, and some clients do want an “in person” coach. So, it’s up to each person to seek out a coach that can meet their own needs.
There are many directories for coaches listed on my site under “finding a coach.” The most important thing is to interview a few of them and get a sense of their style. Learn as much as you can about coaching and what it can offer you. Prepare questions ahead of time. Then see who is a good match for you. To me, that is very important!
Thank you Nancy, for "The Disorganized Mind (2008)." And, thanks too, to your husband John (and New Hallowell) for "Delivered from Distraction (2005)."
ReplyDeleteI am surprised to see there wasn't one comment on your coaching blog. Well, let me be the first. Right now, finding the right coach is very high (#2) on my list of obligations to myself, to my wife, and to my employer. Right after finding the right therapist (whom, I hope, will help with #2).
My new priorities stem from the recent dismay caused by my realization that I had been seeing with the wrong doctor(s) for two years (and two too long).
My ADD was diagnosed in May 2007, the same month I promoted into management. Now, in my first career crisis in 35 years, in fear for my current job, and my 20 year marriage, I recently walked into the public library and out again with those two helpful tomes mentioned above, and four others by Lenard Adler, Kate Kelly & Peggy Ramundo, Lynn Weiss, and Gabor Mate.
After two years of treatment by a psychiatrist affiliated with _____ Health Systems, I had recognized that the tag-team of doctors, assistants, interns and whoever else I was seen by instead of "my" psychiatrist, was not really helping - despite medication enhanced ability to focus. My readings leave me with the sinking feeling that I wasted two years, two years during which I saw my primary psychiatrist only 3 times, I think, and never saw the same person on consecutive monthly visits.
Monthly visits to renew my Rx did little else. Usually, during a 3 to 5 minute consult, I would be asked if I had lost weight, or if I was sleeping (yes, on both counts). Once I was asked for a urine sample, but there was no explanation of why, or what was determined.
My dosages and meds varied and, too often, the changes seemed arbitrary. A one-month mostly "free" trial on Strattera proved very costly. While taking free samples of Strattera, I lost two pair of Costa del Mar sunglasses, they run $180+ these days, though I got a professional discount when I bought mine BACK IN 1984! A few other misplaced items turned up after I dropped the Strattera, but not my sunglasses. But, I did stop losing stuff.
I changed psychiatrists this month, and I am lining up meetings with psychologists, therapists and counselors. A coach is next.
Back in 1998 (in "Scattered"), Gabor Mate wrote, of ADD, that "medications should never be the only treatment, or the even the first treatment." He used a bold font for that line.
I am apalled, after my reading, that I stayed so long with psychiatrists(s) who never suggested any other treatment, and never asked if I was using any of the many other tools available. I was never told about CHADD and other NGOs addressing AD/HD, or about the importance of therapy or counseling, or excercise. I was never informed that there might be local ADD-support groups, or that some profesionals specialize in helping ADD adults.
Coaching sounds powerful, I look forward to finding someone I can work with on turning this particular ship around. Thanks again.
~UJ