Your Brain, Your Blueprint: ADHD Support That Fits

When someone receives an ADHD diagnosis — or finally has a name for a lifetime of struggles — the path forward rarely looks like a single source of support. It takes a team. That’s the premise behind this conversation with Tanya Cameron, a certified ADHD and Executive Function Life coach and founder of ADHD Inspired.

Diagnosed with ADHD at age 51, Tanya brings both lived experience and professional training to her work — and she’s a strong advocate for the kind of layered support that combines coaching with counselling. Here, she shares what that collaboration looks like in practice.

Understanding Emotional Dysregulation is Key

For kids and adults diagnosed with ADHD, emotional dysregulation is a often a core feature, and it's linked to differences in brain structure and function. So, emotions can tend to run either a too high or even too low for a circumstance.

Tanya sees her role as helping clients understand the factors that contribute to their emotional dysregulation and developing practical strategies to manage those challenges more effectively. These factors could include lifestyle elements such as irregular sleep habits, forgetting to eat or not eating nutritional food, sensory discomfort, or decision fatigue such as when the day progresses and their mind gets more tired and subsequently dysregulated. One solution she teaches is to build pauses into their day. As their coach, she helps them build the skills needed to be aware of their limitations and know when those pauses need to happen. However, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for why they’re having a hard time, so they need the awareness to remove themselves from a situation and reframe it. Shifting the focus from self-defeating thoughts of failure to seeing that the system failed is key. This helps halt that shame spiral and builds self-awareness and compassion which, in turn, builds resilience.  

This is where the coach and counsellor roles diverge in meaningful ways: a coach works on practical systems and strategies to manage those moments day-to-day, while a counsellor helps a client process the deeper emotional and psychological roots of their dysregulation.

ADHD is a Neurodevelopment Brain Difference

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that reflects differences in brain development

and function. It is not a matter of motivation, discipline, or character. While medication

can help manage symptoms and people can learn strategies to work with the way their brains function, ADHD is a lifelong condition — its symptoms and their impact can

change over time..

The common symptoms such as the inability to regulate mood or difficulty focusing on tasks or the forgetfulness or impulsivity are not moral or motivational failings. A common lament Tanya hears from people with executive function challenges is “I could do it if I was more disciplined!” Many times, they have heard that refrain their whole lives from parents, partners, and bosses. Learning to work with how their brain works can significantly reduce anxiety and shame.

Methods that Make a Difference

Generally, her clients come to her after years of guilt and shame and are feeling hopeless. There is a sense of relief as they gain understanding of what does and doesn’t work for them and start to see tangible change. Even if the first changes are small, they do compound quickly. And then hope and self-confidence returns.

Sometimes, we know what works for us, but it gets lost when we move or start a new relationship or go through a life change. This is where an ADHD coach and/or counsellor can remind what has worked in the past and how to self-advocate. She reminds us that ADHD will always be a part of those born with it. There will be bumps and hiccups because their brains will lose interest, hormones will fluctuate, life changes. Systems will need to be tweaked.

Practical Strategies That Work

Tanya stresses that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to help with the dysregulation that comes with ADHD. However, here are 3 strategies or tools that she recommends to a lot of her clients:

a) chunk down any job into smaller, “do-able” steps until there is no resistance. This builds momentum and reduces overwhelm and task paralysis. A tool she recommends is Goblin Tools which will break down any task into steps. And if those steps are still too monumental, it will continue to break them down until you find the right start point for you.

b) body-doubling can be a terrific strategy to anchor you in place while you complete a certain task. Basically, someone works alongside you virtually or in-person while you complete a task. They aren’t there to talk to you or distract you. The person acts as an accountability point and touchstone. People with ADHD may have a hard time doing boring things like cleaning their house or doing the dishes or laundry. But it can be easier to do if there is someone on speaker phone while you do the dreaded chores. You can also use Focusmate which pairs you with someone so you body double for each other.

c) a visual timer can help those that struggle with time blindness or if who are dreading starting a task because it feels like it’s going to take forever. This type of timer can be used to break down a project into small time units. A visual timer can be on your computer or phone screen (https://visualtimer.com) or you can buy a physical one like these.

Connecting to Values Drives Motivation

Coaching is client-led so Tanya finds it essential to connect to her client’s values which will drive motivation for change. She asks a lot of open-ended questions that cause her clients to self-reflect so they can understand how not doing a task or being resistant to change affects their core values.

Also, resisting change may or may not align past failures and self-doubt, so it’s important to validate their experiences and their frustrations. She approaches her coaching with a curiosity viewpoint. The client’s resistance is seen as data, and they are encouraged to get curious about what is getting in the way of their success. This translates to less pressure and stress on a situation while the client starts working toward the change they want to achieve.

Coaching and Counselling Together: A Team Approach

Tanya emphasizes that coaching and counselling can complement each other in

meaningful ways. While not every person with ADHD will need both, some clients

benefit greatly from having access to a counsellor who can provide additional support

for emotional and psychological concerns alongside the practical strategies, skills, and

self-awareness developed through coaching. She emphasizes the importance of working with a counsellor who understands ADHD and uses a neurodivergent-affirming approach. A counsellor without that understanding could leave a client feeling worse about themselves and their circumstances.

She encourages counsellors to ask their neurodivergent clients what accommodations would make the counselling process smoother. For example, could they record their sessions or provide a transcript so the client can review their sessions if needed.

It is common for adults with ADHD to have experienced trauma, anxiety, and/or depression to some degree. Coaching can help change their perspective and reduce that self blame and shame and help with the inner dialogue. However, if a client has trauma flashbacks or thoughts of suicide or is escalating the use of unsafe coping mechanisms like drugs or alcohol or self-harm, a professional counsellor is needed.

Working Together to Empower Those with ADHD

ADHD Coaching is a legitimate field that can make a definitive difference in a person’s life. However, it is an unregulated industry. That’s why it is important to work with a

certified ADHD coach that has gone through in-depth training for ADHD and life coaching. Tanya is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO) which have rules and regulations and a code of ethics. She’s also a member of a network of ADHD coaches which has educational components and resources as needed.

Tanya always keeps in mind that people with ADHD have an interest-based brain which means they thrive on novelty, excitement, challenge, and urgency. As a coach, she helps her clients understand what strategies work best for them with the goal of empowering them to harness their own unique strengths and eventually, not be reliant on her. She herself goes for long stretches of time without seeing her own coach for a “realignment”, as she calls it.

Finally, she emphasises that an ADHD diagnosis is not a hopeless thing. “Our brains are fast and powerful and, once we learn to harness that, we can do incredible things.” There are many actors, activists, Olympians, astronauts, and people with Ph.D.’s who are quite open about having ADHD and some even credit their success with how their brain functions differently than a neurotypical one. Tanya says learning about ADHD has allowed her to embrace her diagnosis and her goal is to help her clients feel the same.

If you or someone you love is navigating an ADHD diagnosis, the most important takeaway may be this: you don’t have to choose between a coach and a counsellor. The research — and Tanya’s experience — suggests that coaching and counselling can work extremely well

together, with each providing a different and valuable form of support.

To learn more about Tanya Cameron’s own ADHD journey and her coaching services, please visit ADHD Inspired.