Why I Do It
A few years ago, my son was diagnosed with ADHD. I had been a middle and high school teacher for over ten years, but had never experienced ADHD as a parent. I read every book, researched every website and attended every workshop and seminar about ADHD in the New Orleans area. I was on a mission to help my son.
In the meantime, I was tutoring teenagers who were struggling in their foreign language classes. Most of these students had also been diagnosed with ADHD or some form of executive function disorder. As I got to know them better, l realized that they needed much more than a grammar lesson or vocabulary review. Helping them raise their grades in Spanish or French only addressed a symptom but did not solve the problem. I wanted to help these young people succeed all aspects of their lives and academics was only one small part of the whole picture.
I worked with, "Jack", an extremely intelligent and creative high school student. One week, Jack had an English paper due, a French test, a math quiz, a chemistry lab, a history project, a baseball tournament, a fishing trip with his dad and uncle, and grandma's birthday brunch. Meanwhile his girlfriend was texting him nonstop and he felt that his friends demanded his attention. Overwhelmed and down on himself, he gave up before he had even started to try. After all, he had always been told that he had a "disorder". His parents were frustrated and his teachers were disappointed. Jack needed someone to help him get motivated. He needed someone to help him identify his long term and short term goals. He needed someone to help him plan, prioritize and learn time management skills. He needed to be held accountable to his action plan and achieve success.
This is what I do. I help young people strengthen their executive function skills, improve their quality of life and achieve their goals through the development of self-awareness, systems and strategies. ADHD coaching is a collaborative, supportive and goal oriented process in which we work together to identify goals and develop the skills to achieve them. My clients achieve happiness, balance and fulfillment as they own their success in all aspects of their lives.