Book Excerpt: What Will You Offer Your Clients?

February 22nd, 2012




The discernment process that you use to identify whom you would like to coach can also be used to pinpoint what kinds of services you’d like to offer to your clients. Although there are core coaching services that are essential to practicing effectively and ethically with young people with ADHD (e.g., regular coaching sessions, periodic check-ins, communication with the client’s care team), there is still quite a bit of flexibility in how you deliver those services as well as how you charge for them.

Here are the common areas of service, plus what I call important practicalities to consider when forming or expanding your coaching business:

  • coaching sessions
  • client check-ins
  • communication with client’s care team
  • length of coaching relationship
  • fees

Thus, questions to consider include, How often will you meet with the client? When and how will the client check in with you to report the status of action items? What role will you play in communicating with the client’s other care providers? How long will you have a coaching relationship with the client? And How much will you charge for your services? Each coach will answer these questions differently.

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How Will You Create Change Through Coaching?

February 20th, 2012




Most of us are familiar with this powerful quote:
You must be the change
you wish to see in the world.

-Mahatma Gandhi

I want to hear from you, the coach, the client, the trainer, the student – how will you create powerful change through coaching?

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Book Excerpt: Incompatibility or Something Else?

February 15th, 2012




Occasionally, obstacles that, at first glance, appear to exist as a result of personality differences or issues of compatibility may actually result from another cause altogether. Sometimes an adolescent may come across as rude in the prescreening or intake session such that the coach doesn’t really want to work with him or her. The client might bark at the coach or the parent; the client might refuse to answer questions or avoid making eye contact.

Before making snap judgments, coaches are encouraged to consider the possibility that the client may simply be acting defensively under the pressure of an uncomfortable intake session in which the client’s parents are present rather than displaying true personality. The early investigative work that is initiated by coaches and conducted in the parents’ presence is often very difficult for young people. Young clients may feel embarrassed, angry, or put on the spot by all of the attention, analysis, and seeming criticism. They may act flippantly or rudely as a sort of defense mechanism. Coaches can ease clients’ discomfort by acknowledging the difficult nature of the situation, for example, by stating, “I appreciate your decision to get started with coaching and want to acknowledge that it can certainly be difficult to be the focus of the conversation.”

When a client decides not to work with a coach, it’s possible that the coach will assume the decision was based on personality differences between client and coach. But coaches should also consider whether the issue goes beyond mere differences in personality and points to a coach’s unintentionally demeaning or condescending approach to the young person. This occasionally happens with well-meaning coaches: In their attempt to support the young person, they may inadvertently talk down to him or her. Additional training under the support of a mentor coach and more practice may help the coach learn how to adopt an attitude that’s more appropriate for working with young people. In some cases, a coach will discover that adolescents and young adults simply aren’t the right population for them, given the coach’s style, preferences, and approach.

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ADD Coaching – Creating Powerful Changes

February 13th, 2012




Coaching is Powerful!

Life coaching, executive coaching, wellness coaching, sports coaching, recovery coaching,  ADD coaching and more.  We know it works, setting the path for success both personally and professionally.  Those of us who are coaches see and feel the power of  coaching as our clients shift, explore and change. That change does not happen overnight. It is a process of communication, questioning, self-reflection and often involves some less than stellar decisions along the way.

ADD coaching or ADHD coaching – whichever term you prefer – is a process which opens doors to young people and adults who never believed that success would come to them.  Opportunities that were once out of reach or tossed aside become available. With the support of a well-trained ADD coach, the sky is the limit.  I have coached hundreds of clients who learn to take baby steps which turn into giant steps toward their goals.  High school students who just want to finish school and be done with it find that with individualized  skills and strategies in place, school is not so bad after all.  Many head off to college, taking the tools from high school into the college environment. And, some even take their coach along (virtually that is).

Want to learn more about ADD coaching, coach training or some tips to move forward in your life. Contact me today.

Coaching is Powerful!

 

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Book Excerpt: Set Goals

February 8th, 2012




The first step in generating motivation in the young person is to help the young person figure out what he or she wants to do in the first place. What is it that the young person hopes the coaching process can help him or her accomplish? Does the young person want to spend a semester abroad? Would the young person like to go to music camp? Does the young person want to save up for a new computer? Identifying a young person’s goals is the first step in the motivational process. After all, it’s hard to get motivated if you don’t know what exactly you’re trying to accomplish.

A key piece of motivating young people (and the rest of us!) is to keep the coaching process tied to what it is that the young person wants and to avoid falling into the trap of advocating for mom and dad’s goals. A basic principle of motivation is that individuals are more likely to attempt to achieve something if the end result is desired by the individuals. For example, when a young person is reading an exciting mystery and wants to know how it ends, he or she will be motivated to spend the time and energy needed to read the book until the mystery is solved. Staying aligned with the young person’s goals—directing him or her to find out what these really are—will play a very important role in the motivational process.

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What Are You Waiting For? Coach Training Is Just a Click Away!

February 6th, 2012




Gary Ryan Blair, “The Goals Guy”, wrote:

You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.

 

So, What Are YOU Waiting For?

Our coach training programs start next week – February 14 & 16


Did you know that…?

JST Coaching offers the ONLY coach training:

  • Focused on coaching adolescents and young adults with ADHD
  • Accredited by ICF, CCE-Global and IAAC
  • Supported by a 2-year ADHD coaching research study which demonstrates that ADHD students can significantly benefit from receiving coaching using JST ADHD coaching model.
  • Includes a 200+ page course manual and copy-ready appendix with forms, up-to-date articles and ideas

 

JST Coaching has:

  • Course payment plans by credit card, debit card and check – contact us for details
  • Discounts to trainees enrolling in our Coaching Children with ADHD mini-class
  • A business building section of training to get you on the way to successful coaching
  • Classes in English and in Spanish
  • A network of over 400 JST training graduates worldwide

Sign up now! Join the network of over 400 JST training graduates worldwide who are changing the lives of young people with ADHD.

 

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Book Excerpt: Coaches: Don’t Fall Into the Parent Trap!

February 1st, 2012




There is sometimes an expectation on the part of parents that the coach will base services around whatever it is that the parent wants instead of asking the young person to set goals and then building the coaching around those goals.

It’s the coach’s job to be on the lookout for parent directives and to be careful to not fall into the trap of serving the parent rather than the client. Setting clear expectations and boundaries during the prescreening process will help the parent know how coaching is supposed to unfold and what guidelines should be followed during the coaching process.

This does not mean that the parent’s concerns are ignored. Instead, the coach invites the parent to discuss those concerns openly with the coach and client, and the coach then creates an opportunity to compare and contrast the parent’s concerns with those of the client. If there is agreement on the part of the client that the parent’s concern rings true, the coach helps the parent and client work together to ascertain the level of priority for that particular concern amid other coaching concerns and goals.

Sometimes clients decide they want to address the same goals that their parents have suggested, such as getting to sleep earlier in order to arrive at school on time in the morning. Other times, clients decide a concern is not important enough to focus on in coaching, such as making their bed every day, because it will divert energy from other important goals, like remembering to take morning medication or being focused and ready to ace the calculus test.

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A Heartfelt Story from a JST Coach Training Student

January 30th, 2012




The following article was written by Kathy Sussell, a coach in NYC, who is currently enrolled in the JST Coach Training program, Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD. Read Kathy’s personal, and emotional, story that led her to coach young people with ADHD.  Thanks, Kathy!

Destination: ADHD Coaching

by Kathy Sussell

I started my car and set my GPS to travel across Brooklyn. It’s a cool October night and I’m driving to meet my new coaching client, an eleven year old boy with ADHD. His mom contacted me because he’s having a hard time at school.

When the GPS’s anonymous female voice tells me turn right or left I do and I follow all of her directions on auto pilot. Finally she tells me I have reached my destination and I park my car. Then I realize I am in front of PS 216  — my elementary school alma mater.

I begin to feel anxious and my chest tightens at the sight of the school. Memories begin to flood my mind but I don’t want to revisit the bleak landscape of my youth even for a minute.  I resist returning to a time that was filled with pain, shame, and heartbreaking loneliness.

School was torture. I didn’t “get” things the same way that the other kids did. I went to elementary school in the 1950’s before anyone heard of ADHD.  If you were inattentive, disorganized and impulsive as I was, you were just BAD.

I cringe when I think about those days. I avoid dwelling in the past. When my kids were small they had a habit of running full steam ahead while looking back over their shoulders. “Look where you’re going, not where you’ve been,” I would shout at them. That became my motto, my strategy for dealing with life.  Yet as I stare into the silent schoolyard where I played as a child I am transported back to a bright, cold winter’s day in 1959. I hear the shouts and laughter of children playing in the yard, girls are jumping rope and boys are chasing each other.

I peer across time and strain to see my 10 year old self and suddenly there I am.  I recognize myself from a blurry picture of me in fifth grade — fifth grade, a skinny girl with glasses held together with a safety pin and a button missing from her coat. One of my friends took it with a Kodak Brownie Camera and gave it to me.

I am running around the yard, delighted for the reprieve from the row of wooden desks, the crushing boredom and my teacher, Mrs. Nash, whom I never failed to disappoint.

She had a warm smile and kind words for the  other kids but not for me. She was the teacher who told me not to sing with the other kids, just move my lips because I sang off key. When the entire fifth grade took a spelling test to determine who should represent the school in the city wide spelling bee I received the highest grade but Mrs. Nash said she couldn’t recommend me to compete. “You’re a girl who doesn’t try hard enough, you’re just too lazy and sloppy to win a spelling bee.” she said.

But for now, I look so happy, just a scrawny kid running around pretending to be a horse. When recess is over I will be reprimanded again for forgotten homework, my messy notebook, and for staring out the window. I run free in the yard, with my stringy hair, unbuttoned coat, anklet socks slipping down into my scuffed shoes and knobby knees with the scabs falling off. It’s freezing cold but I have no hat or scarf or gloves. I must have lost them or maybe I never had them.

I reach through the fence and wave to my phantom self but she can’t see or hear me. Her mind is elsewhere.  I push through time and the metal fence to run alongside her. I take her freezing hand in mine. I send her my prayers. “Life will not always be so hard. You will love and be loved, be strong. Embrace who you are and love yourself.”

I turn away and I’m back in 2011. I reach into my purse and take out a tissue to dry my eyes. I breathe deeply to find my center. I steady myself, placing my feet carefully, as I cross the street and leave the past behind. I pause a moment outside my clients door.

Now I am ready to coach, eager to reach out my hand to another child — a child I have yet to meet but feel I know.  I am eager to meet him and hope I can help. I will smile and ask him to tell me all the great things I should know about him and I will listen as hard as I can. I have reached my destination.

Kathy Sussell is an NYU Certified Professional Life Coach specializing in coaching adolescents, young adults, and adults with ADHD. Kathy helps her clients create structure, manage their time, organize their belongings, improve their social skills and reach their goals.

 kathy@bravolifecoaching.com

 

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Book Excerpt: Josh, the Video Game Designer

January 25th, 2012




Josh was an 18-year-old client who wanted to go into the field of video game design. He loved to play games on his own computer and clearly recognized the need for improvement in his favorite online game. When first discussing his interest in video game design during the coaching intake, Josh became frustrated and agitated. He wanted to get out of school now and go to work for the company that designed his favorite game. With the support of his coach, Josh was able to step back from his frustration by creating a structure and a plan, captured in the PCA (Personal Coaching Agreement), through which he would contact the video gaming company with his ideas while staying in school and on task in order to complete his studies and graduate in six months. The coach provided a safe space for Josh to address his present frustrations while simultaneously planning for the future.

Josh’s story represents the power of support and structure to help young people make decisions that will facilitate successful completion of their own goals. In particular, Josh was able to work on his goals and dreams within a structure that kept those goals realistic and intact. Because the coach offered nonjudgmental support, Josh was able to clearly see his goals and the steps he agreed to take to reach those goals. The clarity of his PCA afforded Josh the opportunity to follow his dream while focusing on accomplishing the tasks at hand, which, in turn, helped facilitate his long-term goal of becoming a video game designer. Ultimately, the support and structure offered in the coaching experience helped Josh avoid making an impulsive decision to drop out of school, which might have sabotaged his ability to achieve the very goals he was hoping to meet in the first place.

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Fun Ways to Train Our Brains

January 23rd, 2012




I am not a big game player.  Solitaire resides on my desktop for times when I am on hold for a long time or need a brain break from work.  I enjoy training and coaching, but sometimes I need to shift my mind to something different.  We all need to take breaks, as long as the games don’t become the focus of our time and energy on a daily basis.

While perusing the Sunday paper, I read about a new brain training application (app), called Brain Trainer by Lumosity. I downloaded the free trial to my iPhone and checked it out. Well, I was hooked very quickly.  After sitting at my desk writing articles and paying bills, the Brain Trainer games really helped me shift my thoughts get a clearer perspective.  And, I must admit that I had difficulty  dividing numbers in my head for one of the games.  That was the clincher!  I ordered the full package online for use on my computer and my iPhone and went for the low cost option to add family members. None of us are getting younger and this is a fun way to exercise your brain.

Whether you choose this program or another, I encourage you to do something to exercise your brain. It is never too soon and never too late!

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Empowering Youth with ADHD by Jodi Sleeper-Triplett, MCC, SCAC, provides coaches, parents and professionals with a comprehensive guide to improving the lives of youth with AD/HD through coaching.

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