Your coach should…

• Have Lived Experience and Specialisation. They should understand ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and the associated executive function challenges. Many neurodivergent individuals find coaches with their own lived experience deeply validating and empathetic.

• Use Strengths-Based Focus: Your coach should focus on harnessing your hyper-focus, creativity, and innovative problem-solving, rather than dwelling on deficits.

• Prioritise Energy Management Over Rigid Systems: Beware of cookie-cutter "best practices". A good coach will help you manage your energy levels, sensory limits, and burnout cycles, and support you to adapt a frameworks to suit your fluctuating capacity.

• Create Psychological Safety: You should never feel like you need to mask or justify your needs. Look for coaches who create an environment of unconditional acceptance and trust.

• Have a Thorough Systems Understanding: Many challenges come from system mismatches rather than personal failures. Your coach should help you navigate workplace/education expectations, sensory environments, regulation and support across a variety of environments.