Coaching is great to help a client with future life choices, setting goals and helping clients to reach those goals. Therapy deals more with emotions from the past and in the present and challenges disfunctional thinking. Therapy deals with emotions such as anger, anxiety, shame, hurt, guilt and more, and treats mental health conditions such as Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD etc. As well as differences, there are also similarities between coaching and therapy. Both a coach and a therapist will want a client to gain more out of life. A coach may discuss emotions and how situations make them feel, and equally a therapist will often work towards goals.
In short, if don’t have strong emotional issues such as anger (towards yourself or others) anxiety, depression, shame, guilt but are just looking for someone to guide you in the right direction, provide you tips and strategies and hold you accountable, then a coach might be a better fit for you. However if life is a struggle due to emotional issues, then a therapist may be the best option.
First and foremost, it’s always good to pick a therapist that has been recommended, so if you’ve been recommended someone and are just here for some information, I would certainly recommend contacting that therapist and giving them a try. Most therapists will offer an initial consultation, so see if the therapist offers that and then make a choice after that intial session. You’re looking for a therapist who is a good match, who you trust, connect with and with who you would want to go back and see.
If you have ADHD, then a therapist that specialises in ADHD will have a better understanding of how your brain works, and how it affects your emotions. More often than not, ADHD comes with add-ons (co-morbidities) which can themselves cause further emotional disturbance. e.g. anxiety, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), brief/intense anger, leading to shame, guilt, low mood, self depreciation and so on. A general therapist may not have the undertsanding of how ADHD contributes to these conditions. At ADHD-Therapy, we are fully qualified accredited therapists with first hand experience of, and extra training in ADHD.
Primarily ADHD-Therapy uses the framework of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), the original form of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Other therapies are also integrated alongside such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy, Mindfulness and Hypnotherapy.
Let’s reframe that, because I think what you meant to say was “When I’ve tried mindfulness in the past, my mind wanders and I lose focus“. Of course it does, you have a human brain! It’s what brains do, especially ADHD brains. All of our sessions take into account the ADHD brain and where mindfulness is applied, it will be at your level and will help to calm and focus even the busiest mind.
It comes down to what the therapist specialises in. Some therapists specialise in anxiety, some depression, some in abuse, trauma, anger management etc. Therapists often specialise in what they have experience of either directly or indirectly, or have a particular interest in. I specialise in ADHD as I have first hand experience of ADHD, and have a great deal of interest in how it affects our emotions and behaviours.
When working with people with ADHD, I use a combination of education, listening, reading, videos, illustrations and practical exercises to help maintain focus which in turn allows information to sink in.
Yes. Anyone interested in individual therapy can have a free 10 minute telephone consultation prior to individual therapy, or for those interested in group therapy, you’ll have access to a free 1 hour workshop as an introduction to the group therapy course. Even if you are not looking to sign up to group therapy, you’ll get a lot out of the session. It’s my way of offering something for free for the ADHD community. Get in touch for more information.
Each course lasts for 10 consecutive weeks and each session lasts for 2 hours.
No. We understand that in certain areas obtaining a diagnosis can be a long process, an expensive process or even both. We don’t believe it’s fair that you would have to wait to access our sevices if you don’t yet have a diagnosis. We can arrange a consulation to make sure you’ll benefit from what we offer.