Our team of Executive Function Coaches at ADDvocacy serves neurodiverse youth and adults living with ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Autism, Anxiety and co-occurring mental health challenges that impact executive functioning.

We coach students in Grade 12 - Ph.D. and adults struggling in their careers entrepreneurship. or daily lives.  What makes our company unique is that all our coaches are themselves neurodivergent and, as such, are no strangers to the challenges and paradoxical ADDvantages this can have on one’s life. The unique nature of this peer relationship plays a critical role and is cited in research as one of the primary reasons coaching is such a successful intervention. 

So, what is executive function anyway? 

Executive function is tied to self-awareness, short-term memory, emotional regulation, planning and problem-solving. Any process involving setting goals, making decisions, storing information, and managing time will draw directly on executive function. 

When executive functioning is impaired, an individual will struggle to control emotions, identify and complete tasks, and remember important information. This can negatively impact performance at work and school and can create problems in relationships.

The current best practice in treating ADHD is a multimodal approach that combines medication to treat symptoms with behavioural intervention (Coaching/Counselling) to create skills in key areas. 
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ADHD is now thought of primarily as an executive function disorder.

Here is a snapshot of current research to help explain why this is.
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Scientists were interested in understanding why stimulant medication is so effective in treating ADHD. When studying PET scans, they expected to see that stimulants were taken up primarily by the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain with a dense amount of adrenaline and dopamine nerves. Instead, they saw the medication pulled out of the blood and then concentrated in the brain's centre, the corpus striatum.
 
The striatum has no adrenaline or dopamine activity; this part of the brain is your executive assistant. Its job is to scan all of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Then it sends the most important thing to your cortex for you to focus on and processes the rest behind the scenes.

 In an ADHD brain, the striatum works differently. Rather than prioritizing one thing and sending it along, it sends multiple messages; no message is more important than another. This is why ADHD-ers experience such a flood of thoughts, feelings, and images and why it is so difficult to know which thing to focus on or what issue to prioritize. 

Neurodivergent minds are often exceedingly bright and capable, but the inability to organize thoughts and actions or to envision future plans can create enormous roadblocks to success. This is where coaching can prove an invaluable tool. 

Coaching is considered the #1 support for executive functioning because it is proactive, practical, and cost-effective. Coaching can prevent challenges through early identification of potential barriers and actively solving problems as they occur. Research also shows that the skills and habits acquired will last after the coaching process ends.

At ADDvocacy, a certified Coach develops a personalized plan that supports clients in setting their own goals and working systematically towards achieving them. The client will learn various tools and techniques to improve their executive function skills through the coaching process. A key aspect of executive function coaching at ADDvocacy is the feedback process, where we look at clients' weekly  Wins and Challenges and develop  SMART goals to fix those challenges.