Endorsements for ADHD Coaching by Internationally Known Authorities in ADHD

National Institute of Mental Health

"Although medication gives needed support, the individual must succeed on his own. To help in this struggle, both 'psychoeducation' and individual psychotherapy can be helpful. A professional coach can help..."

Retrieved August 6, 2007 from: www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/adhd.cfm

Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD)

"A coach helps people with AD/HD carry out the practical activities of daily life in an organized, goal-oriented, and timely fashion. Through a close partnership, an ADHD coach helps the client learn practical skills and initiate change in his or her daily life."

Retrieved August 6, 2007 from: help4adhd.org/living/coaching/WWK18

Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA)

"AD/HD Coaching can be an important part of a comprehensive program for individuals with AD/HD."
"Coaching intervention can make a real difference in how people with AD/HD negotiate their own particular deficits and cope with life on a daily basis."

Retrieved August 6, 2007 from: www.add.org/articles/coachingguide.html

Ari Tuckman, Ph.D.

Coaching is an important part of treatment for ADHD adults and it’s the part that was missing from many of these clients’ former therapies. Success in the present cuts the chains of failure binding them to their pasts. […] The key is to give each client what she needs, no matter how different from the client before her. Coaching is just one more tool in our toolbox to help us get our jobs done, and done well.

Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD: A Practical, Easy-To-Use Guide for Clinicians. (2007, p189)

Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D.

Dr. Russell Barkley has specialized in ADHD for more than 30 years and is currently a Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. He is author of numerous scientific papers and over a dozen books on ADHD, including the best selling Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents.

"Another potentially helpful area of intervention for adults with ADHD is personal coaching."

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Third Edition: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment. (2006, p 700)

Barkley further said, in the above cited book (p 726), regarding the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (which is very similar to coaching) for people with ADHD :

"Recent data indicate that when this protocol [ADHD Adapted CBT - McDermott & Wilens, 2000; as cited in Safren et al, 2005] was combined with medication, two-thirds of 26 adults whose ADHD was previously unresponsive to treatment were found to manifest clinically significant improvement."

Patricia O. Quinn, M.D.

Dr. Patricia Quinn is a developmental pediatrician in the Washington, D.C. area specializing in child development and psychopharmacology. Dr. Quinn has worked for over 30 years in the areas of ADHD and learning disabilities. She is the author or co-author of over a dozen books on ADHD. She is co-founder and currently the director of the non-profit organization, The National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD and was also co-editor of ADDvance: A Magazine for Women with ADD

"Coaching is wonderful for those with ADHD because it gets to all the nitty, gritty stuff that medication does not address. Medication can reduce the symptoms of ADHD and help you concentrate, but it doesn’t teach you how to get organized or get that better job."

Retrieved August 6, 2007 from: www.ncgiadd.org/members/pdf/0608_newsletter.pdf

Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartman is the author of eight books on ADHD, and the creator of the "Hunter in a Farmer's World" metaphor and of the Shadow Coaching program for helping people whose lives are touched by ADHD achieve success.

"Coaching, it turns out, is one of the most powerful and effective ways for people with ADHD to achieve success."

Retrieved August 6, 2007 from: www.thisisawar.com/IllnessADDCoaching.htm

Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

One of the most helpful […] treatments for ADD is personal coaching. Coaching helps a person develop good “internal supervision skills.” Coaching involves using another person (a coach) to help you set goals and develop specific skills needed to meet those goals. I have seen it be very powerful for people with ADD, who, as a group, tend to struggle with issues of goal setting, organization, planning, and consistent performance.

Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD (2001, p 217)

Sari Solden, M.S., L.M.F.T.

Sari Solden is a psychotherapist in private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has worked with individuals, couples and groups of people with ADHD adults for close to 20 years. She wrote two books Women with Attention Deficit Disorder and Journeys Through ADDulthood .

"For adults with ADHD who absolutely need external structure to function well, coaches can make a tremendous difference and provide a critical link on their road to success."

Retrieved August 6, 2007 from: Women with Attention Deficit Disorder, (1995, p 246)

Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo

ACO Members Kate Kelly, RN, MSN and Peggy Ramundo, BS, ACT published their ground breaking book, You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!, in January of 1993, over a year before Driven to Distraction was published in March of 1994. Kate and Peggy later became coaches and the recently revised edition of You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! contains the following:

"We recommend that you hire an ADD coach to assist you in the process."
"Get yourself a coach to help you stay on track."

You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. (Revised, 2006, pp 126, 332)

The following is the first specific citation for coaching:

In Driven to Distraction (1994, p 226) by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., and John J. Ratey, M.D.

We particularly like the idea of a coach. What is an ADHD Coach? The person is just what the name implies: an individual standing on the side-lines with a whistle around his or her neck barking out encouragement, directions, and reminders to the player in the game. The coach can be a pain in the neck sometimes, dogging the player to stay alert, in the game, and the coach can be a source of solace when the player feels ready to give up. Mainly, the coach keeps the player focused on the task at hand and offers encouragement along the way.

"Particularly in the beginning phases of treatment--the first couple of months--The coach can stave off a reversion to old habits: habits of procrastination, disorganization, and negative thinking, the most damaging and pernicious of which is negative thinking. Treatment begins with hope, with a jump-start of the hear. A coach, someone on the outside, can holler at the ADD mind when it starts down the old negative grooves and bring it back to a positive place.