ADDCA Approved for Level 1 and Level 2 Accreditations from the ICF

ADDCA
ADDCA In The News | Coach Training | Home Page News and Announcements

We are delighted to announce that ADDCA has received Level 1 and Level 2 accreditations from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). 


Last year, ICF required all accredited coach training programs around the world to go through re-accreditation as they upgraded their requirements and changed what they called each accreditation.

ADDCA previously had our entire program accredited, but under ICF's new format, we had to accredit our Basic and Advanced programs separately as Level 1 and Level 2. Receiving both upgraded levels of accreditation is a significant achievement that reflects our commitment to providing high-quality coach training that meets the rigorous standards set by the ICF.

This means that when students pass the Basic (AACC) Certification Assessment, they will no longer have to submit a recording to the ICF. To receive the ICF’s ACC credential,  students are eligible to apply through ICF’s Level 1 path after meeting the additional client coaching hours, paying the ICF application fee, and passing the ICF credentialing exam. 
 
This continues to apply to Advanced (ACCG) applicants and is now considered the Level 2 path (formerly ACTP). This is a nice benefit for our students.
 
We are so proud and grateful for our ADDCA faculty. The quality of their teaching, mentoring, and assessing has made this possible.
 
Our thanks also to Barbara Luther, ADDCA’s Director of Training and the ADDCA staff for their hard work and persistence in achieving these accreditations. 




ReFocus Podcast Coaching ADHD Children

David Giwerc discusses coaching ADHD students as the school year begins

As Seen In RE-Focus Podcast
ADDCA In The News | Coach Training | David Giwerc | Home Page News and Announcements | Parents | Teachers | Young Adults

The RE-Focus Podcast with Angela Stephens, interviews David Giwerc, MCAC, MCC  the founder and President of the ADD Coach Academy (ADDCA). They discuss students going back to school with ADHD, how these students process information, how to coach children, and how adults can start a career as an ADHD coach.





ADHD Brain Activation and Situational Variability

How to Deal with Situational Variability

Originally published in Attention Magazine
Coach Directory | Coaches in Action

By Vidya Guhan, MS, CCC-SLP, ACCG, MCAC, PCC

YOU HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL at your job for years, but struggle with it now because you are working from home. You can plan and execute all the elements of a large project, but have difficulty planning a trip. Your child can design and code the most elaborate computer games, and yet has trouble completing simple math assignments. These inconsistencies in performance are one of the most confusing aspects of having ADHD. David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, sums it up with, “I have an easier time planning a twenty-aircraft fleet than I do paying the light bill.”


The short answer for why these inconsistencies occur is “situational variability.” ADHD comes with strengths and challenges, and which of these is more at play is influenced by the situation or context. Without understanding how the ADHD brain is fundamentally wired and the implications of this wiring, it is very easy to think that your loved one with ADHD “could do it if they wanted to” rather than realizing that they “would do it if they could.”

Typically, for someone with ADHD, when a task or activity is of high interest to them, they feel energized, motivated, and able to easily engage and perform at a very high level. But, when the task or activity is of low interest—even if it is important, simple, or short—they find it viscerally painful and almost impossible to engage with.

Why? The human brain needs dopamine, a neurotransmitter that facilitates communication between neurons, to be fully activated or “switched on” so that it can do its job; that is, pay attention, focus, and self-regulate. Dopamine levels in the brain are positively correlated with our level of interest in a task.


If a task is inherently boring to someone with ADHD, dopamine levels are so low that their brain is unable to “activate” to do the task. They can’t pay attention even if they want to. They are in a state of hypofocus. This is like trying to move a car when the engine is turned off—the car needs to be physically pushed. A client describes the perceived effort in trying to engage in a task when in hypofocus as “pushing the car uphill while hopping on one foot!”

However, if a task is extremely interesting and stimulating to people with ADHD, they can lose track of time and place and stay absorbed in the activity for hours. They are unable to disengage from the task. This is a state of hyperfocus. This can feel like being in the zone, where the car is now self-driving and there is very little perceived effort required to carry out the task. This is an ADHD superpower!

The sweet spot between hypofocus and hyperfocus is what I call the intentional focus range. In this zone, tasks are interesting enough to capture the ADHD brain’s attention, and they can engage purposefully and by choice. Now, the car’s engine is turned on and they are in the driver’s seat, taking charge of when to start or stop a task, what they want to do, and how they want to do it.

The range of hypofocus and hyperfocus is much greater for someone with ADHD than for someone without ADHD, while the “sweet spot” is much smaller. This leads to greater situational variability for someone with ADHD.


Here are some ADHD-friendly strategies that help you adapt to four different situational contexts: high versus low interest, strengths versus challenges, structure versus flexibility, and positive versus negative environments.

High versus Low Interest
Tasks that are genuinely interesting are easier to engage with, while tasks that are boring are not.

  • Engage with areas of genuine interest and passion wherever possible.
  • Instead of asking yourself, “How can I make myself do this boring task?” ask, “How can I make the task more interesting or activate my brain for this task so it is easier to do?”
  • Do something fun before you do the boring task.
  • Add something interesting to the task. For example, play some music in the background while working, listen to a podcast while cleaning, or watch TV while folding laundry.
  • Make your prompts and reminders attractive to you. Explore different mediums and colors.
  • Incentivize or reward yourself immediately and frequently as you work through a bigger task.
  • Gamify the task in some way. For example, create timed games, point systems, competition, and challenges.
  • Add humor and play to the task in some way.
  • Body double with someone or connect with others (for example, join a group or take a class).
  • Add novelty and variety and change things up frequently so they stay fresh and interesting.
  • Get some exercise or get outside in nature. A brisk walk and shared laughter with a friend can do wonders for an underactivated brain.

Strengths versus Challenges
Situations that play to our natural strengths are more likely to lead to success.

  • Become aware of your strengths, passion, values, processing styles, and talents.
  • Explore situations and contexts in the past where you have been successful. Projects that you loved or were easy for you, or experiences that made you happy or feel really good about yourself, can show you who you are and how you are naturally wired for success.
  • Select tasks and activities that are a good fit for your natural strengths and preferences where possible.
  • Leverage your strengths and incorporate them into any task. For example, if you know that you are a hands-on person, you may do better with a paper planner, white board, or Post-it notes to keep track of your tasks. If you are a verbal processor, speak to someone, record yourself or use a voice-to-text app to capture your thoughts and organize your information.

Structure versus Flexibility
Finding the right balance of structure and flexibility can help you get things done in a given situation.

  • Create sufficient structure to be successful with enough flexibility so you do not feel restricted or deprived.
  • Use timers, reminders, routines, automation, and accountability to keep track of schedules and progress. This will give you clarity on what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
  • Give yourself adequate time for creativity and to recharge your batteries to avoid the internal pushback of being “made to do something.”
  • Set sufficient boundaries so that you can capitalize on your peak performance windows. For example, make yourself unavailable on your calendar, silence your phone, or turn off notifications when working on a project.

Positive versus Negative 
We tend to thrive in positive environments and shut down in negative ones.

  • Pay attention to positive feedback, encouragement and your strengths as this can activate your brain and energize you emotionally for the tasks at hand. This is true for both external feedback and self-talk.
  • “Make friends” with feedback by reframing it as an opportunity for growth, a learning opportunity, or a pathway to success. When looking at written feedback, try highlighting all the positive feedback and reading those first.
  • Become aware of any self-defeating self-talk and replace it with more empowering self-talk. For example, if you catch yourself saying “I don’t want to” or “I can’t handle it,” try saying “I am willing to do the first step” or “I can handle it for ten minutes” instead.
  • Build a robust support system for yourself including a cheerleader, venting buddy, sidekick, mentor, coach, helpmate, playmate, your rock, emotional support animal, and so on. This gives you the outside help to build resilience and counter negativity when you are faced with it.
  • Keep a gratitude or success journal to help you shift your attention back to the positive when you need a boost.

Good internal self-care habits
Apart from these external contexts, there are internal elements of good self-care that directly impact our functioning from day to day. Healthy habits around sleep, exercise, nutrition, medication management, mindfulness practices, and social connection make it easier for your brain to regulate well. Build routines and structure for consistency in these areas to minimize variability in how you feel and perform from day to day.

The pandemic has shaken up our environment, our structures, and our routines. For many people, this amplifies the challenges they face because the new structures (like working from home with fewer face-to-face interactions) are not aligned with their strengths and interests. Although they may not have control over the situation they are in, approaching it with an understanding of the wiring of the ADHD brain and using the strategies discussed above can help empower them to thrive.

“When you know that the situations that frustrate you can be managed, it will empower you to see the strengths that you already possess and create action that will move you forward.”–ADD Coach Academy Instagram post, 2017

Originally published in Attention Magazine. To read the original article, visit CHADD News.




Build Back Your Child’s Social Skills in 7 Steps

Build Back Your Child’s Social Skills in 7 Steps

by Caroline Maguire as seen in ADDitude Magazine
ADDCA In The News | ADHD Education | Coaches in Action

“Lack of practice, lagging maturity, fewer social models, and weak executive functions mean that children with ADHD are struggling. Now is the time to provide extra support to build back emotional skills. The good news is that, like any other skill, these skills can be taught and improved.”


Have you watched your child with ADHD interact with peers and wondered why they can’t drop the joke after it stopped making their friends laugh? Become too silly for too long, take over the game, and tell friends what to do and when to do it? Get into others’ space, talk at or poke friends over and over, or insist he is correct, regardless of whether it is true?

What Causes Poor Social Skills in Children with ADHD?
Some parents fear that if they don’t supervise, cajole, suggest alternatives, and remind their child not to say or do things, they will be destined to a life without friends.

Making and keeping friends is tough for some children with ADHD. While your child has strengths, it is the weak executive functions — the management system of the brain — that affect their social skills. These brain-based processes determine how they behave in social situations.

After a year of social distancing, children with ADHD may need to practice being together. A year without play dates has made social interactions more challenging for all children, especially those with ADHD. Lack of practice, lagging maturity, fewer social models, and weak executive functions mean that they are struggling. Now is the time to provide children with extra support to build back emotional skills.

How to Improve Social Skills in Children with ADHD

Determine the root cause of social ineptness and practice workarounds. What causes the most disruption? Does your child have difficulty sharing, managing emotions, engaging with a friend, handling excitement, or being flexible? Once you have identified the top one or two challenges, practice building skills in real-world situations.

  1. Beef up skills.
    Children with executive function weaknesses often need direct instruction to help them learn to self-regulate, read the room, and stop interrupting. To help your child with social learning, demonstrate the desired skill or behavior, then engage in situations where she can practice this new skill. Engage in conversations, ask her to share with siblings, prompt her to interpret daily situations, so she can cultivate the skill and demonstrate it with a playmate.

    If your child can’t manage her emotions when losing a game, play board games with her, and encourage her to use the soothing strategies you have taught her. Ask her to show you how she can allow family or friends to choose a game or a TV show. Talk about what flexible versus inflexible behavior looks like, and remind her to work on this social skill before the next play date. When your child is flexible and courteous, you can say, “Great job. I love it when you are like that.”
  2. Assign your child a mission.
    Choose one or two focused behaviors to practice during your child’s next play date. If your child has shown anger, explain that they can work on controlling their anger the next time they see a friend. As you head to the park, remind them that they have two missions: to share and to take a deep breath to calm himself. You and your child should choose a mission together for better chances of success.
  3. Find compatible friends.
    A friend whose temperament is similar to your child’s will help him to play better and to practice the target behaviors. But two bossy kids may lead to arguments.
  4. Pre-plan the play date.
    Timing is everything when it comes to play dates. Remember that one goal of the play date (besides having fun) is to give your child a chance to practice new skills. Set up the date for a time when your child is not hungry, tired, sick, or sad. Play dates that last over two hours usually lead to disaster, as this is too long to work on emerging skills.
  5. Control the activities and environments.
    Hosting the play date lets you remove the activities or toys that you know will cause problems. Choose an environment your child enjoys. Should you meet at your home or at a playground? A crowded park may be overstimulating, and that is not a good thing.
  6. Create subtle cues. 
    Rather than intervening and embarrassing your child, set up cues or code words to remind him of his mission. You can agree ahead of time that when you bring juice boxes over, he should think of his mission. When you put a hand on his shoulder, it should remind him to share more. If you say something like “What are you going to play next?” he should remember to let his friend choose a game. You can make things fun and silly by picking a funny code word, like “clown.”


To read the entire article by Caroline Maguire, ADDCA;s Director of the Fundamentals of ADHD Coaching for Families Training,  please visit ADDitude 




Refocus Podcast with Angela Stephens & David Giewrc

Why ADHD is an Extra Ability; As Heard on Re-Focus Podcast with Angela Stevens

As Heard on Re-Focus Podcast with Angela Stevens
ADDCA In The News | ADHD Education | David Giwerc

David Giwerc joins Angela Stephens to share his journey in discovering what ADHD was and how he learned more about his own type of ADHD, why ADHD is not a disability, how delegation can help you take control of your life, and how he finds peace during stressful situations. Listen Here





Coach, Neil Swanson Discusses His ADHD Challenges with AARP

As Seen in AARP
Coaches in Action

AARP interviewed ADDCA-trained coach Neil Swanson, MDiv, PACG, CACP, PCC on living with ADHD and his journey to help others to discover their strengths.


Many Adults Are Living With ADHD — Are You?
What to know about the often-misunderstood disorder

Neil Swanson says his wife of 52 years was always trying to understand why a guy like him, who seemed so smart, had so much trouble keeping track of time and staying organized.

Swanson, 79, says that when the couple, from Warrenton, Virginia, were raising their twins, his wife “wasn't sure she felt safe leaving them with me. She thought I would forget they were there. I would get distracted or hyper-focus on something."

He bounced from job to job — as a minister, a counselor, a construction contractor and a building consultant. Without stability, the family was in debt, and he blamed himself. “I thought my failure to function might just be my own lack of self-discipline,” he says.

Finally, about 17 years ago, Swanson was diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. “That was quite a revelation,” he says.


What is ADHD?

In the 1960s children who appeared unable to control their behavior were described as having “hyperkinetic impulse disorder,” a diagnosis formally recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1968. It was renamed ADHD in the 1980s and now is one of the most commonly diagnosed childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. Its symptoms can include attention difficulties, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Someone may have one or multiple symptoms, sometimes distinguished with a more specific diagnosis of impulsive/hyperactive-type ADHD, inattentive-and-distractible-type ADHD (once described as ADD, but no longer) or combined-type ADHD.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 6.1 million children have a diagnosis of ADHD — with the percentage of diagnoses increasing since 1997, the first year of the now-annual national survey. Experts don't know whether the numbers are growing because more kids have ADHD or because doctors are more likely to identify it. There's no clear cause, but it tends to run in families. Low birth weight, brain injury, exposure to environmental toxins such as lead, and a mother's cigarette smoking and alcohol or drug use during pregnancy are also risk factors for the disorder.

About 70 percent of people who are diagnosed with the disorder as children continue to have symptoms as adults, but it doesn't spontaneously appear for the first time in adulthood, says Mary Rooney, chief of the Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Interventions Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. “You just don't have ADHD onset in adulthood without evidence of impairment in childhood,” she explains.

Gender differences

Nearly 13 percent of boys are diagnosed with ADHD, compared with 5.6 percent of girls, according to the National Survey of Children's Health by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration. It's a gender split comparable to other neurodevelopmental disorders, says Stephen Hinshaw, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. “Boys are slower to develop in terms of language and social abilities and self-regulation than girls,” he observes.

They also tend to have different symptoms, Rooney says. “Boys tend to display more of the hyperactive and impulsive symptoms of the disorder than girls, who often display primarily inattentive symptoms.”

That's why females of all ages are often underdiagnosed, notes Hinshaw, a leading researcher on ADHD in girls. Because “a girl is less likely than a boy with ADHD to be defiant, oppositional and ornery,” he says, “she is not as noticeable. “

ADHD in adulthood

It's unclear how many adults have ADHD. Estimates vary from about 1 to more than 4 percent. Because they were never diagnosed as children, many may not be aware that they have the condition — especially older adults, who grew up before the disorder was understood, Hinshaw says. “Many, many were missed; they were thought to have a learning disability, or they were just [perceived as being] super anxious."

Plenty of adults live happy, successful lives with ADHD, including some great thinkers and celebrities — Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, John Lennon and Henry Winkler, to name a few. But sometimes the disorder can interfere with daily living.

Although the hyperactivity symptoms of ADHD usually decrease with age, the inattention symptoms tend to continue or worsen over time. Impulsivity also often persists into adulthood, sometimes manifesting in risky behavior, Rooney says. For example, adults diagnosed with ADHD have a rate of car crashes 1.45 times higher than those without this diagnosis, according to an August 2020 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

And, of course, the consequences of ADHD's core symptoms grow larger in adulthood, Hinshaw points out. As one needs to show more and more self-regulation in jobs and close relationships, ADHD-related symptoms can cause employment and interpersonal problems, as well as sleep issues, anxiety and depression.

That's why it's so important to recognize ADHD in adults and help them find treatment if necessary, says Jyoti Bhagia, a consultant in the department of psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “It's treatable, and treatment helps people gain self-esteem, build better relationships and helps them be more effective on the job."

Diagnosing and treating adult ADHD

To get the right help for the disorder, you need to first get the right diagnosis, Rooney says. Don't leave that to your primary care doctor. Seek out clinicians, such as psychologists and psychiatrists, who are best at exploring the diagnosis with adults. They'll ask retrospectively about your symptoms and impairment during childhood and do a full assessment to rule out psychiatric or other neurological disorders (such as mild cognitive impairment, anxiety or depression) that have similar symptoms.

The most common treatment is medication, Bhagia says. Stimulants, including Adderall, Concerta and Dexedrine, can reduce symptoms and improve the ability to focus, she explains. But they can also have cardiac implications, such as raising blood pressure and heart rate and increasing anxiety, so they need close monitoring.

Antidepressants such as imipramine (Tofranil) and Burpropion (Wellbutrin) are also commonly prescribed for ADHD.

If you can't or don't want to take medication, cognitive behavioral therapy with a specially trained therapist, or guidance from an occupational therapist, can help you develop strategies to manage problems like organization and planning, and forgetfulness.

Once adults are diagnosed with ADHD, they often feel a sense of relief. Swanson says that's true for him and he now feels more comfortable delegating tasks he finds challenging, and concentrating on his strengths. He also finally found himself in a new, “delightfully satisfying role,” working as an ADHD life and clergy coach. He helps other people with ADHD to discover their strengths and to adapt their work situation to best use those strengths so they can “contribute their gifts to the world.”

"I'm so enjoying helping others,” he says.

Download Article Here

Published in, and reproduced with permission from, AARP. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. 




CHOICE Magazine

Clients Inner Movie as Seen in CHOICE Magazine

As Seen in CHOICE Magazine
Coach Training | David Giwerc

CHOICE Magazine's featured article: A Client’s Inner Movie, shares important insight, knowledge, and research to encourage clients to build their “inner witness” so they can objectively observe what is going on in their lives.


______________

Think of your life as a movie.
 What if you could watch your life movie as if you were a spectator in the audience? There you are, munching on popcorn and sipping soda. On the screen is the story of your life, whatever that story might be in the moment. In the movie, emotions may get heated; the scene may be one of anger, frustration, or sadness. It may seem to be headed toward a difficult or tragic ending. But out in the audience, you watch yourself onscreen with detachment. You suspend all disbelief and focus on possibilities. You are like a fly on the wall watching your movie from a distance, removed from any attachment to a final outcome.

In life, your reactions may be impulsive, driven by a dominant, negative pattern, or you may be paralyzed by in- decision or inaction. Yet out in the audience, watching your movie, you are detached from the intensity of the moment. You watch yourself without judging, as an outsider. And suddenly, it becomes so easy to detect destructive patterns in your behavior.


In the movie, it’s so clear how you limited yourself and reacted according to old beliefs about yourself that weren’t serving you well. But out in the audience, you don’t blame the character onscreen – rather, you watch and learn.


THE PAUSE CREATES SELF-AWARENESS

This is the essence of self-awareness: being able to emotionally distance yourself by learning to pause and pay attention to what you are paying attention to and witness what your movie is revealing. Pausing and witnessing are the foundation for creating new self-awareness.

In more than 20 years of coaching, almost entirely with clients with ADHD, I have noticed that most of them have not learned to pause and pay attention. Without the pause, there is no awareness or understanding of the cause. There is no ability to notice what is getting in their way so they can get it out of their way.

When clients learn to pause and pay attention in a non- judgmental, non-attached, objective, and open way, their inner witness will become available to objectively watch what is going on in their life. The information they gather can then be used to make choices that are neither impulsive nor reactionary but aligned with what they truly want in life.


COACHING CREATES A NATURAL PAUSE

Coaching is a platform that encourages a natural pause through questioning. An evocative question can activate the brain to stop and notice what is going on by stimulating interest and cueing the client to pause and respond rather than react. Asking a simple but powerful open-ended question, such as, “How do you know when to pause?” often leaves clients dumbfounded.

They also have no idea that every thought they focus on creates electrical signals in the brain which eventually are converted into bodily sensations. These bodily signals called feelings are associated with an emotion. Having the ability to name the emotion as it is occurring is the foundation to the essential life skill of emotional intelligence. Without emotional intelligence, there is no ability to effectively manage our emotions.

Unfortunately, research tells us that only about a third of the world’s human beings possess the ability to identify an emotion (emotional intelligence) as we are feeling it in the moment.[1]


THE FLY ON THE WALL

By mirroring their thoughts and asking evocative questions, coaches can create an automatic pause so the client can engage in the process of becoming aware of the emotion they are focusing on in their life movie and reflect on its impact. Coaches can also empower clients to watch their movie from a self-distanced perspective [2] as they reflect on their feelings and view themselves in their experience; for example, from the perspective of a “fly on the wall.” Research has revealed that when individuals reflect on their own negative experiences (negativity is the brain’s automatic default focus [3] a self-distanced perspective, (using their name vs. I), they feel significantly less distressed.


So, after actively listening to client Jim, who is having automatic negative thoughts about his inability to get a proposal in on time, I might say, “I hear Jim say that he will never be able to complete his work proposal in time. Where’s the evidence that what Jim is saying will never happen?”

Other questions I might ask:

  • What does Jim think happens to his ability to get the work done when he says it “will never happen?
  • What words could Jim use to support his ability to complete his proposal on time?
  • What experiences or events has Jim forgotten that are reminders of who he is and his capabilities?
  • What does Jim notice when he revisits successful, fulfilling moments in his life?
  • How would Jim describe what happens to him when he remembers to revisit those experiences? 
  • Who does Jim become?

Notice I use the client’s name rather than the first-person pronoun “you.”


The Client’s Inner Witness

Coaching this way allows clients to watch and notice what they are observing in the third person, as though they were a fly on the wall watching it all. Practicing it in coaching sessions anchors the skill so they can do it alone.
 
When an experience occurs that activates uncomfortable bodily sensations, it becomes their cue to pause and pay attention to what they are paying attention to in the moment and say to themselves, “Hmm, that’s interesting. There is Jim acting out that same movie he watches all the time. Jim needs to change the plot so he can move forward. What is the new movie Jim can produce that will serve him well?”

It may at first feel strange. But your client’s inner witness is a powerful ally that can help him change his life movie.


DISCOVERING THE OBJECTIVE SPECTATOR

The coach encourages clients to naturally slip into the role of objective spectator, rationally observing and not emotionally immersed. That way, they can notice their movie and not get caught up in the drama which otherwise may have emotionally affected and/or immobilized them.

If the plot of the client’s movie is a strongly held belief that needs to be challenged, he can learn to recruit his inner witness to challenge that troublesome belief. The client, through coaching, can discover that his inner witness is equipped with an acute awareness of what his conscience needs in order to be at peace in the present moment.


THE CLIENT’S CONSCIOUS CONSCIENCE

This awareness is the unique consciousness that your client’s inner witness possesses. I call it their “conscious conscience,” that part of them that intuitively knows what is in harmony with their values and vision. Their conscious conscience also knows that the only thing they can control is what they choose to think about right now.

For the client’s witness to be conscious of their conscience, they must have the ability to be present in the present with their presence.[4] This means being present (with all of their senses) in the present (right now) with their presence (the core essence of who they are). Then they can engage with the scene unfolding before them, giving it their full attention.

By pausing to watch the “movie” of their life, they are committing to engage in the present. They are not replaying the past or worrying about the future. They are living the moment right now. They can see their life from all angles at once. They can see their presence as whole and complete. 

Download Article Here

Published in, and reproduced with permission from, choice, the magazine  of professional coaching  www.choice-online.com

"If you are interested in reading more CHOICE articles, use ADDCA's special coupon code, AUTHOR25, to receive a 25% discount off a print, digital or combo subscription: Subscribe Here

__________________

NOTES
1 Bradberry, Travis, Greaves, Jean, (2009). Emotional Intelligence 2.0, San Diego, CA. Talent Smart.
2 Kross, E., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., Park, J., Burson, A., Dougherty, A., Shablack, H.,…Ayduk, O. (2014). Self-talk as a regulatory mech- anism: How you do it matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(2), 304–324.
3 Baumeister R., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., Vohs, K., Bad Is Stronger Than Good, Educational Publishing Foundation, 2001
4 Giwerc, D. (2011). Permission to proceed: Creating a life of pas- sion, purpose, and possibility for adults with ADHD. Springfield, UT: Vervante.




Joel L. Young MD

Physician’s Challenges in Treating ADHD

Interview with Joel L.Young MD
ADHD Education

In this edition of Attention Talk Radio, host Jeff Copper talks with. Joel L.Young  MD of the Rochester Center of Behavioral Medicine about the realities and challenges of working with the ADHD crowd, in both diagnosing ADHD and prescribing medication. If you want to know what it is like to deal with the other side, listen in as this is a very insightful show.







ADHD Brain- Neurons

Positive Pathways

Coach Directory | Coaching | David Giwerc

Empowering Coaches to Strengthen Their Client's Brains

By David Giwerc, MCC, MCAC

Published in, and reproduced with permission from, Choice, the magazine of professional coaching


We collect and process information because our brains have the ability to do so, but we are so busy accumulating it, we don’t pause to think about how we are going to use it. While a great deal of information processing occurs below our conscious awareness and can be positive or negative, there are ways to harness it to ignite positive emotions and memories. Understanding how attention works in the ADHD brain has many implications for the neurotypical brain, which can be extremely helpful in coaching all clients who want to grow and strengthen their own brain wiring.

Approximately 85 billion neurons, or brain cells, make up a diverse, interconnected communication network in your brain. At the center of it all is the Reticular Activating System (RAS), the brain’s activation center. It is the key to “turning on” your brain, and it is also believed to be the center of motivation.

The RAS acts as a “gatekeeper,” letting the strongest, most dominant thoughts you may have in a given moment through the “gate” where they will attempt to reach your Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC). The PFC helps you pay attention to tasks, concentrate, make good decisions, behave appropriately, plan, learn and remember what you have learned. The PFC does all these things when properly stimulated by the neurochemicals in your brain.

As the “gatekeeper” to the PFC, the RAS plays a significant role in determining whether you can learn and remember things well or not; whether or not you are impulsive or self-controlled; whether or not you have high or low motor activity levels; and whether or not you are highly motivated or bored easily.


NAME IT & TAME IT

The quality of the thoughts and emotions that pass through your RAS are important, as thoughts and emotions have the power to catalyze or immobilize. The emotional watchdog of the brain, the amygdala, quickly detects strong, negative thoughts of self-criticism. The repeated pattern of reacting to negative emotions, over time, can produce higher levels of cortisol, leading to depression and depleting the essential neurotransmitters, which allow for the ability to experience pleasure.

On the flip side, healthy, positive thoughts can turn into neurochemicals such as serotonin, responsible for the “feel-good response,” allowing you to sustain enthusiasm and positive emotions. The ability to express self-kindness, which is a big challenge for many individuals with ADHD, can lead to the production of oxytocin which researchers have referred to as the “hormone of love and bonding.” Research has also revealed that increased levels of oxytocin reduces fear and anxiety and counteracts increased blood pressure and cortisol associated with stress.

These invisible thoughts, positive or negative, can be felt and identified in different parts of your body if you pause to pay attention to them. The moment you recognize the emotion as it is occurring (emotional intelligence) you diminish the power of that emotion to control you. When you name it, you can tame it.


CREATING POSITIVE PATHWAYS

The gatekeeper does not analyze whether or not your strongest thought is positive or negative, or whether it serves you well; it simply lets the thought through the gate where it first enters the limbic system, the brain’s emotional center. If it is not hijacked by dominant negative thoughts in the amygdala (located in the limbic system), then your PFC is available to access the emotional information.

Unfortunately, the ADHD brain is too often plagued by negative thoughts, which activate the cortisol or adrenaline and immobilize the ability to access the rational side of the the brain (PFC), which is what identifies the emotion, keeping you stuck. However, the brain can change anatomically and functionally based on what patterns you choose to pay attention to in each moment. The science of neuroplasticity validates that each experience, moment and thought repeated over time, can create positive new neural pathways in your brain while diminishing the old negative ones, which have been holding you back.

Adults with ADHD are usually not aware of what motivates them because they are challenged with their ability to self-regulate their focus during the day. This diminishes their ability to become self-aware of what successfully works and could move them forward in relevant areas of their lives.


BENEFITS OF AUTOMATIC PAUSE

In ADHD coaching, we partner with our clients who have a difficult time pausing (inhibition) to pay attention to what they pay attention to in the present moment. By mirroring their thoughts and asking evocative questions, we can create an automatic pause, so the client can become aware of their dominant thinking and reflect on its impact.

For example, I might say:

  • “I hear you saying that you will never be able to complete your work proposal in time?”
  • “Where’s the evidence that what you are saying will happen in three months?”
  • “What do you think happens to your ability to get the work done when your dominant thinking is conveyed in the words you share with me?”
  • “How would you like to change your words so that they convey one of your top five-character strengths — fairness, creativity, social intelligence or kindness?”
  • “What might those words be?”
  • “When you read or hear those words, what happens to your energy and ability to take
  • initiative? Who do you become?” 

Every individual has something they do well, but they will each do it differently. Active listening and reflecting on what has been conveyed in a mirroring session brings awareness – often for the first time – of the dominant thoughts they possess and only then can they realize how destructive those thoughts can be.


EMBRACING CHARACTER STRENGTHS

What I have discovered after more than 20 years of ADHD coaching and studying the ADHD brain from a coaching perspective, is that the most sustaining thoughts are related to the specific attributes and strengths that bring meaning to my clients’ lives.

These character strengths nourish us all with constructive emotions. They provide us with strong reminders of what’s best in us so we can flourish by engaging our natural capacities to pursue meaningful personal and professional goals. In other words, defining who you are is what you must do first before you can choose what you will do.

The VIA Institute on Character is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing the science of character strengths to the individual through the only free, online, scientifically validated survey. The VIA character strengths are identified through the VIA inventory (www.characterstrengths.org).


CREATING POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Character strengths are wellsprings of positive emotion and energy.

When accessed, they naturally ignite the amygdala and activate the motivational centers of our brain. We have all been taught to manage negative emotions, but we as coaches and professionals have not focused on empowering our clients to consistently create and sustain positive emotions, which help us build new positive neural pathways in our brains. The more we encourage our clients to utilize their positive sources of energy, the higher the chance that neuroplasticity of the brain will create new positive pathways in our clients’ brains.

Our thoughts do not have to control us. It is essential to give ourselves permission to proceed, access those strengths we already have, take what we’ve learned and begin to reframe it by saying,

“Who I am is who I choose to be.” That’s where it begins. “And who

I choose to be is a function of my brain wiring, but it’s also a function of choice, and what I choose to pay attention to in any given moment is still up to me.”




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Tools That Make it Easier to Manage ADHD

ADDCA In The News | David Giwerc

ADDCA founder and President David Giwerc MCAC, MCC, is one of the featured experts in this article about which tools can help you manage ADHD more easily


By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
Pysch Central Associate Editor

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