I have received a multitude of emails asking if I am a Therapist or a coach. Many have asked if I would consider your case and be either your Therapist or coach.
Let me take a moment to clarify myself: I have mentioned what my Blog is about a few times, but I haven’t really gotten into any specifics about coaching or Therapists. I originally created my Blog to list specific ADD ADHD websites which I have found to be helpful and slowly, but surely, I began to post ‘my thoughts’ concerning my opinions about ADD ADHD amongst other related issues. My opinions are simply that: opinions—opinions from my experiences and personal research. I am not a Doctor or a Therapist or a ‘coach’. I am simply ‘me’ and I try to help others by sharing my experiences and my thoughts concerning those experiences and what I have learned.
It is wonderful for me to read that ‘my thoughts’ have helped many of you and I frequently receive emails saying “keep it up—write more”. I sincerely intend to continue writing and speak frankly concerning my opinions. I only ask that you remember that my opinions are not replacements for Doctors and Therapists, because, I truly believe that Professional Treatment is valuable and beneficial and should be considered.
About ADD ADHD coaches: I have no experience with an ADD ADHD coach; however, I do have an opinion… do you want to know what my opinion is? Of course you do, you would not be reading otherwise! Well, here it is:
Coaching is a well intentioned program of Adder’s helping other Adder’s. Coaches do exactly that, coach what they believe will help you according to your requirements. I think the idea is good and the intentions are honorable, but, I believe the best coach for an adult Adder is him or herself! I will explain that further, let me first say that I have written many ADD ADHD ‘coaches’ which have advertised on the internet and I have yet to receive a reply. I have written to them on different levels, asking some if they would like to share links, or asking what their coaching service entails. To this date I have never received a reply. On the other hand, when I have written to a Professional Therapist, degreed, I have always received a reply. I realize this is a very superficial comparison, but, to me, this comparison speaks clearly.
I believe in Professional Therapy and I believe in Self-coaching. In fact, the best Therapists help teach individuals how to help themselves! I know this because I have experienced this myself. I am my own coach, but I have not always been my own best coach, especially when I did not know I had ADD. It was through Therapy that I discovered how to help myself. I write about this in detail in my upcoming book and my Blog is a representation of how I help myself. I have never had an ADD coach. My thoughts about ADD ADHD coaches still remain open for consideration and yet I do not believe anyone should invest into a lifelong coaching situation where everything is done for you. I would suggest that any consideration about hiring a coach would be to learn good strategies for doing things yourself. With that said, all Adders are different and usually have coping skills which are not always transferable. Trained Professional Therapists have the best ability and training to identify individual needs and programs. Professional Therapist are also state licensed, ‘coaches’ are not. That’s my opinion (short version).
Another type of request I frequently receive is from fellow Bloggers and ADD ADHD websites, asking if I would consider writing articles for either their site or even newsletters. WoW! I never considered being asked such a thing! I really appreciate the requests and for any further requests let me just say, thank you, but I really have my hands full with the many things I am already doing. I do not mind if you post parts of my articles on your site and link back for the rest of the article to be read here. Many Bloggers are already doing this and it’s a common thing amongst Bloggers. I do; however, check the Blogs who want to link through the comments just to be sure that the referring Blog is compatible. I am still considering writing articles for other websites and I will wait on doing that until my book is published. I am not promising anything, we will have to wait and see what my time is like in the future.
~~Thanks Everyone~~
~Bryan
