I am seriously worried about neurodivergents relying on ADHD coaches. I took a course at a well-known academy — Simply ADHD, at ADDCA — to start pursuing a certification in ADHD coaching, and I finished it feeling as if I had been scammed.
To sum it up, during that course:
- The needs of my brain weren’t considered.
- My interest was put to the test.
- I was discouraged.
- I received wrong information and wrong teachings.
- And at the end — how naïve did they think I was?
Since hiring an ADHD coach seems to be in vogue, I must assume there are good, even great coaches helping neurodivergents to thrive. But I wonder: who can we trust when the places training them seem unworthy of our trust?
What’s an ADHD coach
After finishing the course, I read an article from ADDitude Magazine[1] that opened my eyes even wider to what an ADHD coach actually is.
Regarding how to choose one, the article quotes Harold Meyer saying, “You need to be an educated consumer.”
Which led me to think: consumer equals business.
An ADHD coach — who is only an ADHD coach — is not a therapist, doctor, specialist, or expert. An ADHD coach is simply a person who knows about ADHD, has strategies to cope with it, and knows how to share those strategies with others. They will ask us what we need (a goal or a small objective) and help us achieve it.
A “certified” ADHD coach, on the other hand, is someone who has completed a program (a series of courses) endorsed by an organization. In the case of ADDCA, that organization is the International Coach Federation (ICF).
So I wonder — if the course I took has given me wrong information:
How much can we trust ADDCA and the coaches who have trained at it?
How much can we trust the ICF?
Doesn’t the ICF keep track of how those programs evolve — or not?
My Experience With the Simply ADHD Course at ADDCA
ADDCA Didn’t Offer Me Help
Before the course began, I received a PDF manual that I couldn’t read. The legibility of the document clashed with my ADHD brain.
(Related: What Is the Best Font for ADHD?)
I explained that I needed the file in another font and asked for a non–password-protected version so I could make it readable. I received a firm “no” and an epic fail of an attempt to help.[2]
ADDCA Uses a Terrible Platform
ADDCA uses BlueJeans for its sessions — a platform similar to Zoom that honestly shouldn’t still be on the market.
I would constantly get one red bar of connectivity. No one could hear me when I tried to speak. It was also so user-unfriendly that one of the coaches resigned because no one had shown her how to share slides.
(I missed you, Michelle.)
Outdated Library
I’ve been working online for decades, so I can tell you that trying to find something in ADDCA’s library was worse than searching Yahoo before the Google era.
It’s that bad — so bad that the coach who stayed with us had to send a Dropbox link for us to download the reading materials.
Those files, by the way, weren’t organized, classified, or properly titled.
ADDCA Provides Wrong Information
The “copyrighted manual” given to students contains no citations — and even includes erroneous references.
On top of that, it offers wrong information, especially regarding neuroscience.
Example 1:
“The brain takes in incredible amounts of information from our senses, the environment, our interactions, feelings, and memories.”
They should have put a dot after “from our senses”— and left it there..
Example 2:
“The mind is the essence of our being… Our mind resides in and around the brain…”
I laughed. I mentioned this to my doctor, and he went, “Don’t even…”
Lacks Consideration of ADHD Struggles
About 90% of the students had ADD/ADHD, and the coaches seemed very understanding — during the sessions.
Afterwards, though, we’d receive long emails filled with more information and insights. Those emails lacked subheadings, bullet points, or any formatting that could make them legible.
They were painful to read and time-consuming. There were complaints — many of them.
Take My Interest And Smash It
Because of those complaints, the author of the manual began sending emails telling us that we didn’t need to read everything; that we’d cover it all during the sessions.
Then she asked those of us who had been participating to “hold back” so that others could contribute.
Personally, if I can’t participate — engage — in a class, I can’t maintain my attention.
And if an author is telling me that I don’t need to read her book, I won’t.
But what a tricky thing happened at the end…
Does ADDCA Offer an Inaccurate Certificate?
By the end of the course, we were reminded that we needed to “pass” with at least 80% on a “module review” — which, supposedly, wasn’t a test — in order to obtain the certificate.
So suddenly, I had to finish reading the 350 pages I’d been discouraged from reading. Pages full of wrong information and missing or inaccurate references.
We were told we had a month to complete the review. But I didn’t have an extra month — because I can plan.
So I hyperfocused, drained my brain to the point of inhuman exhaustion, and passed the test — only to receive a certificate that states:
“The ADD Coach Academy confirms that this student has completed 19.5 hours of Coach-Specific Training in Core Competencies, without testing (…).”
And that really pushed me to the edge. I have a B.Ed., but please correct me if I’m wrong:
If one needs to pass a test, then it’s a test — not a “review.”
And if it’s open book, like this one was, it’s a comprehension test.
So I wonder… what’s the deal with this?
I wrote to ADDCA’s Student Services about it. Every time I’d asked about enrolling in another course, I’d get an immediate reply. But not this time.
After I complained about the misleading certificate, I heard nothing but crickets… and have been hearing them ever since.
Hashtag: “Business.”
Who Can We Trust?
During the course, I had so many questions about the wrong information and missing references that I created a forum for my classmates here on this blog.
I was trying to give them a hint about what was actually happening… but I think I failed.
That’s one of the main reasons I’m sharing this experience.
I even asked the author of the manual for references, and she replied:
“Why do you think you need them?”
Why do I think I need them? Funny.
(And in case someone complains about me quoting a “private email,” let me clarify: I paid over $600 for a product that wasn’t what I expected. Customer support doesn’t even deserve one star.)
If it weren’t for the research I do and the classes on neuroscience I’m taking with my doctor — who’s not only a psychiatrist specialized in neuroscience and ADHD, but also a professor — I wouldn’t have noticed ADDCA’s wrong teachings.
And honestly, what kind of coach would I have become?
Recently, I wrote that an ADHD coach is a neuro-instructor.
Well — strike that. From what I’ve learned, some ADHD coaches can be dangerous. Hopefully, somewhere outside ADDCA, there are the true neuro-instructors we actually need.
Even though this was a nightmare, I always try to find a bright side.
At one of the classes, the coach told us that ADHDers are easily scammed.
So, you know what?
I’m grateful for having experienced an example of how that feels.
What a wonderful learning experience this turned out to be.
References and Notes
[1] McCarthy Laura (2020) What Is an ADHD Coach. Attitude. URL: https://www.additudemag.com/shopping-for-a-coach/ (Last Visit: October, 2020)
[2] The day before the course began, they offered me a supposedly “Arial” version of the manual. The file was broken and wouldn’t open.
Even if it had, I couldn’t have created a proper index because it was secured.
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