Struggling at work with ADHD? Here’s how coaching can help
The City and Guilds Neurodiversity Index Report 2025 says that 41% of neurominority (including ADHD, ASD and Dyslexic) adults are impacted most days in the workplace.
Many of my clients come to me and say that:
· work feels heavy.
· they’ve fallen out of love with it.
· they feel their employer has no understanding of their ADHD.
Small adjustments combined with personalised strategies can prevent many ADHDers from feeling overwhelmed and significantly improve things like time management and emotional well-being.
Your employer has a duty of care to do all they reasonably can to protect your health, safety and well-being at work.
And if you work for yourself, you’re your own boss! Know that there are support systems in place to help that already reocgnise that right now, work isn’t always set up or designed in a way that’s tailored for your brain.
Coaching can help in so many ways
How does coaching work?
Coaching is where I hold space (a fancy way of saying “gives you some thinking time to noodle through ideas without judgement”) for you to uncover strengths, work through challenges with actionable steps, and move towards your professional (and personal) goals. Coaching provides a safe environment to help you gain clarity, direction, and focus.
The coaching process itself looks a little like this:
We have a discovery call. During this call, we’ll check that we vibe together and that coaching is what you need. Sometimes, therapy and self-care are more important.
We’ll set goals so we both know what we’re working towards. Your goals are unique to you. If you’re unsure what they are yet, don’t worry - I help with that, too! Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed with the chaos of life or finding out what success means to you, we’ll explore those things together and create a path that feels right for you.
We’ll adapt our regular calls to suit you. Would you prefer to walk and talk while we have our sessions? Have the video on or off? These are your calls; you get to choose. And if you want to change it up every week, that’s okay, too.
I’ll ask thoughtful questions. These are designed to gently challenge your thinking. You’ll be doing roughly 80% of the talking - but that doesn’t mean you’ll be talking non-stop. There’s no rush to answer. Take your time, and if you feel like your words are rambled, that’s okay too. I’ll be listening to every word you say, as I’m trained to unravel (sometimes) messy thoughts..
We are equal partners. I will treat you with empathy and compassion, and I don’t use jargon. This is a judgment-free space. I don’t assume to be the expert of you – YOU are the expert. My job is to help you find the answers. I am a highly sensitive person, and I genuinely care about my clients, so I will move heaven and earth to help you in any way I can.
Action steps. We’ll always spend time talking about the things you’ve said you’d like to do next. Oh, and I jot everything down and ping you an email with a litlte summary so you’re never unsure of what was said or what the next steps is.
What will we talk about during our coaching call?
You might be wondering what we’ll be diving into. What kind of questions am I going to ask you? Will you learn any skills that help with ADHD challenges or struggles you’re facing at work right now?
It’s different for everyone, so this isn’t an exhaustive list. But here are some of the ways coaching can help your ADHD brain thrive at work, feel more confident and focused, and gain the clarity you’ve been looking for.
Strategies to support your ADHD brain
Productivity and focus are two areas that come up often for my clients (you’re probably nodding your head in agreement!). I have a great big toolbox of strategies that can help. Whether you’re a professional procrastinator or a dopamine seeker, we can work with your preferences to implement steps to help you become more focused so you can leave work feeling accomplished and fulfilled at the end of the day.
Advocating for your needs and maintaining boundaries
Now that you’ve discovered this new information about yourself and how you can thrive with your ADHD at work, you might need to communicate this with others. We’ll do this together so you can confidently advocate for your needs at any given opportunity.
Personal Stuff
Work and life go hand in hand. Whatever your goal, your personal life will be a part of it. So although this isn’t therapy, coaching can have a profound impact on your personal life, too, and it’s likely to come up in conversation.
Relationships and Communication
Whether it's with clients, colleagues, key stakeholders or family, we’ll work on strategies to improve interactions and reduce misunderstandings so relationships are open, clear, and fulfilling. Resolving conflicts and justice sensitivity are subjects that come up a lot for my ADHD clients, and I’ll support you through those too.
Access to Work ADHD Coaching
Whether self-employed or employed, Access to Work is a free government grant that ensures you’re supported at work, including those with a disability or mental health concern. Access to Work may decide that coaching could benefit you and offer several sessions with a trained coach like me.
I’ve created the following guides that explain more in detail:
Access to Work - A Guide for the Self Employed
Access to Work - A Guide for Employers
Access to Work - A Guide for Employees
Ready to take the next step? It’s normal to feel a bit unsure where to start - I get emails like that in my inbox all the time. iIf you’d like to have an informal chat over a virtual cuppa and see how coaching can help you, book a call here.
ADHD Coaching FAQs
-
Not everyone needs coaching, but it can be incredibly useful for those who feel stuck or overwhelmed. Coaching, especially for those with ADHD, can help your busy mind process and uncover what’s going on for you right now so you gain clarity around what your goals are, take relevant action,, and find more joy, ease and fulfilment in work and life.
-
Check out my Access to Work Guide here for more details.
-
Everything you share in our calls is entirely confidential. If you’re employed, I won’t share anything with your employer unless you ask me to.
-
It varies depending on what Access to Work has granted in your paperwork, but it typically ranges from 6 to 20 hours.
-
Yes! I am a member of the International Coaching Federation, the gold standard of coaching bodies. We know that anyone can call themselves a coach. Being a member means I have completed training that’s accredited by the ICF.
-
Just because it's called "access to work" doesn't mean we can't talk about other stuff too - these sessions are for you as a whole person, including any challenges you may be facing. I've worked with clients navigating a range of needs, including physical disabilities and chronic fatigue, and I understand the impact these can have on work and personal life. We'll work together to create strategies that support your overall well-being.
-
Clients benefits from my experience running Access to Work sessions in diverse industries, including creative arts, photography, finance, physiotherapy, consultancy, marketing, and television, to name just a few.
Smiling woman with brown hair and a purple jumper, beside a microphone. The background is neutral.
About
I'm Victoria Tretis, and I coach neurodivergent adults (including ADHD, ASD and Dyslexic) who feel stuck and overwhelmed in the chaos of daily life. They want to design and achieve their version of success. (I don't believe there is one right way to accomplish this.)
I also work with line managers who want to strengthen the support they provide within neurodiverse teams.
My work is not about rich people getting richer. Instead, sessions are centred around clients wanting to better understand themselves and those around them.