Coaching Women With ADHD

50% of people I coach are women with ADHD, the majority having received a late diagnosis in their 30s and 40s.

This isn’t by design. I’m neurotypical, and I don’t advertise as specifically providing coaching for folks who are neurodivergent.

As more and more clients over time have causally mentioned, “I was recently diagnosed with ADHD,” I started wondering about the connection to coaching.

According to the Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada, 4-6% of adults and 5-7% of children have ADHD (approximately 1.8 million Canadians).

So let’s say 5% of the population. But 50% of my coaching practice.

I’m wondering… why?

I have some idea of the reason. The women leaders I coach are driven and accomplished; very involved in their communities and families; highly invested in the success of their organizations.

And they’re constantly striving to do better. To understand themselves more. To learn more tools and deliver top results.

(They’re also frequently burned-out, but that’s another post).

The women with ADHD? They’re trying even harder. They have more barriers to success than many of their counterparts, and they might not have even been able to identify those barriers until they’d gone through three or four decades of life.

A few sentences from the CADDAC paper, “Girls and Women With ADHD: Our Missed Forgotten and Most Vulnerable” jumped out at me:

“Another reason why girls are less likely to be assessed for ADHD is their strong need to fit in and not be seen as different but still seen as competent. […] Girls with ADHD are known to exhaust themselves by spending hours on homework and assignments to hide their academic struggles.”

Phew. And then those girls become women.

Did you find this article helpful? Sign up for Leadership Learnings and get resources delivered straight to your inbox.