From Receiving Life-Changing ADHD Coaching to Becoming an ADHD & AuDHD Coach: Emily Katy’s Coaching Journey

12 Oct

Written by Emily Katy, author of Sunday Times Bestseller ‘Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering Autism Saved My Life’ and certified Advanced AuDHD & ADHD Coach

In January 2023, I was diagnosed with ADHD, a diagnosis which quite literally changed my life. But what changed my life even more was ADHD coaching.

How ADHD coaching helped after my diagnosis

When I began coaching with Leanne Maskell, the founder of ADHD Works, in July 2023, I was still coming to terms with my diagnosis. I was granted Access to Work (a government scheme in the UK) for ADHD coaching. At the time, I worried that my diagnosis was incorrect and that the psychiatrist had somehow got it wrong and my challenges were just because of my autism – because I’d never been that kid running around the classroom or getting sent out of class for getting into trouble.

Instead, I’d been highly emotional, desperate to please, very academic and extremely anxious. I said to Leanne that I was scared my ADHD diagnosis was wrong and I didn’t really have ADHD. But at the same time, I was finding life incredibly difficult. ADHD medication had really helped, but I still had no sense of how to work with my brain or how to make my life easier to navigate. I was working as a mental health nurse (specifically a Specialist ADHD Nurse with children – somewhat ironic) and finding my day a nightmare to organise and tasks impossible to keep track of. I needed someone to show me how to work with my brain. I needed someone to hold me accountable to things I wanted and needed to do.

And perhaps, more importantly, I needed someone to give me permission to just be myself and to stop forcing myself into boxes that I was never made to fit into.

What changed after nine months of ADHD coaching

By April 2024, nine months after starting ADHD coaching, everything was different. I knew whole-heartedly that I had ADHD. I understood what the diagnosis meant for me and how it impacted my life. I had developed coping strategies to make my day-to-day life easier to navigate. Most importantly, I was kinder to myself, and I stopped beating myself up for every tiny little thing.

So much of that was down to Leanne’s kindness, knowledge and guidance. I knew I had been exceptionally lucky landing her as my coach. And I also knew that without coaching, I would never have reached the place that I had. I was immediately intrigued by Leanne’s ADHD Works coaching course and wished I could sign up to become an ADHD coach, but working in the NHS almost full-time, as well as managing the publication of my Sunday Times Bestselling book ‘Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering Autism Saved My Life’ and the talking opportunities that were coming my way meant that I simply didn’t have the time. How would I fit in ADHD coaching alongside working four days a week in the NHS, writing and giving talks? It simply wasn’t possible.

Recovery and rethinking work

Fast forward to 2026. OCD, an eating disorder and psychosis led to me being sectioned for my mental health and I decided to resign as a nurse because I needed time to recover. I was at rock bottom and had no idea what to do with my life. But, as I was recovering, Leanne’s generous offer that I could always come and train to be an ADHD coach with ADHD Works niggled away at my mind. She had always said I would be a fantastic coach, and I wanted to believe her.

I knew first-hand the importance of ADHD coaching and how it could transform someone’s life. So, tentatively, I reached out to Leanne and asked if the offer was still there. Very kindly, she told me that of course it was. And so somehow, I found myself signing up to become an ADHD coach, and subsequently an Advanced AuDHD coach.

Training to become an ADHD and AuDHD coach

Through the training, I learned a great deal. I had already been working as a Specialist ADHD Nurse for four years, so I had a wealth of knowledge about ADHD. But I quickly learned that I was going to have to work through my perfectionistic tendencies and just get on with it. I was going to have to meet people where they were at, in the complete chaos and mess that ADHD can make people’s lives, and try to help them disentangle themselves from the mess. I learned that I couldn’t change someone’s life for them – they would have to put in the work, but I could be there alongside them, championing them as they did.

In my cohort, I met people from all backgrounds of life. People who had experience leading businesses, working in education and healthcare, people who had been carers for loved ones, and many who had ADHD or AuDHD themselves. I learned so much from my fellow trainees. Each week I showed up and tried to put aside any self-consciousness and practice coaching my fellow trainees. Week by week, my passion for coaching grew. I was excited – and extremely overwhelmed – at the prospect of becoming an ADHD and AuDHD coach.

Finding a career that fits my AuDHD brain, not against it

And that leads us to today. It has been a privilege to work with many ADHD and AuDHD children, young people and adults throughout my career as a mental health nurse, and now I get to use those same skills as an ADHD and AuDHD coach.

Coaching is an unregulated industry, and that can be scary to navigate. But through my training with ADHD Works where I am trained on the ADHD Works Executive Functioning Framework and AuDHD Paradox Framework (as well as the important legal stuff!), through following the ICF Code of Ethics, through implementing safeguarding and complaint policies, and through ensuring I am acting as ethically and professionally as I can, my confidence has grown.

I am very happy to share that I am taking on new coaching clients. You can find out more and get in touch here. I would be delighted to hear from you.