ADHD Wellbeing, Lifestyle & EFT Coaching

Here’s a recent email I got from a workshop attendee. I want to share her message as I know it can help many others:

“Thanks, Kate. If it wasn't for that workshop you did where all the lightbulbs came on then I rather suspect I wouldn't have clocked on for a good while longer and probably be waiting forever now that the lists have grown even bigger! Regardless of the outcome of my assessment, I will always be grateful to you for your gentle illumination of all of this.

“I just feel that you're doing important work and it would help other women to know that you can be an academically successful woman on paper but still have ADHD and the challenges that it can bring up to be managed in the ways that you teach people.”

Are you newly diagnosed, waiting to be diagnosed or suspect you have ADHD?

If so, you may feel that your life has suddenly been turned upside down, while simultaneously making a lot more sense?

Perhaps you are beginning to finally understand yourself and who you are for the first time?

You may have recently had lots of pivotal 'aha!' moments where you can now join the dots and recognise what you thought were negative traits, are now symptoms of your ADHD. 

I understand this very well. At the age of 40, I was diagnosed with ADHD although the suspicion had been there for a long while. Despite knowing ADHD in both my brothers all my life, my symptoms looked very different from theirs.

It took getting my nine-year-old daughter diagnosed around the same time for the mirror to be held up to me and recognise how ADHD has held me back, as well as supported me throughout my life.

For as long as I can remember I have utilised my many masking/coping mechanisms to get me through difficult circumstances and situations. To the point of being mentally exhausted, overwhelmed and drained on a daily basis. Somehow, life and building a career felt harder for me than others. 

Due to having a very kind and efficient husband, to whom I'm grateful every day, I now see how he picked up the pieces where I just didn't have the skills. Self-doubt, imposter syndrome and heightened sensitivity are some of the main symptoms of my ADHD, alongside some of the usual suspects of being pretty forgetful, hyper-focusing on random stuff which isn’t a priority, constantly losing items and generally just being a bit scatty.

On the flip side, my ADHD has allowed me to be highly creative, daring, fierce, fun, empathic and intuitve.

Now, as a Wellbeing and Emotional Freedom coach, as well as a mother to four kids, I want to support others to understand and importantly, accept their diagnosis more.

By using Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping) we can bring in more acceptance and validation to our recent ADHD diagnosis. The tapping can offer a shift in perception, helps reframe our current negative mindset and encourage more clarity and practical options to encourage more inner peace and emotional freedom.

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) is a very real and debilitating side effect of ADHD. It can prevent us from living trusting and fulfilled lives, making us constantly question ourselves and the intentions of others around us, as well as leading to our low self-esteem and self-worth.

Almost everyone who believes they have ADHD also acknowledges that RSD plays a part in their lives too. Whether it manifests in your personal relationships, friendships, family connections, parenting or in your professional life, RSD can often feel unmanageable even with medication and traditional talk therapy, such as CBT.

Here’s how EFT can help…

• It aids the release of negative emotions such as anxiety, stress, overwhelm or fear. I have seen time and time again how tapping can help reduce the intensity of beliefs, thoughts and emotions which hold us back and no longer serve us in life.

• It cuts through the noise in our heads, allows for clarity and brings in positive perspective shifts and releases limiting self-beliefs and stories which have been part of our lives for a long time.

• It releases these beliefs, which can be a game-changer when dealing with RSD. Tapping allows for us to separate ourselves from our thoughts and understand what is real and what is our extreme sensitivity or fear of rejection.

• EFT helps us process our emotions calmly and offers us ‘bigger picture’ thinking consequently breaking down the RSD and empowering ourselves with more resilience and new thought patterns.

Clinical trials have shown that EFT actively lowers the cortisol in our bodies, calming our minds and stress response too. Similar to acupuncture, EFT uses the body’s energy meridian points, which are stimulated by tapping on them with your fingertips, which sends signals to the amygdala (the ‘fight or flight’ part of the brain) to calm down and relax. By talking through our thoughts at the same time, we’re able to recognise what needs healing, processing and releasing.

I can help you if you:

Through my unique way of using EFT while coaching, I want to help you feel more:

• Courage to talk about your ADHD

• Excitement to move forwards with new tools

• Acceptance of your current situation

• Inner-peace that there have been reasons for your life up until now

• Self-compassion about the choices you've made

• An opportunity for reflection and clarity about how the future could look

• Commitment to better days ahead

• Empowerment to utilise new information and resources

• Relief that you understand yourself better

• Validation that there is a reason why you think and behave as you do

• Motivation to recognise the choices and support you have

I want to simply help you just be BE YOU just with a bit more ease, flow, grace and joy. That's it simply. 

No fancy stuff, the session simply consists of tapping, breathing, releasing, creating, being curious and surrendering to our own stuff and making some more space to allow better things to come to light.

I wanted to let you know that I feel due to me doing the tapping that you have shown me how to do I totally feel I am completely managing it so much more and actually am able to have some massive insights...

...I truly believe that it was due to the tapping that I was able to do this as I could process my thoughts and see how much anxiety this situation was causing me and was damaging my mental health.

I then was able to put myself first for once and this has now very much boosted my self-esteem and I feel really empowered which is amazing! This is just one example, Kate, I have many more and would be happy to always share with you.

One thing I have realised is that I am a verbal processor so I believe that is why the EFT helps so much and now I even have started journaling by speaking and recording into my phone as I can get all my thoughts out that way as well.

I absolutely LOVED your workshop. It was perfect to me and I loved the way you did it with some explaining and chance to talk but then the actual tapping session. I would be very much up for more sessions like that for sure.

I have joined an ADHD support group and I am happy to pass on any details of upcoming stuff as we talk about this kind of thing and self-care especially a lot and I already rave about you.

- Sadie