Nobody is going to remind you any more.
School had a timetable, a bell and somebody noticing when work did not appear. University has a reading list, a deadline three months away and nobody noticing anything at all. For a lot of ADHD students that is the point where the old approach quietly stops working.
That is not a character problem. Structure was doing a great deal of invisible work for you and it has gone. The job now is building something of your own that does the same job without depending on you feeling motivated on a Tuesday.
I am a late-diagnosed ADHDer myself, so I am not going to suggest you simply start earlier. We work out how your attention and energy actually behave, then build around that.
Who I work with
- Undergraduates who coasted through school on ability and have hit the wall
- Students facing dissertations, finals or a term that has got away from them
- Anyone diagnosed at university and still working out what it changes
- Students living independently for the first time and finding the admin of life harder than the degree
- Apprentices and those in their first job, managing work and study at once
- Postgraduates whose research has no structure but the one they impose
What changes
Starting stops being the hardest part
Task initiation is where most ADHD students lose the week. It is a solvable problem once you stop treating it as laziness and start treating it as mechanics.
Deadlines arrive without the all-nighter
Not through better intentions. Through working backwards from the date in a way that accounts for how you actually estimate time, which is probably badly.
The admin of living alone gets manageable
Laundry, food, money, appointments. The degree is often not the hard part — the forty small things nobody teaches you are.
You stop comparing your inside to their outside
Everyone on your course looks like they have it handled. Most of them do not. The ones who genuinely do have a brain built for this environment.
How it works
Sessions are one-to-one and online. We set the rhythm around your term — deadline weeks need something different from reading weeks. You set the agenda. Because you are over 18 the agreement is between you and me. Nobody else is copied in and nobody else sees what we discuss.
From £130 per session. I also keep a small number of subsidised places for genuine need.
About me
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my forties, which means I spent my own education assuming the problem was effort. It was not. I am a Credentialed ADHD Coach Professional with the Professional Association for ADHD Coaches and a parent to multiple neurodivergent children.
I have coached people from fourteen through to equity partners at a large professional services firm. The students I work with tend to be bright, tired and privately worried that they have been found out.
Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation. Trained at the University of Cambridge and at ADDCA.
Frequently asked questions
I got through school without this. Why is it harder now?
Because school was doing a lot of work you could not see. A timetable, a bell, a teacher noticing when something did not appear. University hands you a reading list and a deadline three months away and then leaves you alone with it.
That is the point a lot of ADHD students hit the wall. It is not a sign that you have got worse. The scaffolding went and nobody mentioned it.
Is this therapy?
No. Therapy works with the past and with mental health. Coaching works with what is in front of you and what to do about it — practical action rather than analysis.
If you are dealing with something that needs clinical support, coaching is not a substitute and I will tell you so rather than take your money.
Do I need a diagnosis?
No. A diagnosis can be useful, but coaching works with how your brain actually operates and that does not depend on having a letter to prove it.
Some of the students I work with are diagnosed, some are on a waiting list and some simply recognise the patterns and want to do something about them.
My university has a disability service. Is this not the same thing?
No, and the two work well together. Disability services arrange adjustments — extra time, software, a mentor if your institution funds one. That is about changing the conditions around you.
Coaching is about how you work inside those conditions: getting started, judging time, deciding what matters this week. Take the adjustments. They are yours and they help.
What sorts of things do we work on?
Whatever is actually costing you. Common ground includes:
- Starting things, which is usually where the week goes
- Working backwards from a deadline that is months away
- Reading and revising in a way that stays in your head
- The admin of living alone — food, money, laundry, appointments
- Deciding what to do next when everything feels equally urgent
- Sleep, and the way it takes the following day with it
Will my parents know what I say?
No. You are over 18, so the agreement is between you and me and the sessions belong to you. If a parent is paying, they will know the coaching is happening. They will not be told what we discuss.
The limits are the same as for any client and are set out in the agreement: where the law requires disclosure, where I have a reasonable belief of serious risk of harm to you or someone else and where illegal activity is disclosed that I am obliged to report. Wherever possible I would talk to you first.
What professional standards do you work to?
I work in line with the ethical standards of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the Professional Association for ADHD Coaches (PAAC). I am a Credentialed ADHD Coach Professional with PAAC.
Like most coaches I discuss my practice in supervision and mentoring. Those conversations are fully anonymised, with no personally identifiable information shared.
I don't keep recordings of sessions; I use a transcription tool to take notes. Those notes are stored securely and handled in line with UK GDPR.
Is there an agreement to sign?
Yes, and from 18 you sign it yourself. It is written in plain language and covers how we work together, confidentiality and its limits, data protection, fees and cancellation. You will have it before we start rather than after.
What does it cost?
Prices start at £130 per session. Sessions are online and arranged after a free discovery call, so you can work out whether it is right for you before committing to anything.
I also keep a small number of subsidised places for people who genuinely could not otherwise access coaching. If that is you, say so on the discovery call. Students say it more often than anyone and it is never awkward.