Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching

Careers demand a lot from all of us. Even the most organized and accountable individual can struggle with managing work responsibilities and balancing personal commitments. These expectations become hard to meet, and challenges that arise can stifle job success. Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching helps neurodiverse individuals achieve success and fulfillment at work—while supporting work-life balance, too—through the support of a Career Coach knowledgeable in the science of attention, focus, and neurodiversity. 

At Possibilities, our Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching is unique. We combine a clinical understanding of Neurodiversity with real world business lessons to help you create a plan for moving forward while balancing work and life demands in ways that support your career objectives. We blend the brain science of motivation and learning, emotional IQ, Gestalt psychology, and the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)—all while understanding the unique challenges that neurodiversity presents for you—to help you find solutions.

Neurodiversity can make it hard to find satisfying work, and to keep that work—a fact very clear in research and in the lived experiences of the clients we serve. A recent survey in the US showed that only 50% of adults with ADHD were able to hold down a full-time job, compared to 72% of adults without ADHD. 

Here’s another fact to consider. Neurodiversity presents differently in different people, with symptoms ranging from hyperactivity  impulsivity, inattention, and to more sensory oriented challenges. The whole range of symptoms can threaten career success. Disorganization, inconsistent planning, and poor time management can reduce productivity. In teams, impulsivity and speaking readily without a filter can erode trust, ignite conflict and thwart collaboration. Working quietly, intensely, and overtime in an effort to keep up with demands can reduce job satisfaction, decrease confidence, and accelerate burn-out.

Your needs will determine what topics you and your coach will  focus on. Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching targets a broad range of challenges that can leave you feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. Here are some concerns you may want to address with a Career Coach.

• Feeling bored at your current job
• Experiencing Imposter Syndrome despite your strengths 
• Experiencing job loss and uncertainty about next steps
• Bringing work stress into personal relationships
• Struggling to collaborate with colleagues effectively
• Struggling to organize, prioritize and complete tasks
• Career planning for the next decade or into retirement

The coach will work with you to help identify your biggest career concerns and then consider how symptoms are compromising your success. Coaching work will center around strategies to support functioning based on your concerns and needs—and based on strengths you can leverage to initiate meaningful change. If organization and prioritization are challenging, for example—but you can focus easily on smaller, well-defined tasks—you’ll work with your coach to break big tasks down into smaller ones and set realistic timelines. Next, you’ll check-in with your coach to see if deadlines were met. This step builds accountability throughout the coaching process. You don’t just set goals and receive guidance in coaching. You meet again with your coach and discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what strategies need to be changed to support success.

Our Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching is offered by Diksha Dua, an experienced business leader, EQi360 Leadership Coach, and certified Career Strategist. Diksha has over two decades of leadership experience in the corporate sector, supporting individuals in entrepreneurial and managerial roles, and building and leading teams around the world. She also has a clinical understanding of Neurodiversity, Gestalt psychology, and is trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). If larger mental health concerns—or frustrations from other comorbidities —your Coach may recommend additional therapies to support your well-being and career success.

A Career Coach can support individuals at every level of employment. Maybe you’re starting your first-ever job, or looking to find one. Maybe you’re stepping into a managerial position mid-career, or exploring ways to grow your leadership skills as a senior executive. You can start Career Coaching at any time. At any level there will always be skills you can develop and goals you need or want to achieve.

Yes! Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching can help you step back, consider your strengths, reflect on your values and passions, and explore industry options. After that, your coach can help you move systematically through the job search process, and help you identify employment opportunities that may be a good fit. Tests and assessment tools, in addition to coaching conversations, may be used to create a profile of strengths, needs, and skills you could bring to specific professions.

Yes. Maybe you’re doing a solid job at work right now, but you could be under-employed. With an Integrated Treatment Plan—including coaching support—you may be able to excel at a higher-level job more consistent with your goals, interests, and intelligence.

Yes. At work, professional relationships can be strained for many reasons. Maybe you speak your mind without a filter, or find it hard to keep your emotions in check because of pent-up frustrations. Maybe you are quiet and diligent, but find it challenging to manage projects , keep track of vital information, and miss deadlines causing conflict between your colleagues and you.

Together with your coach, you’ll identify the challenges impacting your relationships and co-create a plan to work more effectively with colleagues.

Yes, that is definitely our goal! Challenges like staying focused and difficulties organizing, planning, and prioritizing can hinder your productivity greatly. Your coach will work with you to figure out the tasks you need to do,  and how quickly you need to complete them. You’ll also anticipate the barriers that could arise between coaching sessions and problem-solve with your coach around ways to deal with them. 

There are common expectations within a corporate and professional environment that must be met to maintain a successful career path. Job requirements and responsibilities may differ, but here are some general tasks our clients do with our Career Coach:

• Consider ways to address changing workplace demands or requests from a new manager
• Devise a plan to network with colleagues within your company and/or outside your industry
• Identify project timelines and deliverable dates collaboratively to help increase accountability 
• Develop methods to document meetings in ways that support memory and action
• Challenge unhelpful and inaccurate thoughts that interfere with confidence and motivation
• Create coping strategies to support mental health as work demands accumulate and intensify
• Construct a job search strategy and prepare through mock interviews
• Discuss assessment findings that identify strengths, interests, and skills needing support to improve
• Identify  helpful workplace accommodations and ways to request them if eligible

Yes. Significant transitions are often accompanied by a sense of loss and grief, as well as uncertainty about what to do next. Transitions can offer you much needed time to rest and rejuvenate. They can also offer time to reflect and change course. If specific challenges keep making work difficult, the same frustrations are likely to repeat themselves. A Career Coach can help you consider your response to your current situation, help you identify your strengths, and target skills needing support moving forward. If significant mental health difficulties are present that need more attention, a mental health professional like a Psychologist and Psychotherapist will be suggested to support your transition prior to working with a Career Coach.

A Career Coach can certainly review your resume and cover letter—but the goal is capacity-building, so you’ll be responsible for rewriting as needed. Your coach can also direct you to resources to help you improve how you describe strengths and transferable skills on written correspondence with potential employers. You can work with your coach to devise a networking plan, and do mock interviews to help prepare you for job opportunities. Check-ins with the coach will also help ensure that your job search stays on track.

Some professionals request feedback from their company or boss about their progress through coaching, but this kind of external evaluation is not necessary for our process. Based on an introductory coaching session and the skills you’ve identified as needing support, certain assessments can be conducted online. Some evaluations involve a 360 analysis of your skills, with performance ratings from colleagues and supervisors being collected if you agree to this option. You will decide whether or not you would like to reach out to your boss or colleagues for ratings of your skills or progress. Online assessments are never sent to colleagues or bosses without your permission, and they are not necessary for the Career Coaching we offer.

The first Career Coaching session is an introduction so we can better understand your goals and needs. At 90 minutes it’s longer than the 50-minute coaching sessions that occur after it. 

At Possibilities, we recommend booking an initial block of 16 to 20 sessions, with a session happening once per week or once every two weeks. Usually it’s best to start at a once-a-week pace to support consistent reflection and practice right from the start. There is no requirement for upfront payment, and you can discontinue or cancel sessions at any point with sufficient notice to the team. Booking 16 to 20 sessions in advance ensures that consistent days and times with the same coach or therapist are reserved for you. Sessions can be adjusted and staggered as needed to best suit your schedule, and your coach or therapist will be available to support you with any scheduling questions or changes. Each session within the block builds upon the last, starting with a progress check from the previous week. Successes and challenges are reviewed, and new strategies are devised through collaborative discussion for future improvements. Structured sessions and blocks of reserved time will allow you to set clear goals and achieve them.

Yes! Certainly you can continue with additional sessions after your initial block of 16 to 20 appointments. The next steps in your treatment plan can be discussed with your coach or therapist towards the end of your first booking block.

Sessions typically happen once a week, every one to two weeks. More than two weeks between sessions will make it difficult to determine which weekly goals were met, and which ones need to be revised. Attending an appointment once a week, or once every two weeks, will help you to monitor change at a steady pace, and make adjustments relatively quickly so new habits can form with consistent reflection and practice.

If you’re interested in doing a formal review of your strengths and needs through testing, you can opt for an Emotional Intelligence and Strengths Assessment. Please note there is an extra fee for this  assessment that can be added to your Career Coaching package. You can discuss whether you would like this assessment option when you speak with your coach in the introductory session.

In Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching we work closely with clients through collaboration, empathy, and the science of ADHD to support job success. We anticipate challenges likely to emerge, and help you identify and leverage your strengths to support effective problem-solving and the skills you need for your career. We help tailor your goals—and the strategies needed to get there—in ways that move you forward. If steps are well-articulated and goals are met, improvements in career success and satisfaction are likely to follow. Clients typically need several coaching sessions to pinpoint challenges, mobilize strengths, and move through detailed plans to start advancing meaningfully.

Yes! All our coaching services are offered remotely through secure video sessions. Clients enjoy the convenience of this option, rather than traveling frequently to our Toronto office. We’ve expanded our reach, too. Our Career Coach works nationally across Canada.

The 90-minute introductory session is $350 (plus HST). After that, weekly or bi-weekly sessions can be booked for 50 minutes at a cost of $200 (plus HST). Please check with your insurance provider to determine if any costs related to Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching are covered.

For more information about our Neuroaffirmative Leadership and Career Coaching, please contact us at info@possibilitiesclinic.com or call 1-833-482-5558.

You can also get started right away by completing our Intake Form and our Leadership and Career Coaching Questionnaire. Once these forms are received, our Care Team will help you book your appointment with our coaching team.