Advanced Coaching Skills Course

Module A1: Receiving the Client

This module will deepen your understanding of the QuestVersation© skill of Receiving, as we explore what it means to powerfully receive a client. You will learn how to be fully present with each client and the important things a coach listens for, including the impact of ADHD in our clients’ lives. You will practice receiving a client through the art of listening, observing, engaging your senses, and trusting your intuition.

Module A2: Witnessing

This module will deepen your understanding of the QuestVersation© skill of Witnessing.  You will learn to identify the four elements coaches observe to powerfully witness with a client. You will learn and practice eight witnessing skills and how to integrate those skills with our ADDCA models.  We will explore when and what to witness, how to deliver a difficult message to a client, and how to support our clients to witness themselves.

Module A3: Questioning

This module will further develop your skill of Questioning which we use throughout the QuestVersation©. You will learn the types and structure of powerful questions, practice specific questioning models, and build a repertoire of powerful questions. You will practice using questions from your understanding of ADHD and ADDCA models in various case scenarios. Most importantly, you will expand your coaching perspective to select and deliver the most powerful question in the moment from among the many approaches you might take with a client.

Module A4: Filtering Thoughts and Beliefs

This module will build upon your understanding and use of the QuestVersation© skill of Filtering.

We will discuss the process of filtering, re-examine the resistance and/or ambivalence to change, and practice incorporating the four elements learned in Witnessing to create sustainable, positive change. You will practice using several filtering tools along with ADDCA models while filtering in a coaching conversation. We will also review the impact of filtering on your client’s growth and get additional practice with case scenarios.

Module A5: Activating a Plan

This module will help you bring together all you learned in Simply, PT, and the Basic Coaching Skills course about ADHD planning, goal setting, and following through to expand and strengthen your skill with Activating a client’s plans. You will learn new approaches to goal setting, taking into account what we know about ADHD, and practice applying ADHD-friendly tools and strategies to help your clients activate their plans and achieve their dreams. We will incorporate our ADDCA models as we empower clients to plan, commit to, and take action toward their goals, then monitor their progress toward completion.

Module A6: Reinventing a Successful Picture

This module will give you additional models and tools to practice as we see our clients growing and want to help them Reinvent a new, successful picture of themselves, based on what they have accomplished and what’s possible for them.

We will expand your use of visualizing and contextualizing to inspire your clients to see themselves in a positive, new light as their self-confidence and self-image improve. We give special attention to the importance of helping clients practice gratitude. As part of Reinventing, we also explore and practice closing a coaching conversation powerfully.

How many hours per week outside class will I need to devote to training?

Each of our programs are divided into distinct courses. Each course requires different time requirements. See below for an approximate breakdown.  

• Simply ADHD Course: 2-4 hours/week
• Personal Transformation Course: 5-7 hours/week
• Basic Coaching Skills Course:  7-9 hours/week 
• Advanced Coaching Skills Course : 8-10 hours/week
• Fundamentals of ADHD Coaching for Families Course: 5-7 hours/week

Note: For Professional Advanced Students - Additional Prep Work - Self-Study: 9 hour

* Reading/fieldwork time varies significantly from person to person.  Knowing yourself, you might want to reduce or add hours for this.

Are requirements the same for those who have been working in the field for many years?

We have many health care professionals, including therapists, psychologists, social workers, etc., who come into our program. They all follow the same coach-training curriculum unless they have prior basic coach-specific training from another accredited International Coach Federation (ICF) training organization. If this is the case, they may be eligible for the Professional Advanced Certification Training Program.

In terms of the ADHD training, we work from a strengths-based model, as opposed to a medical model. Our Simply ADHD course gives you the foundational models and language we use throughout ADDCA. Past students with a great deal of ADHD experience have come to us at the end of the course and told us how much they had learned. Therefore, we want everyone coming into ADDCA to have this prerequisite training as their foundation.

How do Learning Partners groups work?

All students in ADDCA training are assigned into learning partner groups and asked to meet weekly to complete their learning partner fieldwork.  

What is “Client Coaching?”

Client coaching is a requirement for each certification level at ADDCA, just as it is for PAAC and/or ICF certification. Each certification level has a required amount of clients and client coaching hours. 

What qualifications do ADDCA instructors have?

All ADDCA faculty are Certified Coaches – either PCC/PCAC or MCC/MCAC– with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and/or the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches (PAAC), the governing bodies of the Life Coaching and ADHD Coaching profession. Our faculty members are seasoned Coaches, trained Leaders and Mentor Coaches with a wealth of knowledge and extensive experience. Each has successfully completed extensive leader training.