Basic Coaching Skills Course

Module B1: Introduction to Coaching

This module is designed to introduce you to ADHD and life coaching.  We will define coaching and discuss what it means to be a coach, how coaching is distinguished from other professions, such as therapy or counseling, and how ADHD coaching differs from life coaching.  We will also explore the value of certification.

You will be introduced to our coaching conversational process, the QuestVersation©, and our Being model.  You will hear example coaching sessions and begin practicing basic skills.  Finally, we will introduce the core coaching competencies, behavioral markers, and ethical guidelines of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches (PAAC). 

Module B2: Anatomy of a Coaching Practice

This module is designed to help you learn how to talk to a prospect about coaching and, once a person wants to begin, how to get the initial coaching agreement and goals.  You will hear how to do an intake session with a new client and learn how early coaching sessions flow.  

You will develop your first welcome packet so you are ready to start with clients.  You will learn the importance of getting a coaching session agreement and practice asking the client for their agenda for the session.  This module prepares you to begin a coaching relationship on a strong and ethical foundation

Module B3: The QuestVersation© Coaching Process

This module is designed to introduce you to two ADDCA foundational coaching models.

The LEAP Model illustrates four stages of client development and growth.  The QuestVersation© Model introduces the coaching conversation process and how to create a partnership of trust with the client using six distinct skills:  receiving, witnessing, questioning, filtering, activating, and reinventing.

We explore both models and how they work together to create a safe coaching environment that encourages client exploration and growth.  Students will be listening to coaching sessions and beginning to practice both in and outside of class. 

Module B4: Setting Up Your Coaching Business

This module is designed to explore coaching best practices, tools, resources, how to present oneself as a coach (your coaching story), coaching ethics, boundaries, self-care, and managing client load.  We will discuss fee structures, one-on-one and group coaching, and how you want to be and function as a coach.  

We will try to cover everything you need to build and enjoy an incredible coaching practice.  While this is not a marketing class, we do provide resources to help you with marketing your business.

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.