Before becoming a coach for neurodiverse individuals with ADHD, Justine Capelle Collis had a successful advertising career. She worked in Australia and the UK, and also across the US and Canadian markets. Her clients have included Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. 

And she achieved all this without realizing that she has ADHD.

That realization came when she became a mother. Both of her sons were diagnosed with ADHD, and she started asking questions. “How do I advocate” and get “the system to bend” for them, rather than having them “fit into the system and then break?” she asked.

She then went on a personal journey to retrain. Collis enrolled in post-graduate study, and went through a specialist coach training in neurodivergent coaching. But along the way, she received her own ADHD diagnosis. 

Being a mother of two sons with ADHD required “a different way of parenting,” she says. It also highlighted the feeling that something was off. 

“I couldn’t make sense of it,” Collis recalls. “I can have a successful career, I can achieve all of these incredible things. Why am I failing at this thing that I’m biologically wired to do: which is to have kids?” A conversation with a coach friend of hers, who was also practicing to be a neurodiversity coach, revealed some ‘penny-dropping’ moments. 

The reason she was able to succeed in her professional career, she explained, was that she had freedom and agency to design her working life in a way that aligned and worked for her. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case with other neurodiverse employees, who are often forced to survive in a world that is not designed or conducive to them doing their best.

But some companies are turning to coaching in an attempt to address this.

The growing awareness of neurodiversity 

Like Collis, Dr. George Sachs also built a career while having ADHD. Sachs cofounded an app called Inflow with Levi Epstein and Seb Isaacs after 20 years of working as a clinical psychologist. The app provides support with adults with ADHD through various tools, including coaching. And while their customers are primarily individuals, they do work with organizations and universities that offer Inflow to their employees. 

Sachs believes that social media has contributed to the rise of awareness in neurodiversity at work. Companies like EYand Microsoft for example, have a range of policies to support neurodiverse individuals. 

They do that through work arrangements, modified workspaces, and educational resources. Thanks to social media, says Sachs, people have become more aware of diagnostic criteria for various neurodiversity conditions. 

“At the same time, the concept of ‘disorder’ is changing,” he says. Rather than seeing their conditions as a disorder, he explains, “you’re seeing this movement towards acceptance of difference.” 

The value of neurodiversity-specific coaching 

Neurodiversity exists on a spectrum, and even those with similar diagnoses often have unique struggles and challenges. And as a result, companies can’t rely on one-size-fits-all benefits, says Gijo Matthew, Chief Product Officer at Spring Health. The mental health platform launched a neurodiversity hub earlier this year. 

“We decided to invest in neurodiversity because traditional mental health benefits often fall short for this community, leaving many employees without the resources they need to be successful,” Matthew says. It’s that particular specificity that can make coaching a valuable tool for neurodiverse individuals. 

Jill Johnson, a coach who works with executive leaders, women, parents, and individuals with ADHD, describes coaching as a ‘partnership.’ The coach might have a particular expertise, Johnson says, but “it’s also the lived experience of the client, who brings an equally important role to figuring out how to help—and taking ownership of how they can be successful in life, or in the workplace.” 

How coaching helps neurodiverse individuals 

Roman Peskin, CEO and co-founder of ed-tech startup ELVTR, also didn’t receive a diagnosis until later in his life. He describes trying a series of ‘normal’ jobs in his twenties that he was subsequently fired from, first as a travel agent, then later running a travel website. “Both times I got fired for the same reason,” he says: “not incompetence, but procrastination and inconsistency. I’d do great work in bursts, then mentally disappear.”

This is something that Collis is familiar with. “The single biggest thing for brains like ours,” she explains, “is they fire up on interests, not based on external urgency, or what someone else or some external source says it should be. Even though we might know we need to do this thing first, we’re wired that way. So we have to function in a way that harnesses that capability, rather than forcing it into a box.” 

For Peskin, that’s the value that coaching can potentially bring, though he stresses that the coach needs to understand what it’s like to have a “high-octane brain.” It won’t work if you have “neurotypical productivity guru pushing a GTD masterclass down your throat,” he says.

“A good coach could start by naming what’s going on so you stop thinking ‘I’m broken.’ Then help install realistic framework: sprints instead of marathons, accountability, focus blocks, external structure,” Peskin continues.

Because neurodiversity encompasses a wide range of conditions, a level of personalization is also necessary. A 2025 University of Reading study that looked at the inclusivity of a neurodiversity coaching program found that some neurodivergent individuals, for example, do better with text-based or audio-only coaching rather than via video conferences.

Coaches also need to be flexible and responsive in how they communicate. The study cited that some autistic individuals, for example, may face difficulty with open-ended questions. This means that coaches need to be able to adjust their method in a way that works for the employee.

The importance of organizational culture, support, and education 

Peskin stresses that companies cannot rely on coaching to be the be-all and end-all. “I think of coaching as software,” he says. “Most companies still need to fix the hardware.”

“You can’t coach your way out of a toxic system,” says Collis. “So if the culture in a workplace is fundamentally broken, or not safe from a psychological perspective, then those issues need to be addressed first.” 

For neurodiverse individuals, that support starts with education. There are a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about neurodiverse individuals, says Sachs. For example, like the idea that those with ADHD might struggle to get their work done, or that everyone on the autism spectrum is blunt and introverted. A coach may be able to help a neurodiverse individual with time management or emotional regulation at work. However, the onus is also on the organization to provide a supportive and flexible environment so they can actually do those things.

This starts from the top. As a 2022 study published in AIB Insights concluded, any neurodiverse-inclusive initiative needs to have buy-in from leadership go have any chance of success.

It’s also about ensuring that the neurodiverse employee is employed in a role that actually allows them to use their strengths. “If your job is repetitive admin in an open-plan office with Slack on fire all day, no amount of coaching will turn that into a good fit for an ADHD brain,” says Peskin.

Coaching is also not a substitute for competent management, Peskin says. “If you bolt coaching onto a culture of constant interruption, vague expectations, and busyness show-offs, it just becomes an expensive Band-Aid on a system that’s causing the wound.” Many neurodiverse employees also struggle with sensory distractions, as a 2025 Ernst and Young study found. For a workplace to be truly inclusive, it needs to facilitate flexible working arrangements or a physical space where neurodiverse employees can work without interruptions.

Ultimately, Peskin wants to see an attitude shift that sees neurodivergent talent as a strategic asset. As the 2022 study found, when organizations provide neurodiverse individuals the opportunity to play to their strengths, they’re more likely to make meaningful contributions to the company. In the abstract, the authors wrote, “the actions taken to accommodate neurodivergent employees often spill over to the benefit of all employees.”

Peskin says, “Neurodivergent talent is a competitive advantage, not a DEI show off. We don’t need “fixing.” We need the rules of the game adjusted so our strengths actually count.”