What is an Introductory Session?

This is what to expect in an introductory session for individual coaching or for you and your significant other(s)

When I work 1:1 (individually) or with a client and their significant other(s), I always begin with a full introductory session. 

What will actually happen in that first meeting, the introductory session is up to you. It is tailored to your needs and goals. 

Much of the time, there is a general flow that includes: identifying a challenge or goal, looking at the obstacles that may get in the way, finding specific strategies to overcome those obstaces, and making a concrete commitment to apply those strategies. 

I give an introductory session with zero expectations or strings attached. I am clear at the start of that session that I will not be selling into my coaching. 

As a full-time coach for Adults with ADHD, it's important to demonstrate my understanding of the common ADHD characteristic of impulsivity.  Any ADHD coach should apply this understanding and never pressure to sign up for coaching. The last thing I want to do is inadvertently use any sales techniques that feed into the common ADHD characteristic of impulsivity.

Towards the end of the introductory session, you will create between one to three commitments to work on. We will then make a second appointment to discuss how those commitments worked out. We look at the facts as a science experiment, underscoring how action or inaction is completely separate from who you are as a person. 

At our second, shorter, follow-up conversation, we will look at the commitments you made and how you experienced them or anything else since our introductory session. It is not until that second meeting where I will share the options to formally work together, which, for me, includes individual, with significant other(s) such as a spouse or partner(s), in small groups, and/or with a formal course. 

Just like working with any professional in any capacity, some personalities “click” and some do not. Simply part of being human.

It’s important to find someone with whom you can feel supported through times that may bring up feelings of discomfort as you create new neural pathways and lasting habits tailored to your needs and goals. 

Talk to a possible coach for you and ask yourself if you feel motivated and supported by them as well as things that can’t necessarily be quantified because it varies person-to-person. 

These things could include laughter, common background or stage of life, and anything else that is important to you.

That inexactitude of defining a “click” is one of the reasons I have an introductory session.