Living Well with “Now-Brain”
1:1 Support for ADHD and Executive Dysfunction
Are you a lifelong procrastinator, putting off everything from doing the dishes to actualizing your greatest passion project? Are you chronically embarrassed and self-critical about forgetting appointments, missing deadlines, and losing important items? Do you find yourself highly sensitive to feeling rejected, judged, or controlled, so that even little emotional injuries can send you spiraling?
Chances are, you’re living with “Now-Brain”. Now-Brain is a new, non-pathologizing term for what has traditionally been called Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or executive dysfunction. Rather than thinking of it as an illness, in this group we’ll be talking about ADHD as a brain type, with it’s own particular strengths and challenges.
So what’s a Now-Brain??
Every brain type has certain strengths and weaknesses, skills that it’s naturally good at and skills we need to put in extra effort to develop. What are some of the common strengths of Now-Brain? To name a few: Creativity, innovation, empathy, sensitivity, spontaneity, humor, willingness to take risks…I could go on. Basically, it’s things that involve the ability to tune in to what’s right in front of you or right inside you at this moment, to discern what would feel good/relaxing/exciting/interesting for you and everyone around you right NOW.
But as you know too well, there are other parts of being a person that don’t come as naturally with Now-Brain. And they just about all relate to the ability to take care of things that will set us up to feel good in the FUTURE. These are the what are often called the brain’s executive functions:
Mobilizing yourself for important tasks that seem boring, effortful, too long, or overwhelming
Sticking to projects or routines even once they are no longer new and exciting
Paying close attention to what you’re hearing or reading, so that you’ll have the memory when you need it later
Bothering to organize rooms, bags, notes, desktops, inboxes, calendars etc, so that you can find what you need later
Sitting with or tolerating hard emotions rather than diving for whatever will make me feel better NOW - whether it’s a different project, email, TV, food, social media, or drugs and alcohol - which don’t solve the problem and very often make it worse
Deciding to get on top of these issues is a way of honoring yourself and your right to live happily and comfortably. In Living Well with Now-Brain, you’ll join a community of fellow travelers, learning, sharing and working together to create a more joyful and less stressed way of living.
1:1 coaching-style therapy
Your individual sessions will occur weekly and focus on your unique needs and goals:
Understanding how your Now-brain works, and learning to work with it rather than against it
Identifying the executive functioning strategies that are actually a good fit for you
Building practical nervous system regulation skills that reduce, overwhelm and increase capacity
Problem-solving specific challenges related to work, relationships, parenting, organization, finances, and daily responsibilities
Creating and maintaining a shared Google document to track goals, strategies, and progress
What people are saying….