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An estimated 15–20% of the UK population is neurodivergent, and that figure is significantly higher in leadership, professional and creative roles. Yet most coaching models are built on neurotypical assumptions about motivation, cognitive processing, emotional experiences, communication and follow-through.
Here are the video resources from this section:
- Why Neurodivergent Clients Need Your Support
- When Neurodivergent Difference Gets Mislabelled as Resistance
- Executive Function Challenges Aren’t About A Lack Of Willpower
- When Communication Style Gets Pathologised
This category looks at how well your coaching recognises and adapts to different neurotypes, rather than unintentionally mislabelling differences as resistance, avoidance or lack of commitment. It explores whether your current approach can distinguish between behaviour that needs coaching interventions, and behaviour that reflects a different nervous system, executive functioning profile, or emotional processing style.
Neurodivergence has not been a core lens in most coach training yet. But that doesn't mean you have to become a specialist.
However, without this lens, well-intentioned coaching can inadvertently create shame, misunderstanding, or pressure to mask. Clients may appear disengaged, overly analytical, emotionally distant, or 'stuck', when in reality the problem is that the tools being used don’t fit how their brain and nervous system work.
Read on to see how this score was calculated, where neurotypical assumptions quietly shape coaching practice, and how adapting your approach can unlock depth without pathologising difference or needing to become a neurodivergence specialist.
Why Neurodivergent Clients Need Your Support
You don't have to be a specialist to support neurodivergent clients.
And not all neurodivergent clients want neurodivergence coaching - most want your expertise.
Here's a short video on why they need your help, and how you could make an even bigger difference for them.
are you ready to train with clare as a master coach?
When Neurodivergent Difference Gets Mislabelled as Resistance
Not all hesitation is avoidance. Not all compliance is readiness. Neurodivergent clients often mask, minimise or people-please to feel safe in coaching conversations.
What looks like resistance may be shutdown. When difference is misread as lack of commitment, coaching pressure increases precisely when safety is lowest.
Watch this video to explore how neurodivergent masking and shutdown show up in coaching, why they’re often misinterpreted, and how to distinguish resistance from self-protection without pathologising the client.
are you ready to train with clare as a master coach?
Executive Function Challenges Aren’t About A Lack Of Willpower
Watch this video to understand how classic accountability models fail some clients, and how to adapt coaching without lowering expectations.
are you ready to train with clare as a master coach?
When Communication Style Gets Pathologised
Some neurodivergent clients struggle to name or experience emotions. This can reflect alexithymia, which is also a factor for clients with PTSD.
Some neurodivergent clients process their thoughts out loud, detail-heavy or tangentially. This indicates 'info-dumping' - their way of showing you they trust you, not avoidance or attachment to the problem.
Watch this video to explore how information sharing differs across neurotypes, and how misreading this can derail coaching depth, safety and progress.
are you ready to train with clare as a master coach?