Shane Ward

ADHD Life Coach and Accountability Partner

I’m an experienced and passionate ADHD Life Coach (CALC, ICF ACSTH Accredited). Navigating your journey with ADHD? I’m here, drawing from my personal experience and professional expertise, to guide, support, and educate you every step of the way.

ADHD is not a myth—it doesn’t disappear when adulthood hits, and it’s not confined to the borders of one country. 

I offer an ADHD-centric approach, recognizing that there is no one size fits all solution for those who have ADHD. Understanding your own unique challenges provides a template to discovering how best to scaffold our executive function (dys)function, while also appreciating the role that our emotion dysregulation plays in your outcome.

Traditional ADHD work has focused almost exclusively on the challenges we face with executive function, but there has been a steady acknowledgement of the critical role that emotion regulation plays in our strategies. This requires us not only strategizing on the “how to” but also the “why”.

For example – procrastination is not overcome by only better planning and organisation strategies but also in understanding precisely “Why do I procrastinate?”. Do I delay because the task is too complex, do I fear failure, am I good enough? Each answer offers a potentially different approach to resolving our procrastination.

While my focus is primarily on adult ADHD, I have significant experience working with tertiary students struggling to make the transition from a structured to an unstructured environment.

Diagnosed at 45, my journey brought to light a notable lack of local resources for South Africans living with ADHD. So, I embarked on a mission to bridge that gap.

Using an empathetic approach rooted in my personal experience and a scientific perspective from my 27-year background in HSE within the Petrochemical Industry, I provide tools and strategies to help you manage the impact of ADHD on your everyday life. Together, we’ll:

• Evaluate the ADHD-related challenges you’re facing,
• Unearth unseen obstacles blocking your potential,
• Define and prioritize your personal goals,
• Develop custom strategies that play to your strengths for sustainable change,
• Apply the “Curious Accountability Model

In the past 3 years I have studied a broad range of views on ADHD and bring with me a rich source of resources to match most experiences. In 2021 I completed a foundations course in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and incorporate the DBT skills training into everyday strategies. In the same year in collaboration with Kate Engel (LPC) we successfully ran a pilot online group coaching initiative under the title “DBT Skills for ADHD Emotion Dysregulation”.

At the same time the rise of the Neurodiversity movement and recognition of Evolutionary Psychiatry (EPSIG) reinforced the idea that ADHD is part of a natural neuro-cognitive variability in humanity. This does not limit the idea that ADHD can be disabling but recognises that through acceptance we can take a more active role in ensuring that our environment better matches our needs.

I believe that ADHD Coaching is not intended to “fix” or “cure” your ADHD. It rather seeks through psychoeducation to normalise our experiences and develop better ADHD strategies to reach our potential. In learning to scaffold your challenges you are then better positioned to focus on your strengths!

I am passionate about creating an empowering ADHD community and would love to work with you. Together, we can redefine ADHD success stories.

Cape Town, South Africa