The Challenge
Following an ADHD diagnosis in my late thirties, after a career in UX and design thinking, I recognised that traditional ADHD coaching relied heavily on verbal discussion and working memory, precisely the executive function most compromised by ADHD, meaning insight from a coaching session rarely survived past the session itself. Existing productivity systems and self-help frameworks were built for a generic brain, not calibrated to an individual’s specific pattern of strengths and challenges, and treated failure to sustain a system as a personal or discipline failing rather than a design mismatch.
The Outcome
A coherent, well-evidenced coaching methodology in active use with real clients, supported by a substantial podcast body of work and a book-length manuscript documenting the complete framework. The methodology extends beyond 1:1 coaching into relational (helping a partner understand and support someone’s ADHD) and organisational (helping managers and HR understand executive function challenges without clinical training) contexts, giving the framework real applied range rather than being a single-use-case coaching tool.
The Approach
Applied over a decade of UX and design thinking experience directly to the lived experience of ADHD, treating it as a design problem rather than a discipline problem. Built the UMPAR framework, five stages (Understand and Uncover, Maintain and Move, Plan and Prioritise, Action and Accountability, Reflect and Repeat), grounded in named external research: the VIA character strengths assessment, a DOSE neurochemical model, and Professor Steve Peters’ Chimp Brain/Human Brain model, established frameworks applied and built into a coaching narrative rather than originated, credited explicitly in the course material. Externalised the framework as the ADHD Canvas, a visual tool adapted from the design-thinking canvas tradition, that traces chains of executive function difficulty back to a root cause rather than treating each symptom in isolation. Tested and refined through direct coaching practice, workshops, and a podcast, with real client outcomes shaping revisions. Documented the complete methodology in a full-length manuscript, written both as thought leadership and as a dated, substantive record of original authorship ahead of eventual trademark or brand protection.
