Linda Anderson MA, MCC, SCAC
ADHD Coach

Linda Anderson: As a master coach and leader in the field of ADHD coaching, I coach adults with ADHD. This includes professionals in corporate, business, and non-profit settings as well as students in college and graduate school.

For 20+ years, I have coached my clients, in the United States and abroad, by phone and Skype. I also see clients in my office in Doylestown, PA.

Today, I lead national and regional seminars and webinars on ADHD and coaching. I speak in corporate settings (such as Merck, Unisys and Zeneka) on topics related to organization, diversity, and de-stressing the workplace. In academic and professional settings, I have designed and led training programs and created an eight week advanced skills ADHD coach training program.

I love sharing life-changing tools and strategies that I have honed from experience and gathered from listening to my clients. As my clients and seminar participants often tell me, I bring creativity, compassion, wit, and wisdom to each of these experiences.

Background
After graduating from Northwestern University in 1971 with a Master of Art degree in English Literature, I spent the next fifteen years working as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and director of eight childcare centers.

My two daughters were born in the early 1980s. While they were young, I lead trainings and worked as a consultant. I began to research how to use my skills in a new and different way, imagining starting my own business.

In 1993, after an intense personal period of clearing out old stuff – a material and spiritual cleansing – an opportunity presented itself. A friend invited me to join her professional organizing business. Within a year, I started my own business, Getting Clear, and helped co-found the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (GPPO) over the next two years.

An Organizer and A Coach
My clients hired me to help them let go of too much stuff and organize what was left. But they were also asking me to help them manage time, prioritize tasks, and set doable next action steps at work and at home. Some of my clients shared their personal struggle with ADD (that’s what we called it back then – when one client asked me what I knew about it, I realized that I knew very little).

This began an intense period of learning that hasn’t stopped. I started reading books about ADD written by experts in the field. I attended conferences about both professional organizing and ADD. Soon after I was leading seminars at those conferences.

Over the next few years, I took part in coach training through Coach University and completed the Optimal Functioning Institute coaching program – the only ADD coach training program that existed at the time. Since then, I have attended many coach training programs and conferences.

In 2002, based on oral and written testing and accompanied by a portfolio documenting client hours and coach training hours, I obtained master coach certification–­the highest of three certifications awarded by the International Coach Federation (ICF).

My “Light Bulb” Moment
A short time into my education about ADD/ADHD, I had a huge awakening when I was speaking at an ADDA (Adult Attention Deficient Disorder Association) conference. Immediately following my own presentation, I slipped into the seminar next door on “ADHD and Marriage.”

As I listened, I quickly realized that the speaker was describing several challenges I was experiencing in my own marriage. He went on to describe specific challenges that my husband had experienced throughout his school and work life. I had had inklings about the possibility of my husband having ADD, but this seminar made it all perfectly clear. When I came home, I shared this information with my husband. Starting the discussion lead him to pursue a diagnosis and medication that changed both of our lives for the better.

Memberships and Affiliations
Master Coach Certification, International Coach Federation (ICF), 2005 – present
Member, ICF, 2002 – present
Member, Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), 1996-present
President, ADDA, 2006-2009
Board, ADDA, 1996 – 2012
Member, Children and Adults with ADD (CHADD), 1996 – present
Member, International Coach Federation (ICF), 2000 – present
Member, ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO), 2005 – present

www.gettingclear.com

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