2026 ICF Coaching for Neurodiversity SIG Schedule

Event List

• 1/20:  Neurodiversity + Recovery in Coaching, Maria Caso

• 2/17: Neurodiversity Profiles & Frameworks in Coaching, Minal Kamlani

• 3/17: Neurodivergent Masking & Authenticity in Coaching, Brian McKeon

• 4/28:  Intro to Coaching AuDHD, Maureen Hilton-Sokoloff

• 6/16:  Neurodivergent Sensory & Emotional Regulation in Coaching, Cynthia El Mortada

• 9/22: Coaching to Support Executive Functioning Challenges, Rachel Katz

• 10/27: Intro to Coaching Neurodivergent Groups, Aurelie Harp

• 11/10: Coaching Neurodivergent Families on Disclosure & Stigma, Carol Siege

All events are @12-1PM EST. Please register through the ICF NYC events page.

Full Event Descriptions

• 1/20/26 | Neurodiversity + Recovery in Coaching

  Many adults navigating recovery—from trauma, disordered eating, harmful coping, or addiction—are also neurodivergent. Research suggests up to half of people in addiction recovery meet ND criteria. Recovery is not just about abstinence; it’s about identity, community, and possibility. In this session, guest speaker Maria Caso will share her lived experience from recovery communities and the Betty Ford Center, offering a grounded look at what it means to rebuild a sense of self beyond labels, roles, and external identities. Host Minal Kamlani will explore the spectrum of recovery approaches — including harm reduction — and the essential role of ongoing community care. Together, they’ll model a dual-lens approach that honors both personal experience and coaching practice. Coaches are invited to bring their own learning, lived experience, and curiosity into the conversation as we explore how recovery and neurodivergence meet in real life.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Explore how neurodivergence and recovery overlap and shape coping patterns

  • Hold a compassionate, nonjudgmental space that centers around authenticity

  • Understand how to support clients in their chosen recovery approach

• 2/17/26 | Neurodiversity Profiles & Frameworks in Coaching

  Neurodiversity reaches far beyond ADHD or autism — it includes a wide range of cognitive differences such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, Tourette’s, sensory-processing differences, and the many ways these profiles overlap in real life. In this session, co-host Minal Kamlani will introduce neurodiversity as both a natural human variation and an identity-based movement. We’ll draw on several established frameworks — the Genius Within model (Nancy Doyle), the Neurodiversity Paradigm (Judy Singer/Nick Walker), and Spiky Profiles (Amanda Kirby) — to explore how environment, identity, and uneven cognitive patterns shape clients' thinking, feelings, relationships, and strengths.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Understand what neurodiversity means across different cognitive profiles

  • Explore what it’s like to use inclusive, strengths-based language

  • Build confidence using simple frameworks to support diverse thinkers

• 3/17/26 | Neurodivergent Masking & Authenticity in Coaching

  Many neurodivergent adults mask their traits to blend in — suppressing stimming, mirroring social scripts, or performing neurotypical expectations — often at enormous emotional cost. Over 75% report chronic masking that contributes to burnout, depression, and a deep sense of self-erasure. In this session, guest speaker Brian McKeon draws on his experience coaching senior professionals through identity work and authentic leadership to help coaches understand masking as invisible emotional labor. You'll learn to support clients in reclaiming authenticity safely and sustainably—especially in high-stakes professional contexts where the cost of visibility can feel unbearable.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Understand masking's impact on identity, well-being, and professional performance

  • Hold space for authenticity and unmasking without forcing vulnerability

  • Recognize patterns of overperformance, hypervigilance, and self-erasure

• 4/28/26 | Intro to Coaching AuDHD

  Many individuals live with both ADHD and autism traits — often going undiagnosed or misunderstood for decades. Research shows 30–50% of autistic individuals also meet ADHD criteria, yet the AuDHD experience remains largely invisible in coaching literature and practice. This session invites coaches to explore the creativity, intensity, and beautiful complexity of the AuDHD experience — and learn how to design sessions that honor both structure and spontaneity, hyperfocus and sensory sensitivity, routine and novelty. In this session, guest speaker Maureen Hilton-Sokoloff draws on her neuroscience and trauma-informed education, as well as her career coaching at Harvard, to help coaches recognize how ADHD traits manifest in attention, communication, and regulation, and to adapt their practice accordingly.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize how AuDHD traits manifest in attention, communication, and regulation

  • Explore dual-processing patterns like hyperfocus and sensory load

  • Learn to adapt pacing, structure, and language for AuDHD clients

• 6/16/26 | Neurodivergent Sensory & Emotional Regulation in Coaching

  Sensory overload and shutdown are common nervous-system responses in neurodivergent clients — but they're often misread as resistance, lack of engagement, or emotional avoidance. As many as 70% of neurodivergent adults experience sensory sensitivities that directly affect regulation, relational safety, and their ability to remain present in coaching sessions. In this session, guest speaker Cynthia El Mortada draws on her lived experience with ADHD and her professional training in emotional regulation and body awareness to help coaches understand sensory processing and nervous system states. You'll learn to design sessions to help clients access coaching from a place of safety rather than survival.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize signs of sensory overwhelm, shutdown, and dysregulation in real time

  • Adapt session pacing, environment, and relational presence to support regulation

  • Integrate nervous-system literacy and body awareness into your coaching practice

   

• 9/22/26 | Coaching to Support Executive Functioning Challenges

  Many clients struggle with planning, prioritization, or follow-through — not from lack of motivation, but from executive-function differences in working memory, task initiation, and cognitive flexibility. Up to 90% of adults with ADHD experience these challenges daily, yet they're often misinterpreted as character flaws or resistance.

  In this session, co-host Rachel Katz provides practical, shame-free tools to help coaches recognize how executive function challenges manifest in coaching and apply strategies that work with your clients' brains — not against them. You'll leave equipped to help clients build momentum, create sustainable systems, and regain self-trust.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Understand how executive-function challenges show up in coaching

  • Apply trauma-informed strategies for planning, prioritization, and momentum

  • Reframe procrastination and inconsistency as regulation needs and not character deficits

• 10/27/26 | Intro to Coaching Neurodivergent Groups

  Many neurodivergent adults experience chronic isolation, masking, and feeling fundamentally misunderstood — with over 70% reporting persistent loneliness. Group coaching can offer something individual sessions often can't: community, belonging, and a safe space to unmask and learn from others lived experiences. In this session, guest speaker Aurelie Harp will cover the essentials of creating neuroinclusive groups that are intergenerational, cross-cultural, and grounded in psychological safety — so participants can show up more fully and support one another's growth.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Identify the unique benefits of group coaching for neurodivergent clients

  • Understand core elements of building neuroinclusive group containers

  • Recognize common challenges and respond with compassion, not correction

• 11/10/26 | Coaching Neurodivergent Families on Disclosure & Stigma

  For families with neurodivergent children, deciding if, when, and how to disclose a diagnosis can be fraught with fear of judgment, educational discrimination, or social exclusion. As many as 61% of people hide aspects of their identity in professional and social contexts — and for parents navigating school systems, extended family, and community settings, the stakes are even higher. In this session, guest speaker Carol Siege draws on her lived experience as a mother of neurodivergent sons and her leadership in special education advocacy to help coaches support families through disclosure decisions with clarity, safety, and confidence. You'll explore the nuanced risks and benefits of disclosure across family contexts and learn to hold space for parents to make empowered choices that honor both protection and authenticity, centering values and agency rather than external pressure or shame.

  Learning Objectives:

  • Explore the risks and benefits of disclosure across contexts

  • Affirm client agency and healthy boundaries in decision-making

  • Reduce shame and model authenticity in coaching