AuDHD Joy coaching & consulting
Welcome! AuDHD Joy is a coaching and consulting service that connects neurodivergent professionals to their strengths and helps organisations harness the unique value of neurodiverse talent.
AuDHD Joy is run by Heledd (Hel) Straker, a former HRD with 15+ years’ HR experience, a background in occupational psychology, and lived experience of autism and ADHD.
Hel believes that when we connect neurodivergent people to what brings them joy, their strengths are activated and everybody wins.
A qualified coach, Hel is uniquely placed to support autistic, ADHD and AuDHD individuals and their employers find credible yet creative solutions that tap into neurodivergent potential.
Kind words from happy clients
“Heledd is a brilliant coach and a great listener, with an incredible ability to take my thoughts and feelings and elucidate and explain them with immediate knowledge and understanding. I highly recommend AuDHD Joy — after just one session, my path became clearer, and it has made a positive difference to my day-to-day life.”
- Tim B
“I knew as soon as I met Hel that she'd be a great person to work with…[She has] given me a much greater sense of control over my working environment and helped me to feel comfortable advocating for my needs and valuing my voice.”
- Peter T
“Hel has been an invaluable part of my support network. Her guidance and understanding have empowered me to build a fulfilling life with confidence while bringing my authentic self into the workplace with ease.”
- Shav P
“Hel is a really impactive mentor and confidante. Her advice and guidance has really boosted my confidence, and most importantly given me the tools to navigate some pretty complicated situations.”
- James N
“Hel has helped me to navigate the neurotypical world that I've found so frustrating for over 30 years - she has made me feel so much more comfortable at work and given me the confidence to put in place positive steps to move towards a newly defined goal. I can not recommend highly enough!”
- Paul G
The AuDHD Joy perspective: Neurodivergent strengths emerge when we’re connected to what brings us joy.
Autistics and ADHDers are often branded as "difficult"
And AuDHDers(who identify as both autistic and ADHD) struggle with being “walking contradictions”, burning themselves out trying to mould themselves to a world not designed for them.
It can feel that the lot of neurodivergent people is to suffer and fail, but it doesn’t have to be that way. AuDHD joy is key to understanding this.
Think the delight of working on a special interest. The dopamine spike of a new project. The thrill of creative problem-solving. When we step back from the neurotypical view of happiness and success at work, another way is revealed.
For neurodiverse teams, the more inclusive the support, the better the results.
Enabling strengths
Managers who focus on strengths, flexing their communication styles to ensure clarity and helping individuals to work at their best, set the foundations for excellent performance.
People trump everything
Creating points for connection, be it a safe space to ask clarifying questions, access to a mentor, or sitting with supportive colleagues, will transform motivation and strengthen a sense of belonging.
Excellence from wellbeing
The organisation providing the agency for employees to manage their time and environment will support reduced sickness and burnout, and enable the production of high quality work.
Are you ready to embark on your AuDHD Joy journey?
Neurodivergent professionals
We deserve happiness and success because of who we are, not despite who we are. Experience more AuDHD Joy today with neuroaffirming coaching and mentoring.
Employers
Neurodiversity can be a competitive advantage, not a risk to be managed. Harness neurodivergent potential today with neuroinclusion coaching and consulting.
FAQs
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AuDHD is a portmanteau of autism and ADHD. It is currently estimated that up to 70% of autistics are also ADHD, while around 20-50% of ADHDers are also autistic.
AuDHD is often described as a ‘conflict’ of autism and ADHD. We seek novelty AND predictability; we are social AND solitary; we target AND miss detail. But we are no more walking contradictions than anyone else. It’s just there isn’t currently enough research into AuDHD as a cohesive neurotype.
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AuDHD Joy comes from the well-known term “autistic joy”, which refers to the intense happiness that autistic people feel when engaged with what brings them joy.
In this case, ‘AuDHD Joy’ refers to the needs and strengths of each neurodivergent individual that my coaching and consulting approach seeks to unpick. Because when we’re connected to what brings us joy, everyone wins.
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Coaching is a powerful didactic method, where the coach uses powerful questions and provides critical tools to empower the coachee improve their self-understanding and achieve their goals.
Neuroaffirming coaching specifically starts from the perspective of the neurodivergent coachee. The questioning, tools and support are designed to enable the neurodivergent individual to flourish as their authentic themselves, rather than be forced into a neurotypical mould.
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After 15+ years in the HR strategy consulting world, I came to the conclusion that the most effective way to bring out the best in (neuro)diverse talent is not a hefty transformation progarmme, but a series of small tweaks, the effects of accumulate over time.
AuDHD Joy’s neuroinclusive approach is to understand the relationship dynamics between neurodivergent employees, their managers, teams, HR (and others), and identify small, unintrusive, cognitively easy ways to create healthy relationships and high performance.
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Neurodiversity - the natural variation in cognitive, emotional and sensory processing that occur in all humans. We are all neurodiverse.
Neurodivergence - those whose brains are wired differently from the socially accepted norm and are often marginalised because of it.
Neuronormativity - societal structures that have been built with neurotypical people in mind, resulting in the exclusion and disablement of neurodivergent people.
The Equality Act (2010) - a UK employment law that protects disabled people from discrimination. Neurodivergent people count as disabled and you don’t have to be diagnosed to be protected.
Reasonable adjustments - a legal term in The Equality Act (2010) that refers to accommodations that an employer is legally obliged to make for disabled employees. It is an acknowledgement that workplaces are further disabling for our community, with the purpose of reasonable adjustments to level the playing field.