Clarity, Purpose & Healing: My Journey from TBI to ADHD Coaching

In 2017, my life changed in an instant. I was hit by a car while cycling, thrown from my bike, and my helmet cracked open. I suffered a significant concussion, with bleeding in my brain. What followed wasn’t just a physical recovery—it was the start of a journey into completely new territory of intially pain and confussion but later turned towards elf-awareness, resilience, and reinvention.

Life Before the Crash and Change

For 17 years, I was a successful business owner, driven, confident, and capable. I had built a career through hard work and focus, never realizing that the way my mind worked was a little different.

Looking back, I can now see the subtle patterns of ADHD running throughout my life, but at the time I thought I was just “me” and OK with me. I was creative, curious, and energetic—qualities that helped me build success.

But after the Crash!, everything changed.

The TBI and Its Aftermath

Things started to change in how I negotiated the world.

Firstly, my short-term memory severely faltered. I found my self writing down every task, idea, appointment... etc.... down in a continuous a state of panic and fear that I would forget.

Luckily, my staff and my business partner were kind, empathetic, and patient — often filling in the gaps I could no longer manage myself.

But Rumination also came flying into my mind, accusing me of the worst things.

An Inner voice was chanting and blaming myself for the injury, doubting my worth to others and to myself. I was daily stuck in a cycle — too afraid to make a choice, and equally afraid not to. The loop was constant and exhausting.

My other executive functions were also critically — sometimes deeply — impaired. Emotionally, I was shaken. I avoided large groups, struggled with focus, and questioned my own mental health.

There were many days when I feared I was slipping into mental illness.

The Turning Point: A New Brain... that was always there

Getting a diagnosis brought clarity. Instead of feeling lost in fear, I now had language—ADHD, executive function challenges, traumatic brain injury. These weren’t the end of my story. They were information I could build on. They gave me a way back.

Through coaching training, I discovered something remarkable. When I pushed myself—mentally and emotionally—it gave me a deep sense of lasting purpose. Unlike the fleeting dopamine of achieving a single goal, this sense of meaning stayed with me. Coaching became not only a profession, but a profound way to reframe my injury and my ADHD into gifts.

Rediscovering, Creativity and Resilience

I grew up in a home where creativity was part of daily life. Music often played instead of television, and as a family we went to the library regularly. Books, ideas, and imagination were part of our world.

That early environment gave me permission to think differently, to create strategies that worked for me—even before I knew I had ADHD. After the accident, I began to draw on that same creativity. I even called upon my “inner child” to help me accept the challenges of reading, memory, and comprehension. Instead of frustration, I leaned into curiosity and wonder.

Letting Go and Moving Forward

I had to let go of my business, a career I had built for nearly two decades, because I recognized how the injury had affected my executive function. That was one of the hardest decisions of my life.

But in letting go, I opened space for something new. Coaching allowed me to take everything I had learned—the pain, the adaptations, the resilience—and use it to help others.

One unexpected gift of my injury was that my ability to listen—truly listen—intensified. I had always been a good listener, but now I felt fully present, almost inside the experience of the other person. This has become one of my strongest tools, I believe, as a coach.

I want to share what learned about the power of brain plasticity with others who may be coping with the challenges of ADHD and TBI. My journey has taught me that even when life narrows our path, it can also deepen our sense of purpose.

Thanks for hearing about my Journey to Coaching

If you’re navigating ADHD, TBI or both and challenges with executive function, you don’t have to do it alone. I’d love to walk with you as you uncover your strengths, reframe your challenges, and rediscover the better self within you.

👉 Contact me today to begin your own journey not in the same way but in the direction that is uniquely crafted by you.