Montgomery County Counseling Center is no longer offering Executive Functioning services. Please check out some other local offering for this very important service!
You feel disorganized, overwhelmed, and are unable to create a system to complete tasks. Your child is having trouble clearly communicating their needs, wants, thoughts, or feelings to their peers, teachers, or family. You struggle to create goals, initiate actions, or self-monitor your progress towards achieving your goals.
Burning the candle at both ends? Putting out “fires” left and right? Feeling so overwhelmed that you can’t decide when or how to ask for help? We have many sayings in our culture to describe the lack of mastery of executive functioning skills. It might be difficult to prioritize which tasks should be completed and when. It could be that you have trouble knowing how or where to get started. Maybe you recognize a clear path your child should take to solve a problem, but they are unable to find that path on their own.
Executive functioning coaching can help you develop systems and skill sets. It also can help establish a growth mindset when approaching everyday tasks. When an individual has most of the information, tools, and space to complete a task, yet frequently falls short, executive functioning coaching is the extra boost they need to produce results.
Signs that You or Your Child Need Executive Functioning Coaching
Any of these signs may mean that you or your child would benefit from executive functioning coaching.
- Disorganization/ inability to find important items
- Difficulty communicating needs
- Emotional outbursts
- Forgetfulness
- Inability to create or stick to a schedule
- Frequent missing of deadlines
- Inability to start or finish a task
- Rigid thinking/ dislike of change or new ideas
- Inability to focus on one task at a time
- Rushing through work to get it done, resulting in subpar products
- Having trouble following directions
- Easily distracted
- Having trouble waiting for or taking turns
- Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of tasks required, possibly resulting in not completing any tasks
Recognizing these as signs of unlearned skills, rather than deficiencies or character flaws can help an individual reframe their mindset and ignite their natural abilities to succeed.
What to Expect When You Start Executive Functioning Coaching
The natural place to start coaching is with an upcoming task or current problem. An EF coach will work with you to understand your unique needs. We’ll explore the situation while also gathering information to propose lifestyle changes which can be applied in everyday life. Not unlike how an athletic coach would give both specific player feedback and overall game feedback, an EF coach will help with specific needs and overall needs. They will work with you on completing and submitting homework assignments on time, AND also suggest ways to apply the new skills to household chores, social engagements, etc. An EF coach will work with a client to create age-appropriate strategies that to lead to both immediate and long-lasting changes.
When appropriate, an EF coach will also have discussions about metacognition, or thinking about thinking. The client and coach will work together to track patterns in behavior, or thought, that lead to undesired results, ultimately resulting in the client having the self-awareness and tools to navigate away from the negative space.
EF coaching can look different for each person, but the process will have clearly defined goals, outcomes, and measurable results. Coaching is a partnership, so the client will have investment in and ownership of the progress made towards these goals. Be prepared that a session will require the client to actively participate in self-reflection. This can be uncomfortable! The EF coach will help navigate through those waters, uncharted or not, to help the client make lasting cognitive changes that foster growth and achievement.
Make Your Goals Happen Now with Executive Functioning Coaching!
We want to help anyone who is looking to optimize their organizational skills, create better schedules which allow for more time to do things we enjoy, or even develop leadership skills for those who are looking to grow their role in their workplace or school.
EF Coaching works for adults and children! And for children, it takes the strain off of parents to have to do this themselves!
EF coaching is not just for those who have a clearly identifiable “problem”– even professional athletes have coaches throughout their entire career!
Other Services at Montgomery County Counseling Center
If emotions and/or relationship stress contributes to the obstacles, therapy might be the best place to start to get you unstuck. Montgomery County Counseling Center offers a variety of therapy services in Rockville, MD which is near Washington DC to help you change your behaviors to live the life you want!
Our counseling services include dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), parent coaching, family therapy, teen therapy, adult therapy, and couples counseling. We also offer an online parenting class for parents of struggling teens. Right now we are offering all our counseling services via online therapy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. Also, some of our therapists offer supervision opportunities for mental health professionals seeking their professional license. Reach out to our therapy clinic to learn more about the many ways we can help you or your family heal and thrive.