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Neurodiversity Specialist Coaching

Frequently asked questions for postgraduate doctors, dentists and public health practitioners in training (PGDiTs)

Contents

What is neurodiversity specialist coaching?

Neurodiversity specialist coaching is a structured, confidential form of one-to-one professional support delivered by a qualified coach with specialist expertise in neurodivergence.

It is designed to help neurodivergent individuals understand how their neurotype affects the way they think, work, and learn, and to develop practical, personalised strategies that work with their cognitive profile rather than against it.

Sessions are exploratory and goal-focused. Your coach will help you identify your strengths, understand the specific challenges you face, and build a toolkit of techniques you can apply in your day-to-day training and clinical practice.

How is neurodiversity specialist coaching different from general coaching?

Coaching in its more general form is typically structured around a specific goal or issue, which could be a characteristic of neurodivergence you are finding challenging, such as time management, exam preparation or portfolio engagement.

The Yorkshire and Humber coaching scheme is accessible to all PGDiTs at any time during their training, for whatever reason. 

Whilst our coaches have undertaken neurodiversity training, including workshops focused on specific approaches to coaching neurodivergent individuals, they aren't qualified specialists in this area. However, all our trained coaches are current or past postgraduate educators, have a thorough understanding of your clinical and training context and many have experience of both  supporting neurodivergent PGDiTs and supporting neurotypical PGDiTs who experience similar challenges to those of individual neurotypes, including but not limited to organisation, prioritisation and interpersonal skills.

You can find more information about our coaching scheme on our Coaching Programme pages, including guidance on How to access coaching and Frequently asked questions.

Neurodiversity specialist coaching is delivered by a coach who has expert knowledge of specific neurotypes, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, and the science behind how these affect cognition, behaviour, and performance. A specialist coach will approach your sessions and the development of support strategies with neurodivergent thinking styles in mind.

Both types of coaching will help you to harness your strengths as well as managing areas of challenge for a holistic approach to support.

Whichever coaching you choose or are eligible to access, we recommend sharing your neurodiversity assessment report (if you have one) with your coach so they can tailor support to your specific cognitive profile and your assessor's recommendations. 

Why might neurodiversity specialist coaching be particularly beneficial in postgraduate training?

Many neurodivergent PGDiTs report having to work harder than their neurotypical peers simply to function in systems that were not designed with their neurotype in mind. Neurodiversity specialist coaching supports you to understand the specific reasons you may be finding certain aspects of training challenging and to develop strategies that are realistic and sustainable in a clinical context. 

Coaching can also help you to recognise and capitalise on the strengths that often accompany neurodivergence, such as creative problem-solving, hyperfocus, attention to detail, pattern recognition, and empathetic communication, which are incredibly valuable assets in clinical practice.

Whilst our provider's neurodiversity specialist coaches have experience of supporting PGDiTs across the country, it's important to remember that the deanery's coaches have direct experience of clinical working and postgraduate training that they can draw upon.

What kinds of things might I work on with a neurodiversity specialist coach?

The focus of your coaching will be individual to you, but common areas that PGDiTs explore with their coach include:

  • Managing time, prioritisation and organisation in a clinical setting
  • Coping with high cognitive load, such as during on-call shifts, ward rounds or complex clinical situations
  • Preparing for and sitting professional examinations
  • Maintaining portfolio and workplace-based assessment requirements
  • Managing transitions between training posts and clinical environments
  • Regulating and sustaining focus, energy, and motivation throughout the demands of a working week
  • Building confidence and self-advocacy, including when discussing adjustments with employers, supervisors or other educators

Is this coaching just about managing difficulties, or is there a positive focus too?

Both. Neurodiversity specialist coaching takes a strengths-based approach. Many neurodivergent individuals have spent years developing compensatory strategies without fully understanding why certain things feel so hard. A skilled coach will help you to reframe your understanding of yourself and to see your neurotype(s) as a source of genuine strengths, not only challenges. 

A similar-strengths-framed approach is used by our Yorkshire and Humber coaches, which will likely focus more on you as an individual rather than your neurotype(s).

You may find that either form of coaching helps you feel more confident, more self-aware, and better equipped to advocate for the adjustments and support you need: not just during training, but throughout your career.

What are my options for accessing neurodiversity specialist coaching?

There are two main routes through which you may be able to access funded neurodiversity specialist coaching.

Access to Work is the first route we encourage you to explore if you are eligible. An Access to Work grant can fund more neurodiversity specialist coaching than the deanery's support route and on a longer-term basis. Access to Work can also fund specialist equipment and technology to support you in your training and clinical work. For more information, please see our Reasonable Adjustments and Practical Support pages.

You do not need to have any form of diagnosis and you do not need to have had a neurodiversity assessment to be able to apply to Access to Work

 

Deanery-funded coaching may be available if you are ineligible for Access to Work or you are awaiting an Access to Work outcome and have an immediate need for support. Please see the eligibility information below for more details. 

The Yorkshire and Humber Coaching Scheme is available to all PGDiTs, at no cost, as an alternative where you are ineligible for deanery-funded coaching. 

Am I eligible for deanery-funded neurodiversity specialist coaching?

The deanery may be able to fund neurodiversity specialist coaching where you:

  • Have already applied to Access to Work and are awaiting an outcome or you are ineligible for Access to Work

 and 

  • Have an immediate need for support, for example, a resit examination is approaching or you have fewer than twelve months of training time remaining

As with deanery-funded neurodiversity assessments, specialist neurodiversity coaching can only be funded by the deanery where there is an impact to the PGDiT's training progression. 

If you were assessed by Genius Within via the Professional Support Neurodiversity Assessment Pathway, an impact on training has already been provided and a neurodiversity coaching request can be submitted without any further evidence.

If you were assessed by Genius Within via the GP School Neurodiversity Assessment Pathway  or  you have a prior diagnosis from an appropriately qualified professional, there must have subsequently been an impact on your training progression for neurodiversity specialist coaching to be funded.

This impact must be described within the neurodiversity coaching request and therefore must be noticeable to/identified by your Educational Supervisor and/or Training Programme Director for the funding to be justified.

If you don't meet these criteria, please see our guidance below: What if I don't meet the criteria for deanery-funded coaching? 

How do I access deanery-funded neurodiversity coaching?

In the first instance, speak to your TPD about your circumstances and support needs. If you both agree that a neurodiversity coaching request is appropriate and you meet the eligibility criteria, you should both read the guidance and your TPD should follow the process to Request Neurodiversity Coaching.

Before they submit the request, your TPD must confirm that you have consented to the request being made. A copy of the submitted form will be emailed to you and your TPD for your reference.

PGDiTs cannot submit a request for deanery-funded coaching, the request must be submitted by your TPD.

 

Requests are reviewed by the Professional Support Team and we aim to action the request within five working days. Once approved, we will submit an email referral to our neurodiversity coaching provider, Genius Within, copied to you and your TPD for your reference. Genius Within will contact you directly to arrange your first session. 

If you have a pre-existing diagnosis of neurodivergence (rather than having been assessed through the deanery's pathway), your TPD should follow the same process of submitting a request form but you will need to provide diagnostic evidence to the Professional Support Team before a coaching referral can be made.

Please see our guidance on evidence below for further information.

How will you use my information?

The information provided in the Neurodiversity Coaching Request form will not be shared beyond the Professional Support Team. 

A copy of your request form and any subsequent correspondence will be saved in a secure Professional Support file that is only accessible to the Professional Support Team and these records are managed in accordance with NHS England's Records Management Policy and Privacy Notice. 

This information will be retained so that we have a reference of what support you have accessed in the past (in case of a second or subsequent self-referral) and to enable us to review the service that we provide. 

We may use the personal information provided to contact you in the future to ask how you are getting on and/or to request feedback on your experience of our service and the speciaist coaching.

We may record your neurotype for the purposes of evaluating access to and funding for specialist coaching. Any published analysis will never include personal identifying information and to assure anonymity, statistics will always be aggregated.

Remember

The Professional Support Service is  independent of your training programme.

Information you provide to us will not be shared with any of your educators, trainers or supervisors, it will remain confidential to the Professional Support Team. 

The only exception is if you explicitly request and consent to specific information being shared with a named individual.  

I have a prior diagnosis, what kind of evidence do I need to submit and what will you do with it?

Please remember that we fund general coaching that is accessible as standard to all PGDiTs in the region via the deanery’s coaching scheme. HM Treasury requires us to ensure we are spending public money responsibly and sustainably, so we need to be assured that additional spend on neurodiversity specialist coaching is justified. Because of this, we need to check that PGDiTs are eligible to receive this deanery-funded coaching which is why we require evidence from PGDiTs with a prior diagnosis. 

If applicable, we will request evidence from you after reviewing your coaching request form. Evidence does not necessarily need to be a full assessment report, if you don’t feel comfortable providing it. If preferred, you can just provide the pages that confirm the outcome and that it is your report.

Submitted documents will only be reviewed by the Professional Support Team and solely for the purposes of confirming your eligibility for funded coaching. If you provide explicit consent, we can save a copy of your evidence in a secure Professional Support file that is only accessible to the Professional Support Team, which may be a beneficial reference if you access future support from us for whatever reason. If you do not provide this consent, your evidence will be destroyed in accordance with NHS England's Privacy Notice. 

If you have any queries or concerns about providing evidence, please contact the Professional Support Team for advice and reassurance.

Who provides the deanery-funded coaching and how many sessions will I receive?

We commission neurodiversity specialist coaching from Genius Within, a specialist organisation whose coaches are specifically trained in supporting neurodivergent individuals in professional and workplace settings. Their expertise includes the clinical environment as they have much experience of coaching PGDiTs. Genius Within take a strengths-based approach and work with individuals across a wide range of neurotypes.

Where it is denery-funded, we will fund a maximum of eight hours of coaching. As standard, 4 x 2-hour sessions will be organised, but this can be reduced to 8 x 1-hour sessions by request. If you feel you would benefit from further coaching beyond this, additional sessions will need to be self-funded or funded via an Access to Work grant, by arrangement directly with the provider.

How are sessions delivered?

Sessions are delivered virtually, on a one-to-one basis with your allocated coach. You will need access to a laptop or computer and a stable internet connection. We encourage you to find a quiet, private space so that you feel comfortable discussing personal matters.

What happens at my first coaching session?

Your first session is typically used to establish your goals for coaching, explore your neurodivergent profile and how it affects you in your training and working environment, and begin to identify the areas you would like to focus on. If you have received a neurodiversity assessment report, it can be helpful to share this with your coach, as it may provide useful context. However, your lived experience and your own understanding of how you think and work are equally valuable starting points.

What happens if I need to cancel or rearrange a session?

We understand that working clinically can make scheduling unpredictable and that emergency scenarios can arrive. Wherever possible, please give the coaching provider at least two working days' notice if you are unable to attend a scheduled session.

Where a session is cancelled or postponed with less than two working days' notice, or where you do not attend, the deanery will remain chargeable for that session's cost. We will absorb the cost of one cancelled session without it affecting your overall funding allocation.

If Genius Within notify us of a last minute cancellation, we will contact you to identify why you were unable to attend your session and will notify your referring TPD.

Please be aware

If a second session is cancelled at short notice, or you are again unable to attend, the cost will be deducted from your overall funding and will reduce the number of coaching hours available to you.

What if I don't meet the criteria for deanery-funded coaching?

If you don’t currently meet the criteria for deanery-funded neurodiversity specialist coaching, the following options may be helpful:

  • If you are eligible to apply, an Access to Work grant may fund neurodiversity specialist coaching and you don’t need an assessment or diagnosis to apply. More information is available on our Reasonable Adjustments and Practical Support webpage.
  • Our deanery coaching scheme offers up to six sessions with a trained coach, at no cost to you. This number of sessions can be extended, where requested and appropriate. Whilst our coaches have undertaken neurodiversity training, including workshops focused on specific approaches to coaching neurodivergent individuals, they aren't qualified specialists in this area. However, all our trained coaches are current or past postgraduate educators, have a thorough understanding of your clinical and training context and many have experience of both  supporting neurodivergent PGDiTs and supporting neurotypical PGDiTs who experience similar challenges to those of individual neurotypes, including but not limited to organisation, prioritisation and interpersonal skills.
  • Our Professional Skills Courses cover a range of topics that many neurodivergent PGDiTs find helpful, including time management, communication and self-advocacy.
  • Our Neurodiversity and Me eLearning resource, available via our Educational and Supportive Resources pages, provides self-paced support to help you understand your neurotype and develop positive strategies.

I have further questions. Who can I contact?

If you have any questions about neurodiversity specialist coaching or broader neurodiversity support options, please contact the Professional Support Team.

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