ADHD Strategies: Understanding and Working with Procrastination - Nea Clark

We've all encountered moments in our work where, despite best efforts, progress with a client stalls. You offer support, strategies, and structure, yet action remains delayed. In this experiential and reflective workshop, I invite you to take a deeper look at the nature of procrastination and explore fresh approaches to help clients move forward.

This session is based on a chapter where I examined a range of procrastination types and tools, including Procrastination Hexagon based on procrastination scales, and a specialised ADHD Procrastination Matrix. These frameworks revealed surprising dimensions of procrastination that have proven effective in unlocking client movement in previously stuck situations.

Procrastination varies from person to person and is not the same for everyone. A client may procrastinate differently in academic tasks than in domestic routines like grocery shopping or doing the laundry. Understanding the type of procrastination at play is crucial. This workshop will guide you in asking the right kinds of questions to identify the specific flavour of procrastination your client is experiencing, rather than relying solely on your professional intuition.

Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event

• Participants will learn how to use the Procrastination Hexagon as a coaching framework to help clients identify their dominant procrastination style and uncover underlying emotional or cognitive drivers. including the General Procrastination Scale (GPS), Decisional Procrastination Scale (DPS), Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS), Active Procrastination Scale (APS), and the Pure and Irrational Procrastination Scales (PPS & IPS). These can be valuable for framing your inquiries and tracking change over time. Participants will be able to identify and differentiate between six core types of procrastination (Passive, Active, Functional, Dysfunctional, Decisional, Irrational) and understand how these patterns present uniquely in ADHD clients.
• We aim that the participants will be able to use a structured approach to identify the underlying reasons behind a client’s procrastination and select appropriate strategies based on that insight. Rather than assuming a single cause, participants will learn to explore the many emotional, cognitive, and behavioural factors that can contribute to procrastination, including shame, overwhelm, perfectionism, fear of failure, or attentional challenges.
• A core tool introduced in this workshop is the Five WHYs method, originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and adapted here for therapeutic use. This iterative, root cause analysis technique helps practitioners uncover the deeper ‘why’ behind a client’s avoidance patterns. When used thoughtfully and compassionately, it can reveal key internal drivers that are often obscured by surface-level behaviours.
• This process is the foundation for tailoring the treatment plan, choosing the right intervention based on what’s uncovered. Alongside the Five WHYs, participants will work with reflective inquiry and procrastination mapping to guide clients toward greater self-understanding and behavioural change. The goal is to equip practitioners with tools that are both insightful and actionable, supporting clients in moving forward with clarity, confidence, and care.
• We aim to develop the ability to create a tailored treatment plan for clients experiencing procrastination, rooted in emotional understanding rather than behavioural assumptions. Using insights from the emotional roots of procrastination, particularly shame, guilt, and self-worth, practitioners will learn to assess not just what the client is avoiding, but why they are avoiding it. Participants will be guided in recognising shame-based thought patterns, emotional triggers, and somatic cues that sustain the avoidance cycle.
• With this awareness, participants will be able to select interventions that target the root cause, such as self-compassion practices for clients prone to shame, cognitive reframing for those dealing with guilt, and somatic grounding for clients overwhelmed by anxiety. The emphasis will be on developing flexible, client-led strategies that reduce emotional reactivity, restore agency, and support lasting change, guiding clients from stagnation towards action with kindness, clarity, and confidence.

Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?

• This workshop is designed for psychotherapists, counsellors, life coaches, ADHD-diagnosed individuals, mental health professionals, teachers, and educators who work with or support people with ADHD and emotional dysregulation.

How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?

• This workshop will enhance practitioners’ ability to understand and address procrastination as an emotionally driven behaviour rather than simply a time-management issue. By learning tools like the Five WHYs, reflective inquiry, and procrastination mapping, practitioners will be able to identify the root causes of procrastination, such as shame, fear of failure, or self-doubt and respond with targeted, compassionate interventions. This approach promotes greater emotional insight, reduces client shame, and fosters sustainable behaviour change. Practitioners will leave with practical strategies to apply immediately in their sessions, leading to deeper client engagement, improved outcomes, and more confident, emotionally attuned therapeutic or coaching practice.

RECORDING 

This event will be recorded and you can use the ticket function to pre-purchase the recording before the event. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.

ZOOM 

This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.

SELF-SELECT FEE

The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.

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Nea Clark

Nea is an experienced PTSTA psychotherapist, author, supervisor, NLP practitioner, and ADHD coach with a passion for supporting Neurodivergent individuals. She works with trainees across multiple institutes, offering dedicated guidance to help them navigate their professional development. Based in Leeds, United Kingdom, Nea provides a wide range of services, including face-to-face and online supervision, group supervision sessions, and regularly hosts webinars and seminars to share her expertise.

Specialising in Neurodiversity, Nea primarily focuses on working with clients and supervisees with ADHD and Dyslexia. She has built a reputation for her thoughtful, client-centred approach that empowers individuals to embrace their unique strengths while addressing challenges. Her commitment to this field led her to develop a comprehensive therapeutic treatment plan and training program specifically designed for working with ADHD clients.

In September 2024, Nea's innovative book, Travel into the ADHD Mind: How to Work with ADHD Clients, was published. It offers valuable insights and practical tools for therapists and professionals seeking to enhance their support for individuals with ADHD. Nea is dedicated to fostering understanding and advancing effective practices in the field of Neurodiversity, making a meaningful impact on both clients and professionals alike.

Website | www.neaclark.com

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