Active Minds Coaching

Active Minds Coaching Neuroaffirmative Supervisor
AuDHD Coach | ADHD Coach | Clinical Hypnotherapist

I work with people who think differently.

A space for honesty, reflection, less masking, and finding ways of living and working that feel true to you.

If your thoughts were a choice, you’d have chosen better ones by now.Around 90–95% of people experience intrusive though...
14/04/2026

If your thoughts were a choice, you’d have chosen better ones by now.

Around 90–95% of people experience intrusive thoughts. Unwanted, random, sometimes uncomfortable thoughts that just appear. That’s being human, not failing.

This is why I struggle with “just think positive”. It can slip into toxic positivity and leave people feeling like they’re the problem if they’re not calm or thriving. That’s not how the brain works.

And as practitioners, we need to be mindful too. When we focus on controlling thoughts, we can unintentionally reinforce the very patterns people are stuck in, especially with rumination or OCD.

An active mind is not a quiet mind. It’s busy, creative and sometimes chaotic. And with ADHD, that can turn into loops that feel hard to step out of.

So instead of fighting the thought, get curious.

Notice it.
Notice how you feel.
Ask yourself, what am I getting from staying in this loop?

Then name it:

“I’m in this loop because I’m seeking reassurance.”
“I’m in this loop because I’m trying to feel in control.”
“I’m in this loop because I want certainty.”
“I’m in this loop because this feels familiar.”
“I’m in this loop because I’m trying to prevent something going wrong.”
“I’m in this loop because I don’t trust the decision I made.”

It’s not the thought that’s the problem, it’s the relationship we build with it.

That’s the work I do every day, helping active minds step out of the loop, get curious, and find clarity 👉 www.activemindscoaching.co.uk

The kids are going back to school tomorrow so why am I feeling anxious?I feel like I’ve had a glorious two weeks just en...
12/04/2026

The kids are going back to school tomorrow so why am I feeling anxious?

I feel like I’ve had a glorious two weeks just enjoying my kids’ company.

And now school starts again and I feel prickly.

Before my ADHD diagnosis I would’ve just felt off and not really understood why.

Now I do. I see what’s causing this

👉 change to routine
👉 additional demands

My anxiety is about an 8/10 right now. I can really feel it.

I’m trying to prep for the week ahead. I’ve got new clients starting and I’m building a new package combining hypnotherapy with AuDHD coaching but my mind is racing:

👉 what if I’m late
👉 what if I forget something
👉 what if one of the kids has a meltdown
👉what if I can’t make my first appointment

And yes all of these things could happen.

But this is what an active mind does it tries to think of everything all at once.
Without understanding that, I’d be climbing the walls right now.

So yes, the kids might be feeling anxious about going back to school. But us mums and dads, hold so much of the family load, this hits us too.

If you’re feeling this as well, you’re not on your own. I’m feeling it to!

And if you need a space to talk things through, I offer free intro calls no pressure, just a chat over a cuppa ☕
👉link in bio
💡What are you spiralling about right now?

I always thought I was just good with people. Turns out, I was masking.I mirror people, match their pace, even pick up a...
06/04/2026

I always thought I was just good with people. Turns out, I was masking.

I mirror people, match their pace, even pick up accents. I thought it meant I was sociable, and to be fair, it got me through life. But it comes at a cost. It’s exhausting.

I used to leave social situations feeling off. A bit prickly, disconnected. I thought it was other people not being real. But it was me.

What I didn’t realise is that masking isn’t just a social skill. It’s constant mental effort. You’re monitoring, adjusting, filtering all the time. Research now links masking in neurodivergent people to burnout, anxiety and emotional exhaustion. And that makes sense, because it’s not just doing too much, it’s being someone you’re not for too long.

The biggest shock for me is that recently I only noticed this about myself even though I support clients with this all the time. Awareness really does come in layers.

For me, masking was self preservation. It made sense. It kept me safe. Now I’m learning to notice it, not judge it or force it away, but gently come back to myself.

Always a work in progress 🤍
Hull et al. (2017)
Cage & Troxell-Whitman (2019)
Livingstone et al. (2020)
ADHDburnout

Towards the end of my hypnotherapy training, I was very uncomfortable. They had saved the OCD module until the end. I re...
30/03/2026

Towards the end of my hypnotherapy training, I was very uncomfortable. They had saved the OCD module until the end. I realised I didn’t understand OCD.

We watched a BBC clip. Three people living with OCD — hoarding, contamination, sexual themes. It was life-consuming. People in the room were trying to make sense of it, especially because one partner was actively colluding with the OCD.

And I remember thinking: I’m living this. But no one could see it. And I didn’t even know it was OCD.

I’d always thought OCD was something you see. But no one had ever spoken about Pure O — where it’s all internal.

For me it looked like:
• going over things again and again
• trying to work it out
• checking how I felt
• cancelling thoughts out with other thoughts
• needing to feel certain

It didn’t feel like a choice. It felt urgent. And if you’re AuDHD, that kind of thinking can feel normal anyway.

Solution focused work is powerful. I still believe that. But with OCD, something didn’t sit right. Because it’s not just the anxiety, it’s what happens after the thought. And when that’s all happening in your head who even sees it?

I started noticing things that felt off:
👉 Trying to feel better quickly can become reassurance
👉 Reassurance feeds the loop
👉 Trying to solve the anxiety can actually be avoiding it

OCD goes after what matters most. Your values. The things you love. It can make you feel like the opposite of who you really are. It’s exhausting.

So I had to ask myself: how do I support OCD without feeding it?

It’s in that tiny pause that moment right before I go to check, analyse, or try to work it out one more time.

That split second where my brain says: “I can’t — fix it. Now”

That’s where the shift is. Not stopping the thought. Not getting rid of the feeling. Just not automatically following it.

If OCD has never quite fit how it’s usually described you’re not imagining it.

Stop asking what’s wrong with me. Start asking how much I’ve been carrying.Autistic burnout doesn’t just slow me down, i...
23/03/2026

Stop asking what’s wrong with me. Start asking how much I’ve been carrying.

Autistic burnout doesn’t just slow me down, it stops me. Everything just stops because my body just can’t.

“Why don’t you take a wash, what have you eaten today, have you seen the state of your home, why can’t you just go out”.

And then people look at me like i’ve lost it, like I’m weird, like i’m not even human. I am a human who feels deeply. I feel everything. It hurts.

My intelligence hasn’t gone anywhere. I know what needs to be done, but my body just won’t do it.

Being told what I should be doing when my body literally can’t. It hurt’s. I cry.

I don’t need pressure. I need understanding. I need space to recover my mind, my body, my spirit.

Because right now I feel disconnected and I’m trying to find my way back. My path back is within me. I do have the awareness and I’m rediscovering my own pathway back.

Love, compassion and understanding that’s what I need. Because my inner critic already knows the shame.

One of the most powerful things anyone ever said about parenting wasn’t said to me.It was said to my mum.She had three y...
15/03/2026

One of the most powerful things anyone ever said about parenting wasn’t said to me.

It was said to my mum.

She had three young children close in age. My dad worked away. She was exhausted.

One of my brothers was incredibly hyperactive and when the three of us were together… we were on.

She was often the mum kept behind after class for the quiet conversation.

One day in Kwik Save, when we were running wild and my mum looked worn out, an elderly lady reached out to my mum she said something she would carry with her forever:

“Enjoy them dear… they’re only borrowed.”

Years later I understood exactly what she meant. When my daughter’s health declined, everything changed. She went from a high achiever to completely burnt out.

Our whole family was exhausted.
And in the middle of all that fear and helplessness, I learnt the biggest lesson motherhood has ever taught me.

Let go of expectations.
Let go of outcomes.

Our children are not our projects.
They are not our plans.
They are human beings with their own story to write.

My role is simply to love her, stand beside her, and remind her she is never alone.

So this Mother’s Day I’m holding onto the words my mum once heard:
“Enjoy them dear… they’re only borrowed.”
And I do. Every single day.

To every mum walking beside a child who is struggling Happy Mothers Day. 🤍

Our thoughts influence feelings, and feelings influence behaviour.Be a disrupter of your own mind. Shake things up a lit...
11/03/2026

Our thoughts influence feelings, and feelings influence behaviour.

Be a disrupter of your own mind. Shake things up a little and dare to think differently.

The course of your life might just change. Sharing this photo in support of a sister who showed up authentically as herself 💪✨🤍

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