Rachel Westerbeek

Contact: rachel@rachelwesterbeek.com

I specialise in providing safe and effective coaching and mentoring for neurodivergent thinkers, primarily working with recently diagnosed and self-identified Autistic and/ or ADHD adults to help them understand themselves, and enable them to better align their work and personal lives with this new understanding of self.

Recognising our neurodivergent strengths

Being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world brings many challenges, but we also have many strengths. My aim for our sessions is to support you to identify your own unique strengths as well as your needs … we often don’t see what we’re good at and how we can use these strengths to support ourselves to live and work well.

Developing self-advocacy

If we’ve had a lifetime of our needs being ignored, or we haven’t had good neurodivergent role models, we often find it difficult to identify what we need and articulate it to others. This often leads to masking, hiding our true selves and our needs, which is exhausting. Coaching is a space where we can explore how we can do this in ways that feel authentic and honest, and ultimately help us to build a more sustainable way of life for ourselves.

What happens in coaching and mentoring?

They are conversations where I provide you with the time, space, and support to talk about your challenges and identify what you might want to do differently to get better outcomes. It’s a series of problem-solving conversations where you have the chance to explore how things are for you and how you want them to be. We’re all unique and solve our problems in different ways, so I won’t give you the answers; I will support you to develop a better understanding of yourself and situations so you can make the right choices for you.

A blended coaching and mentoring approach

In ‘pure’ coaching, the coach does not bring their own experiences into the conversation, they hold the space for the coachee to explore their own thinking and solve their own problems without suggestions. Mentoring is very similar to coaching, but the mentor may share their own knowledge and experiences to support learning. When I’m coaching for neurodivergence, I often find a blended approach of coaching and mentoring is effective. Coachees who are late identified/ diagnosed often find it helpful for me to share my lived and learned understanding of Autism and/ or ADHD to help them normalise their own experiences, move towards self-acceptance, and develop a sense of identity that includes this new knowledge about themselves. We will discuss this at the start to understand whether ‘pure’ coaching or a blended coaching-mentoring approach offers the best support for you.

Person centred coaching

I am a person-centred coach which means I don’t have a set structure, programme of coaching, or way of working with my coachees. We discuss what you want to work on and how you prefer to work during an initial Exploratory Call, and use this to develop a plan for our sessions together. It’s quite common for a coachee’s goals to shift during the coaching and we’ll include regular reviews to check that you are getting what you want from your sessions. It’s important to me that we focus on what is of most value for your learning and growth, and what you want and need may shift as you gain insights about yourself during our work together.

Neurodivergent safety

In my experience, effectiveness comes from creating a safe coaching relationship with a balance of support and challenge. We often have a history of our neurodivergent experiences and needs being dismissed or invalidated and my aim is to create a space of acceptance and non-judgement where you feel able to unmask, be yourself, and explore how thing really are for you. When we feel safe to talk openly about the world and our challenges as we experience them, we are able to look at our situation from different perspectives and explore what we might want to do differently.

My experience and qualifications

Following a 17-year career in Higher Education, I now work independently as a coach, mentor, and trainer with a specialism in neurodiversity. My experience and qualifications are supported by lived experience of Autism, ADHD, and Epilepsy. I have over 10 years and 500+ hours of coaching experience, delivered across a range of organisations in the public and private sectors. I am a Professional Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, and Co-lead their Neurodiversity Special Interest Group.

My qualifications include: Level 7 Certificates in Executive Coaching & Mentoring (2021), and in Coaching for Organisational Performance (2015); a PGCert in Autism (2023); and a Mental Health First Aid Certificate (2022). I am currently completing my Specialist ADHD Coach Certificate with GoldMind Academy.

Next steps:

For more information or to arrange an Exploratory Call please email: rachel@rachelwesterbeek.com

An Exploratory Call is a short conversation via Zoom, MS Teams, or phone. It is a chance for you to get to know me and my approach to coaching, and for me to get to know you andunderstand a bit about what you want from the coaching/ mentoring relationship. If we both think/ feel the relationship is a good fit and you’d like to go ahead, we can also discuss next steps. There is no fee for the session, and no obligation to book further sessions with me.

Session fees:

All fees are for virtual sessions (via Zoom, MS Teams, or phone). If you would like to discuss options for face-to-face coaching, please contact me. My standard rate for self-funding individuals and Access to Work coaching is £140 per hour. To make coaching as accessible as possible, I also offer a limited number of places on a sliding scale based on income, with a minimum charge of £60 per hour.

Quotes for corporate packages are available on request.

Services Offered

Exploring possibility of Autism YES
Post-diagnostic support YES
Parents of autistic children NO
Autistic parents NO
Couples work NO
Young People 16–18 year olds NO
Adults YES
Employment YES
Dating Support NO
Anxiety and Depression YES
(will work with people who have anxiety/ depression but don’t coach for it)