Sanctuum ADHD Coaching: Certified ADHD Coach in Newport Beach and Virtual Worldwide

Sanctuum is a strengths-first ADHD coaching practice founded by Carli Derifield, a certified ADHD and Executive Function Coach. Coaching is built around your neurobiology, not around generic productivity advice. Sessions are available in person in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, and virtually worldwide for clients in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand.

Who Sanctuum Coaches

Sanctuum works with high-performing adults with ADHD: entrepreneurs and founders, executives, creatives and innovators, twice-exceptional (2e) students and adults, parents, couples, and women diagnosed with ADHD later in life. Carli is a late-diagnosed ADHDer and serial entrepreneur with an Inc. 5000 track record, so she brings lived experience as well as professional training to every session.

Coaching Services

How Sanctuum ADHD Coaching Works

Every engagement begins with a free discovery call. We talk about where you are today, what feels hard, and what you want your life and work to look like. If coaching is the right fit, we choose a package that matches your goals, from a single strategy session to a twelve week coaching engagement. Before the first session you complete a short intake so your coach understands your history, strengths and challenges.

Sessions focus on one thing at a time. You bring what matters most that week, and together we look at what your brain needs to move forward. You leave each session with a small number of clear, realistic actions. Between sessions you have access to a private client portal with session notes, resources, recommended reading and secure messaging, so support continues beyond the call.

What Makes Sanctuum Different

Most productivity advice is written for brains that do not have ADHD. Sanctuum starts from how your nervous system actually works. Our NeuroRegulation approach helps you notice when you are dysregulated, understand what is driving it, and return to a calm, focused state before you try to plan or perform. Strategies are built around your interest, energy and motivation patterns rather than willpower or discipline.

Coaching is strengths based. Many clients complete the VIA Character Strengths survey, and their signature strengths become a foundation for the systems we build. The goal is not to fix you. The goal is to help you understand yourself, reduce shame, and create a way of working and living that fits who you already are.

Common Reasons Clients Reach Out

Clients often come to Sanctuum after years of feeling capable but exhausted. Some were recently diagnosed and want to understand what ADHD means for their career and relationships. Some are founders and executives whose old coping strategies stopped working as responsibility grew. Others are students who are gifted and struggling at the same time, parents who want to support a child while managing their own ADHD, or women who spent decades masking and are now facing burnout. Whatever the starting point, coaching offers a calm, practical space to rebuild clarity and confidence.

What Clients Often Notice

Over the course of coaching, clients commonly describe feeling less overwhelmed and more in control of their days. They start projects with less resistance, finish more of what they begin, and recover faster when plans fall apart. Many notice calmer reactions to criticism or rejection, clearer communication with partners and colleagues, and a kinder inner voice. Progress looks different for every person, and coaching moves at a pace that feels sustainable for your brain and your life.

Coaching does not replace therapy, medication or medical care. Many clients work with a coach alongside a therapist, psychiatrist or prescriber, and Sanctuum welcomes that collaboration so each part of your support works together.

Coaching Packages

Sanctuum offers a free discovery call, single coaching sessions for focused support on one challenge, and multi week coaching engagements for deeper, lasting change. Longer engagements include regular sessions, a personalised strategy plan, portal access to notes and resources, and messaging support between calls. Packages can be adjusted as your needs change, and every client begins with a conversation to make sure coaching is the right next step.

Free ADHD Resources

Alongside coaching, Sanctuum publishes free articles on ADHD neuroscience, late diagnosis, burnout recovery, emotional regulation, financial management and daily life skills. Visitors can also take the free adult ADHD self-assessment based on the ASRS-v1.1 screener to reflect on their experiences before speaking with a professional. These resources are written in plain language for adults, students, parents and professionals who want practical, research informed guidance.

Getting the Most From Coaching

Clients get the most from coaching when they come curious and honest about what is and is not working. There is no homework you can fail. If a strategy does not fit, that is useful information, and we adjust together. Small, consistent experiments lead to changes that last.

Where Sanctuum Coaches

Sanctuum currently coaches clients across Indonesia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, including California, Chicago, North Carolina, Florida and Texas. Local clients in Newport Beach, Irvine, Huntington Beach and the wider Orange County area can choose in-person sessions. International clients meet by secure video call at times that suit their time zone, with the same depth and personal attention as in-person coaching.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ADHD coaching and how is it different from therapy?

ADHD coaching is a forward-focused, practical partnership that helps you understand how your ADHD brain works and build real strategies around it. Therapy focuses on healing and psychological insight. Coaching focuses on where you want to go, what is getting in the way, and how to move forward. Many clients work with both a therapist and an ADHD coach at the same time.

What is NeuroRegulation?

NeuroRegulation is the Sanctuum whole-system approach to focus, energy and regulation for people with ADHD. Rather than treating symptoms in isolation, it looks at sleep, nutrition, movement, sensory input, environment and the nervous system to build sustainable self-regulation. It is a coaching methodology, not therapy, medication or clinical treatment.

How can I recover from ADHD burnout?

ADHD burnout recovery means restructuring routines, managing energy, putting effective self-regulation systems in place and building resistance to future burnout. Coaching helps you identify the patterns driving burnout and rebuild routines that work with your neurobiology.

Do I need a formal ADHD diagnosis to work with Sanctuum?

No. Many clients have a formal diagnosis, while others are self-identified, awaiting assessment, or simply know their brain works differently. A diagnosis does not change how we work together.

Is ADHD coaching available online?

Yes. Sanctuum offers virtual ADHD coaching worldwide by secure video call, scheduled flexibly across time zones. Virtual sessions are identical in quality and depth to in-person sessions in Newport Beach.

Does Sanctuum coach twice-exceptional (2e) students and adults?

Yes. Coaching for 2e individuals addresses the tension between giftedness and ADHD and builds strategies that honour both the strengths and the challenges. Carli is also the parent of 2e teenagers.

Does Sanctuum work with late-diagnosed women?

Yes. Sanctuum understands the challenges that follow a late ADHD diagnosis, including burnout, identity shifts, grief and rebuilding systems that finally fit.

How much does ADHD coaching cost?

Sanctuum offers coaching packages rather than one-off sessions. Pricing is discussed during your free discovery call, where we find the right fit for your needs and budget.

Does Sanctuum support medicated and unmedicated clients?

Yes. Sanctuum works with clients who are medicated, exploring medication or choosing a non-medicated path. Medication questions are outside the scope of coaching and are best discussed with a qualified psychiatrist or physician.

What does an ADHD coaching session look like?

Every session is client-led. You bring the topic, and together we explore what is going on, identify what your brain needs and build practical, personalised strategies. Sessions are 45 minutes by video call or in person in Newport Beach.

Who is Carli Derifield?

Carli is the founder of Sanctuum and a certified ADHD and Executive Function Coach trained through the ADD Coach Academy (ADDCA). She was diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood, spent years in corporate environments and built an Inc. 5000 company before founding Sanctuum. She has lived and worked in Ireland, across Europe, Australia and the United States.

What areas does ADHD coaching cover?

Coaching covers time management, emotional regulation and rejection sensitivity, executive function and working memory, processing a late diagnosis, career transitions, financial management, relationships and communication, nervous system regulation, sustainable habits, parenting children with ADHD, and recovery from masking and burnout.

Is ADHD coaching evidence-based?

Yes. ADHD coaching draws on neuroscience research, cognitive behavioural approaches and executive function theory. Sanctuum stays current with emerging ADHD research and translates it into practical guidance for clients.

What is the best way to assess ADHD in adults?

The best approach combines a validated screening tool, such as the free ASRS-v1.1 self-assessment on this site, with a comprehensive evaluation by a qualified professional. Coaching can help you prepare for and process a formal assessment.

Does insurance cover ADHD coaching?

ADHD coaching is generally not covered by health insurance because it is not a licensed clinical service. Some clients use professional development or wellness budgets, and pricing options are discussed on the free discovery call.

Does Sanctuum work with referring clinicians?

Yes. Therapists, counselors, prescribers and assessors refer clients to Sanctuum for practical, day to day ADHD support that complements clinical care. Referral details are on the For Professionals page.

How do I get started?

Book a free discovery call. If Sanctuum is the right fit, we agree on a coaching package and begin with an ADHD-friendly intake process.

Sanctuum provides ADHD coaching, not therapy, medical advice or clinical treatment. Coaching is not a substitute for licensed mental health services or medical care.

Sanctuum ADHD Coaching & Consulting