Nope. ADHD is the loudest member of the EF-challenged club, but there are plenty of other card-carrying members. Trauma, depression, burnout, autism—they all mess with the same brain systems. If your internal to-do list looks like a Jackson Pollock painting, you're welcome here.
Your Brain is a Supercomputer Running 50 Programs at Once.
No wonder you walked into a room and forgot why. Four times. Today.
It's not a character flaw. It's a feature of a powerful, creative, and non-linear mind.
The challenge? You've been handed a keyboard with no labels and told to write a novel. It's an impossible ask—and nobody gave you the manual.
You're in the right place if:
- You've ever stood in a room, absolutely certain you walked in for something, but now have no idea what.
- Your life is a graveyard of abandoned hobbies that were your entire personality for three weeks.
- You have a task that will take 10 minutes, but you've been putting it off for 10 days because starting feels impossible.
- You can't find your keys, which are in your hand, while you're late for an appointment you forgot about.
- The phrase "some time later" in a movie feels like a personal attack on your time blindness.
- You've triple-checked whether you locked the door, but you still can't remember actually doing it.
If this is your reality, you're not broken. You're not lazy. You're dealing with executive function challenges—and yes, there is a better way to live.
It's Not a Moral Failing. It's a Daily, Invisible Grind.
For years, you've probably been blaming your character for what is actually a challenge with your brain's chemistry and wiring. The shame that comes from this is heavy, it's isolating, and it's absolute bulls*hit.
Let's get honest about what executive dysfunction actually looks like—because your experience is valid.
The "ADHD Tax"—the very real and infuriating financial cost of executive dysfunction. It's the money vaporized on late fees for bills you forgot to pay, produce rotting in the fridge because you forgot you bought it, and impulse purchases made in a desperate, fleeting search for dopamine.
The Wall of Awful—that paralyzing barrier that appears when you try to start a task. You know you can do it. Your brain's ignition switch just won't turn. So you stare at the thing, knowing you should start, and somehow hours pass.
Time Blindness—the maddening reality that time doesn't work for you like it does for other people. You genuinely believe you have two hours, only to look up and realize the entire afternoon has vanished.
And the constant, low-grade anxiety of knowing you're probably forgetting something important. You live in a state of hypervigilance, waiting for the other shoe to drop—because it always does.
Here's the truth: You have been trying to solve a complex, brain-based challenge with sheer willpower. That is a battle you will lose every time. It's not you. It's the strategy.
Let's Pop the Hood: A No-Bulls*hit Guide to Your Brain's CEO
The reason you struggle with these things has absolutely nothing to do with your intelligence or worth as a person. It has everything to do with a specific part of your brain and its go-to chemical fuel.
This isn't guesswork. It's neuroscience →
Meet Your Prefrontal Cortex: The Brain's (Chronically Overwhelmed) CEO
Think of the front part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), as the Chief Executive Officer of your life. This CEO is responsible for all the "boring but essential" stuff: planning, prioritizing, staying focused, managing time, and regulating emotions.
When you have executive function challenges, it's not because you're not trying. It's because your CEO is overworked, underfueled, and trying to manage a thousand things at once—with half the staff and no coffee.
Meet Your CEO's Fuel Source: Dopamine
Here's the kicker: your CEO only gets paid for tasks that are interesting, urgent, novel, or challenging. That payment is a crucial neurotransmitter called dopamine.
For a brain with executive function challenges, the dopamine system works differently. Boring, routine, or non-urgent tasks don't activate the reward system the same way. Your CEO literally can't get motivated to work on them—not because you're lazy, but because the fuel simply isn't there.
The Key Departments of Your Executive Team
"Executive dysfunction" is a uselessly broad term. The key is to identify which specific member of your mental management team is struggling:
- The COO (Task Initiation): The ignition switch. When this is weak, you feel that impossible-to-breach paralysis before starting.
- The Head of Logistics (Working Memory): Your brain's mental sticky note. When this is weak, you walk into rooms and forget why.
- The Head of Security (Impulse Control): The pause button before acting or speaking. When this is weak, you interrupt, overshare, or say things you regret.
- The Head of HR (Emotional Regulation): The volume dial on your emotions. When this is weak, your frustration goes from 0 to 60 in seconds.
- The Strategist (Planning & Prioritizing): Looking at 20 urgent tasks and deciding which one to tackle first. When this is weak, everything feels equally urgent (and impossible).
Your Guide on the Other Side of the Chaos
I'm Liz. And I have ADHD.
I've spent more money on late fees than I care to admit. I've started approximately 47 planners, each one abandoned by February. And I've stood in front of my own refrigerator, door open, wondering what I came for, more times than I can count. (Although, to be fair, counting isn't my strong suit.)
I learned to manage my executive function the expensive way—decades of trial and error before I understood what was actually happening in my brain. When I finally learned that my brain wasn't broken, it was just running different software, everything changed.
Now, as a Licensed Professional Counselor in St. Louis specializing in neurodivergent adults, I help people like us build systems that actually work for our wiring—not systems designed for brains that run one program at a time.
You Can't "Try Harder." You Have to Train Smarter.
When you understand that this is a brain-based, chemical challenge, it changes the entire game. It's the difference between blaming yourself for being a bad driver and realizing you've been trying to drive a car with no gas in the tank.
You can stop whipping yourself for a lack of willpower and start asking a much better question: How can I work with my brain instead of constantly fighting against it?
This is the core of executive function coaching. It's not about forcing you into a rigid system that doesn't fit. It's a practical, skills-based approach that respects your brain's unique wiring.
We Don't Just Talk. We Build.
Executive function coaching is not passive, talk-it-out therapy. It's an active, collaborative workshop where we roll up our sleeves and build the systems and skills you need.
1. First, We Map the Territory.
We start by getting a crystal-clear picture of your specific executive function profile. We identify your unique strengths (like creativity, pattern-recognition, or the ability to hyperfocus) and your biggest challenges.
2. Then, We Build Your External Brain.
We co-design a personalized "external brain"—a system of tools, apps, reminders, and structures that compensates for the areas where your internal CEO struggles.
3. Finally, We Practice the Skills.
Knowing what to do isn't the same as doing it. We actively work on change—finding strategies to climb the Wall of Awful, creating dopamine bridges for boring tasks, and building the reps until these skills become automatic.
Part of: The Therapy Hub →
Quick Answers
Because a planner only works if you remember to use it—and remembering is the problem. We don't just hand you another tool; we build systems that work around your specific challenges and help you create the habits to actually use them.
Therapy often focuses on why you feel the way you do. EF coaching focuses on how to get things done differently. We address practical, day-to-day strategies. That said, the two work beautifully together, and we can do both.
Only if that's useful for you. This is practical, skills-based work. We'll spend most of our time in the present, building systems that work for your life right now.
Most people see meaningful shifts within 4-8 sessions. Executive function coaching isn't designed to last forever—it's about building skills you can use independently. We'll work toward you not needing me anymore.
Home chaos is absolutely fair game. Meal planning, laundry systems, kid logistics, home maintenance—whatever area of your life feels like it's running you instead of the other way around.
Deeper Dives From The Library
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Therapy at Enlitens Isn't a Talk Show. It's a Workshop.
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Why Autism & ADHD Testing Costs $3,500 (And How to Pay)
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Executive Function-Affirming: Our Missed Appointment Policy
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ADOS-2 Has a 34% False Positive Rate: The Crisis
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How to Use Your Brain Guide to Change Your Life
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The AuDHD Experience: Gas Pedal and Brake at Once
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Affirming Autism Assessment for Your Teen
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Masking vs. Social Anxiety: A 2025 Study Draws the Line
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Your Brain's Unique Fingerprint: A WashU Study 2026
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You've Been Burned Before. Here's How We Prevent It.
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Trust Your Gut. Always. (Our "No Hard Feelings" Promise).
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You Weren't Resistant to Therapy. You Had Bad Therapy.
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The Biology of Anxiety: A 2025 Study Proves Its Real
A 2025 Nature Communications study proves anxiety has a measurable biological signature. Your brain chemistry is not a character flaw....
Bottom-Up Therapy: When You Can't Talk Out a Panic Attack
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The Chemical Imbalance Myth: How Marketing Failed Us
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Cognitive Walk Through
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We Don't Test You. We Collaborate With You.
A psychological assessment shouldn't be a cold interrogation. How collaborative assessment works — and why your 'wrong' answers are the most valuable data....
You're the Expert. We Have the Map. Let's Collaborate.
Your nervous system evaluates safety without conscious awareness. A hierarchical therapist triggers defense — not healing. We collaborate instead....
From Diagnosis to Accommodations: Your User Manual Guide
Post-diagnosis, individuals hit a 'support cliff.' This guide bridges from your diagnosis to the college and workplace accommodations you deserve....
You're Not a Checklist: A Team Approach for Complex Brains
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It's Not Imposter Syndrome. It's Neurological Data.
Dopamine signals prediction errors. Your brain allocates energy based on perceived reward — and corporate busywork generates zero signal....
Four Years in the ER: How Crisis Shaped Our Approach
Environments without psychological safety trigger fight-flight-freeze. My ER years forged a crisis approach built on co-regulation, not containment....
Default Mode Network
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Your Experience is Not Up for Debate.
Diagnostic invalidation is real. A guide for those terrified an assessment will deny their reality — your experience is never up for debate....
Double Empathy Problem
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Emotion Dysregulation as Biological Strength: 2025 Study
A study proves what survivors know: emotion dysregulation can be a biological adaptation to trauma — a strength, not a disorder. The science agrees....
Emotional Numbness Isn't Empty. It's a Power Outage.
Alexithymia creates a disconnect between high arousal and low self-reported experience. The numbness isn't absence of emotion — it's overload protection....
Empathy Slows Aging: A 2025 Study on Compassion
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Epigenetics & Trauma: You Can Rewrite Your Code
Epigenetic changes from trauma are self-sustaining — but neuroplasticity is lifelong. Your code can be rewritten. You are the software developer....
Your Brain's CEO is Burnt Out: Executive Dysfunction
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Executive Function at Home: A Parent's Guide
You hold it together all day, then come home paralyzed. This isn't a moral failing — it's executive function collapse. Here's why and what helps....
You Understand the "Why." Now You Need the "How."
You've done the deep work in therapy, but daily life is still chaos. You don't need more talk — you need a toolkit. Executive function coaching explained....
This Isn't About Your Mother. It's About Your Monday.
Tired of your week being a mess? This isn't therapy. It's a practical guide to building the systems and tools you need to get the job done. Just focus....
The Wall of Awful: Why You Can't Click the Button
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You Don't Need Another Planner. You Need a System.
Is your home a graveyard of empty planners and failed apps? You're not lazy — you're a scientist. The data is clear: neurotypical tools don't work for you....
Feeling Like a Failure? That Gut Feeling Is Data.
Interoception — your body's internal monitoring — is the physiological basis for emotion. That gut feeling isn't a moral verdict. It's neurological data....
If You're Looking for a Blank Slate, I'm Not Your Therapist.
Prediction errors drive learning and memory updating. A therapist who only echoes your patterns can never trigger the mismatch your brain needs to change....
Our Founder is a Therapist First.
Protecting clinician wellbeing reduces burnout and compassion fatigue. Our practice protects the therapist's nervous system to protect yours....
The Fit Check: You're the One Interviewing Us
Masking your symptoms to 'perform' for a therapist is the exact pattern that made you need therapy. Your only job on this call is to be yourself....
The 15-Minute Vibe Check: A No-BS Guide to the First Call.
Physiological synchrony between client and therapist predicts outcomes. The 'vibe check' isn't a gimmick — it's the most evidence-based first step....
Our Goal is to Work Ourselves Out of a Job.
Co-regulation precedes self-regulation. Therapy isn't a life sentence — it's the workshop where your young adult learns to self-regulate....
The Goal Isn't to Silence the Alarm. It's to Trust It.
Trauma restructures the brain to prioritize survival. The real goal isn't happiness — it's recalibrating your alarm system to trust yourself....
Healing When the Trauma Is Still Happening: A Guide
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Paying for Therapy Shouldn't Be Awkward. We Fixed It.
ADHD is an Executive Function Disorder. A context switch from vulnerability to payment depletes the regulation you spent an hour building....
How We Use The Brown Ef A Scales
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How We Use The Sensory Profile
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The Insurance Shell Game: Therapy vs Assessments
The single greatest barrier to diagnosis is the prohibitive financial cost. Your insurance company isn't broken — it's working exactly as designed....
Racism's Biological Footprint: Intergenerational Trauma
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Interoception Explained
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Is It ADHD or Just Being a Kid? A Parent's Guide
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This Isn't a Demolition. It's a Renovation.
A late ADHD or autism diagnosis after divorce isn't demolition. It's the missing blueprint explaining your survival — a guide to rebuilding....
Beyond the Rainbow Sticker: What "LGBTQIA+ Affirming" Actually Means.
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Why We Say 'LVL 99': A Nod to Mastery, Not a Joke.
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Memory Reconsolidation Therapy
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Let's Talk About Meds (Without the Bulls*hit).
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Why Your Therapist Should Have an Opinion: Our Approach
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Teaching Your Therapist? Find a Neuro-Affirming One
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Your Brain at 15 vs. 45: Neuro-Affirming Teen Care
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Burnout Partner Guide: In the Blast Radius
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This Isn't a Test. It's a Conversation Disguised as Play.
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Our Reports Aren't a Label. They Are a Lever.
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The Human Chameleon: Your Brain's Different Manual
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How to Talk About Your Brain in a Job Interview
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Masking & Burnout: Curating Your Story After Late Diagnosis
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You Are the Center: Healing Neurodivergent Relationships
Masking consequences are overwhelmingly negative. People-pleasing isn't kindness — it's a trauma response your nervous system learned. Untwist it....
You Don't Need Another Generalist. You Need a Specialist.
Diagnostic Overshadowing is rampant — autism missed as BPD, OCD, or anxiety. Your child's labels are receipts for a system that stopped looking too soon....
Neuroplasticity & Trauma: Building New Neural Roads
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Neuroscience Of Executive Function
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There Is No 'Normal' Brain. A New Study Just Proved It.
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My Kid, My Expertise: Why the System Fails Parents
A 2025 study confirms the system fails when it ignores parents. Research shows parental 'resistance' is historically significant — not difficult....
You Didn't Give Them Trauma. You Gave Them Tenacity.
Epigenetics proves genes are potential, not destiny. You didn't pass down trauma — you provided the biological buffer that changes their gene expression....
You're Not Overreacting. You're Paying Attention.
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Polyvagal Theory Explained
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Anatomy of a "Cash Grab": How to Spot a Predatory Assessment Practice.
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Your Brain Isn't a Puzzle — It's a Misread Map
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What a Real Brain User Manual Actually Looks Like
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The Rebellious Academic: Science Against a Broken System
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Why We Quote "Clerks" in a Therapy Session.
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You're Not Making Excuses. You're Revealing the Cost
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The Neurodivergent Hangover: A Sensory Processing Guide
Your nervous system has documented sensory gating differences. You can 'pass' in a loud world, but you pay for it later. The sensory hangover explained....
This Isn't a Life Sentence. It's a Boot Camp.
Coaching should make itself obsolete. A manifesto against endless therapy. Our coaching is a short-term boot camp to give you skills — not a life sentence....
We Don't Need to See Your Pay Stubs. We Trust You.
Neuroception detects safety subconsciously. Forcing you to 'prove' financial struggle is a neuroceptive threat triggering the shame you're healing....
Sliding Scale Therapy: Support You Deserve
Emotional safety is a non-negotiable prerequisite for healing. Financial transparency isn't a 'nice policy' — it's a clinical intervention....
Why Your Social Battery Dies So Fast: A Neuro Guide
Your social battery is real — a measure of finite cognitive resources drained by three neurological forces: sensory gating, masking, and hypervigilance....
Social Skills Training Alternative
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Yes, Bring Your Stuffed Animal to Therapy. Seriously.
Trauma healing requires 'bottom-up' approaches that regulate the body's physiology. Your comfort object isn't childish — it's clinical infrastructure....
The Superbill: Get Your Money Back from Insurance
The prohibitive cost is the greatest barrier to diagnosis. The superbill is your weapon to claw back the money the system owes you....
You Do Not Owe Us Your Trauma.
Forcing a trauma narrative before safety is established can strengthen fear pathways. You don't owe anyone your story. Our safety-first approach....
Talking to Kids About Therapy (Without the Weird)
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Teen Anxiety as Signal, Not Sickness: A Case Study
Masking is a 3-stage process with negative consequences. What if your teen's anxiety is the cost of camouflage, not a disorder? A deep dive case study....
Does Insurance Cover Telehealth? Let's Verify Together
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Assessments Built for Your Couch: Telehealth Guide
Terrified to turn on your camera? Don't clean up. Your 'chaos' is valuable clinical data, and telehealth assessment is accurate....
The Neuroscience Of The Aha
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Less Chaos. More Confidence.
Imagine actually leaving the house on time—not because you panicked, but because you had a system.
What would it feel like to start a task without that wall of dread rising in your chest?
Picture finishing a project and having energy left over for the people and things you love.
The goal of executive function coaching isn't to turn you into a productivity robot. It's to reduce the daily friction so your incredible mental energy can go toward the things that actually matter to you.
If you're ready to stop forcing and start strategizing, let's see if we're a good fit.
15 minutes. No pitch. No pressure. Just clarity.