Read more about the grant, my reasons for creating it, what it entails and how to apply for it, below. As a grant recipient, you can benefit from education and coaching, even if you cannot afford to pay for it right now!
Can you pay for coaching? Then please do and forward this opportunity to someone who needs the added help. I offer sliding scale rates for those who cannot afford the full rates.
Want to apply right now? GO!
Access to the application form
Don’t hesitate! The application is only open until July 30th, 2022!
Access to education about neurodiversity and to help with our struggles is still too unevenly distributed!
As the founder of Brilliantly Diverse and co-founder of the Neurodiversity Education Academy, I, Saskia, was looking for a way to work with some clients in low-income situations. I truly believe everyone deserves a chance to benefit from what neuro-education and coaching have to offer. Especially neurodivergent people who may be struggling financially and are unable to afford the normal rates for training, coaching, or counseling, or the higher co-pay needed to access services in their area. And there are still people who cannot access normal services for fear of stigma and taboo. There is still way too much inequality in accessing diagnoses, neuro-education and help. I can’t diagnose anyone, but I can certainly offer education and coaching!
I was also looking for a way to pay tribute to the memory of my dear friend, Mikel Rijsdijk.
A Brilliantly Diverse person if ever I knew one, and – when he was feeling up to it – a master at holding space for difficult, deep conversations and emotions. He was broadly interested: in the sciences, the arts, and the humanities. He would love talking to various people about a wide range of subjects: fair working conditions, how fungi grow, what made a great movie, or how to live a life of authenticity. At the same time he loved his solitude, and having the space and time to create and make sense of things on his own.
He died of a brain tumor in 2018. This was just as I was making up my mind to jump in at the deep end. To explicitly expand my coaching practice to a neurodivergent client base. I wanted to go back to school, in order to offer the quality, and background knowledge I felt this work needed. He played a big part in me gathering up the courage to take that leap. I was terribly afraid of being more out about my own struggles and diagnosis. Yet at the same time, I felt I could not do this work properly without showing that vulnerability. The loss of Mikel showed me I had little time to waste.
Freeing two birds with one key….
So in 2020 I decided I wanted to create a coaching grant. I launched it in 2021. This grant allows me to serve both these wishes of mine: paying tribute to my friend AND contributing to more access and education for those in need. It offers the recipients free access to (neuro) education I considered vital to my success, with a select package of courses on the Neurodiversity Education Academy. It also offers a taste of what coaching can do for you. As an added bonus grant receivers can benefit from a significant discount on my one-on-one coaching packages. The grant will evolve in its format over time as I explore new ways of how best to serve the people I want to reach.
About me…
I decided to become a coach for this specific clientele after discovering that I tended to attract neurodivergent clients. At the time I was working on building a career around my passions. And I found a lot of clients also stuck in their jobs and eager to pursue new possibilities, but somehow not making much progress on their own. Coaching seemed to help them immensely!
A few years after that I got an ADHD diagnosis myself. I got a lot of benefits from coaching, and from therapy. Both helped me to unpack the secondary damage.
What is the secondary damage of not knowing you are neurodivergent?
Secondary damage is damage done by not knowing “what was wrong with me” that I could not function like everybody else. If we don’t know WHY things don’t work out, we tend to self-blame. And our confidence, our lives, and our relationships tend to suffer as a result. When we don’t know what is going on and WHY we don’t fit into the norm, our brain frantically searches for explanations. We can feel guilty, worthless, stupid, lazy or crazy for not being able to conform to society’s expectations. Even when we try our very best.
That does not mean you need a diagnosis to make your life better, even if the diagnosis is the turning point for some people. It does mean that these two things really help you tackle problems and build the life you desire…
1) being willing to look at the reality of what is going on in your life –without applying outsiders’ standards, for now
2) getting VERY honest and curious about what works and about what does not
Detaching from the norm
Applying these strategies is generally beneficial for people. But neurodivergent people may need a little more friendly help than most detaching from the “norms” that don’t apply to them, but that they have been trying to live by nonetheless.
Realizing this I decided that I would pursue a certified coaching specialism, focused on neurodiversity. Specifically, because want to become proficient at helping to unpack this secondary damage and help people take control of their lives again.
If you want to know even more you can read more about me and my methods elsewhere on the site.
What does the GRANT actually offer?
This grant for the 2022 edition consists of
- free access to certain paid courses and groups on the Neurodiversity Education Academy
- some free coaching sessions.
The courses
- Strengths-Based (self)coaching course– (value 550 euros) access from early October 2022
- 4 online group coaching sessions to go along with the Strengths-Based Course on October 10th and 24th , November 14th and December 12th 2022 at 20:30 CET (3 months, value 300 euros)
- Brilliantly Diverse Accountability group– 6 meetings (value 199 euros) starting in Jan 2022 once a month on Monday evenings in CET timezone (exact time t.b.d.)
- Access to the Brilliantly Diverse Slack group. Here you can interact with other clients being coached by me. Access from Sept 21st 2022- 21 st March 2023 (6 months, value 120 euros).
The coaching
In the period between Sept 26st 2022 and January 31st 2023 grant receivers can book a total of:
- 1 intake call (25 minutes) so we can get to know each other
- 3 longer (50 minutes) coaching sessions
- 3 shorter (25-minute) coaching sessions
to help you wherever you may get stuck applying these materials to your life (value 650 euros)*
Grant recipients will also be eligible for a one-time 20% off of any additional coaching packages. Valid in the six months after the grant is rewarded. These purchases are by no means mandatory!
*These coaching sessions are generally recorded for purposes of mentoring and credentialing of the coach, with your permission. All privacy safeguards remain in place as per ICF ethics code https://coachingfederation.org/ethics/code-of-ethics.
A BIG “Thank You! ” to my collaborators:
This grant has been made possible by the generous collaboration of the Neurodiversity Foundation – who consulted on its form and function and will hopefully help me reach many worthy applicants.
And the Neurodiversity Education Academy – which allowed me to offer some of my income-generating courses to grant recipients for free.
You can apply here:
Access to the application form
Don’t hesitate! The application is only open until July 30 th 2022!