Annie Lachance, PCC coach in neurodivergence, autistic and ADHD
I am a PCC-certified professional coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a former social worker, and an autistic and ADHD woman. I help neurodivergent women better understand how they function and build a life that respects it. Online, wherever you are, in English or French.
My journey
For more than twenty years, I worked in helping relationships. First as a social worker, then as a mental health practitioner, a field I specialized in through continuing education, often in crisis intervention. Then in massage therapy, where the body became a central doorway into my work. Then in coaching.
I have also been an entrepreneur for fifteen years.
The 2022 turning point
Every neurodivergent person deserves to be met before being interpreted. What looks like resistance, slowness or a lack of motivation often has a meaning.
My work draws on three sources: current research on neurodiversity, more than twenty years of practice with people in distress, and my lived experience. None of them is enough on its own. It is where they meet that shapes the way I support people.
In practice, my support brings together:
- a neuro-inclusive and neuro-affirming stance, which sees your way of functioning as a different way of functioning, not as a flaw to correct;
- work with the body and the nervous system (BodyMind Method, embodied leadership, interoception), to bring what you feel back to the heart of your decisions;
- acceptance and commitment coaching, and other approaches adapted to neurodivergent brains;
- Human Design, only if it interests you, as one self-observation tool among others.
My accreditations
- PCC (Professional Certified Coach) with the ICF, and member of ICF Québec
- Bachelor’s degree in social work (Université du Québec en Outaouais), followed by specialized continuing education in mental health
- Practitioner listed in the ADHD Girls register of certified AuDHD practitioners
- Certified in the BodyMind Method
- Certified Human Design analyst, listed in the IHDS and Design Humain France registers
- Member of the Académie des naturopathes et naturothérapeutes du Canada (ACNN)
The people I work with
I mainly work with women and people assigned female at birth who are autistic, ADHD or AuDHD, often between 35 and 65, at the point where masking no longer holds. Diagnosed, going through an assessment or questioning: no diagnosis is needed. Many are entrepreneurs; many are not.
I also work with men and young adults, depending on the request. And I train helping professionals who want to meet neurodivergent people with more accuracy.
What I do today
- Les AuDAHcieuses, my 12-week group program for autistic and ADHD women
- Individual coaching, in English or French
- The Express Screening of autistic traits in women
- The Neuro-affirming Pathway, a 7-workshop training for helping professionals (ICF CCE accreditation in progress)
- The Les NeuroDivines podcast, three seasons of episodes on autism, ADHD and atypical entrepreneurship
- The Les NeuroDivines community, for atypical women entrepreneurs
- The collective book Au-delà des apparences, which I contributed to and whose 2nd edition I am coordinating
- In addition, Human Design readings, for those who want to explore this tool
I also give talks, including for ICF Québec, the Autism from the Inside summit and the BodyMind Coaching Community.
My vision
I believe it is possible to move forward differently, without over-adapting or burning out. That a life, or a business, can be gentle, sustainable and nourishing at the same time.
My mission is that you no longer have to translate yourself to be well supported. And that you stop measuring yourself against a model that was never built for you.
My approach is one thing. What speaks loudest are the journeys of the people I support.
If you recognize yourself here, I invite you to book a free 30-minute connection call. No commitment, no preparation.