Aabida was newly diagnosed with autism and ADHD when she came to Autism Plus Specialist Employment Support in March 2024 but felt she didn’t really understand what this meant or how to recognise and manage her needs. Aabida’s sensory challenges made commuting to work incredibly stressful, and this impacted her anxiety levels and sleep, which in turn made her sensory issues worse. This was also made worse by the fact that the department would be moving buildings soon. As a result, Aabida was overwhelmed with stress and anxiety related to work, particularly since she’d been having major attendance issues since she got there.
In the 6 months before starting coaching she’d had 19 days absence for mental health reasons, which was well above the cut-off for formal investigation and monitoring according to standard organisational policy.
When exploring what stressors affected her in the mornings and during commutes, Aabida told her coach that she woke up feeling anxious in the mornings, it would send her into a panic and she end up needing to call in sick, though she felt guilty about putting strain on the team. They did a bit of digging and noticed a common pattern: this only happened when she was really tired. Aabida’s anxiety was normally somewhat manageable, but not when she was exhausted.
Together, Aabida and her coach came up with coping strategies, including back-up plans and alternative solutions to problems which enabled Aabida to independently self-manage her anxiety. This reassured Aabida and made her feel more empowered and confident. One solution Aabida tired was calling her manager on the morning she felt would of normally called in sick to arrange to start and finish her shift late, so that she could have a nap. Surprisingly, Aabida found this really worked, as a nap meant she was rested enough to go in later without it negatively affecting the team. This reduced the anxiety and guilt she felt about needing days off and so when she did need that time off, there was less pressure and distress to recover from.
Coaching also taught Aabida new ways to account for her needs and lean into her strengths so that she felt more confident and empowered on the days she was able to work, like using her passion for bright colours and gorgeous stationary to make her work more engaging, which boosted her motivation. When there was a medication shortage that autumn, these strategies became essential for managing the impact of unmedicated ADHD on her life and on her work.
Amazingly these strategies made a noticeable difference within a month. She went from 19 absences in the 8 months before starting coaching, to only having one in the 8 months after (to recover from running a marathon!). This massive 95% drop in absences halved her Bradford Factor score, a measure of sickness absence used in organisational absence policies.
