Mark Allan - ADHD Coach/Author

Mark Allan is an experienced Job Coach, born in Beckenham, Kent. He began his career in recruitment in 2004, working for a prestigious agency in London for several years. Following a move to another part of the country, he was offered a position as an Employment Advisor. Throughout his career, Mark has empowered individuals to effectively find jobs and has organised numerous voluntary projects to benefit the communities he resides in.

For as long as Mark can remember, he has felt overwhelmed by crippling emotions that he struggled to regulate, difficulties in organising his life without support, exhaustion from completing basic tasks, and periods of depression and anxiety due to the symptoms of untreated ADHD.

It was during an impulsive decision to start his own recruitment company that he first noticed serious issues with his attention, emotions, and ability to manage life; he just knew something wasn’t right.

In 2021, it was confirmed that Mark had unknowingly lived with ADHD his entire fe. Upon receiving this diagnosis, everything he had experienced began to make sense.

Throughout his career, Mark had received praise from various managers for being ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ in his coaching methods. He realised that he had been teaching ADHD-friendly ways to find work—approaches that are quicker, help individuals stand out, and capture opportunities before they are advertised, thereby reducing competition. Mark's career successes speak for themselves.

His enthusiasm and passion for his work have led to numerous award nominations, including being highly commended in the 2020 Southwark Business Excellence Awards for Entrepreneur of the Year. In October 2021, he was a finalist for the Commitment to Employment Training award for a voluntary employment training programme he created. 

Mark was also highly commended at the 2021 Kent Mental Health and Well-Being Awards for a project aimed at combating loneliness and mental health issues in Maidstone. The sudden death of a close friend was a turning point; the same person who had founded an organisation to address loneliness and mental health became a victim of these very challenges. After much hard work and valuable lessons learned, Mark realised that untreated ADHD symptoms made it impossible to succeed alone, leading him to make the significant decision to prioritise his mental health and well-being.

Many adults living with ADHD receive limited support, often being prescribed medication without further assistance. Mark aims to share his invaluable job-searching knowledge, which has already helped thousands in the UK secure and sustain their desired jobs.

The ‘ADHD Job Coach: An A-Z Guide’ draws from his personal experiences to empower readers through practical strategies, insightful advice and a genuine understanding of the challenges they face. .

Mark resides in Kent, works for a London Hospital as an Employment Coach 4 days a week, offers private ADHD coaching Wednesdays, evenings and weekends and in his free time, he enjoys looking after dogs through Rover app, spending time outdoors and working on his second book, *Diaries of ADHD*, which offers a detailed account of his challenging journey to diagnosis, the devastating impact on his life and how he navigated his darkest days. Mark is hoping to highlight the desperate need for change but mainly to empower his tribe that if you have the right support and strategies, that you can reach your full potential and not end up feeling totally miserable, chronically overwhelmed and burnt out.