About AfterBurn Coaching
My Story
I’m Anna, Founder of AfterBurn Coaching.
Created following my own experience of burnout and late neurodivergent discovery, when many things in my life suddenly began to make sense.
My own late diagnosis of combined ADHD changed how I understood much of my life, helping me notice patterns that weren’t working for me and find ways to better protect my neurodivergent brain.
Like many women, I had spent years moving between high achievement, masking, and building a career, often followed by periods of exhaustion and mental overload, alongside a quiet sense that I was working harder than everyone else just to keep up and feel belonging, without really knowing why.
Burnout was not unfamiliar to me. With a highly academic background and a pattern of success followed by depletion, these cycles had been present for many years. Training as a psychiatric nurse in the 1990s was one early point where this became visible, yet I continued to move forward, achieve, and adapt without fully understanding why the same patterns kept returning.
It wasn’t until my most significant burnout, alongside my diagnosis, that things began to make sense. Experiences I had carried for years suddenly had context, and patterns I had pushed through without explanation became understandable.
The understanding, reinterpreting, and beginning to rediscover myself as a qualified coach led to AfterBurn Coaching.
My Experience
I am a highly experienced qualified coach, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and a neurodiversity awareness facilitator.
I have coached many neurodivergent individuals, supporting them to make sense of their experiences, understand their strengths, and move forward with greater confidence and clarity.
Alongside my own personal experience, I have over 25 years working in senior people development roles, including leadership development, early careers, and inclusive cultural change, often within in complex organisational environments.
I also work with a local autistic charity supporting autistic children and young adults, keeping me closely connected to the realities of neurodivergence beyond theory or professional roles.
My personal neurodivergent diagnosis has been incredibly positive and life changing.
For the first time, I was able to protect my energy, be true to myself, and build genuine, trusting relationships with clear boundaries.
Who I Work With
I work with women navigating late neurodivergent discovery.
Women are still less likely to be recognised, often presenting in quieter or more internalised ways. Many reach adulthood without fully understanding themselves, only later beginning to question long-standing patterns around work, confidence, energy, and identity.
While I primarily work with neurodivergent women, I welcome conversations with anyone who feels this work resonates.
Individuals
Coaching programmes for
late-identified neurodivergent women:
Spark Individual Coaching
Ignite group programme
Organisations
In-house Ignite Group Programme, or integration within women’s leadership development initiatives
SEN Parents & Carers
SEN Parent & Carer Circle for connection, shared understanding, and facilitated support
Working Together
My approach is empathetic, thoughtful, professional and clear.
I listen carefully, using coaching to provide you with a safe space, to see things from a different perspective, without judgement or pressure to be someone you are not.
People often arrive with reflections, patterns they are noticing, or a growing awareness that something needs to change. Coaching offers the opportunity to talk this through honestly, understand yourself more clearly, and consider what moving forward could look like in a way that feels right for you.
Your neurodivergent discovery is individual to you...
Be kind to yourself.
A complimentary 15-minute introductory conversation to explore whether working together feels right
"Anna is absolutely fantastic at what she does, and she’s also one of the most genuine and empathetic people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing"
Financial Services Consultant