You told yourself you would look into this last month. Or maybe it was two months ago. The ADHD diagnosis made a lot of things click into place, and you knew coaching was the next step. So you sat down one evening, pulled up a search, and typed in something like "ADHD coach Cleveland." What came back was a handful of results mixed with therapists at Cleveland Clinic, counselors affiliated with University Hospitals, a few life coaches in Lakewood and Westlake who mention ADHD somewhere on their websites, and a couple of listings from Akron and the east side suburbs that somehow made it into the results. Some profiles sounded clinical. Others sounded vague. None of them gave you enough information to tell who actually specializes in ADHD coaching versus who added it as a bullet point to attract more clients.

Cleveland is not a city with hundreds of coaching options to sift through. It is a mid-size market where the specialized ADHD coaching pool is small, and the few options you do find all present themselves similarly. That creates a different kind of stress than living in a huge metro with too many choices. Here, you are looking at a limited number of people and trying to figure out if any of them are truly the right fit, knowing that if you commit to the wrong one, you are essentially starting over in a market that did not have many options to begin with. It is a gamble, and the stakes feel higher because of the scarcity.

This guide is designed to help you make that decision with confidence. It covers what ADHD coaching actually is, which credentials separate qualified specialists from generalists, how to evaluate methodology, what it costs, and how to navigate the search in Cleveland without letting it become another project that stalls out in your browser tabs.

What makes ADHD coaching different from therapy or psychiatry

Cleveland has one of the strongest healthcare ecosystems in the country. Cleveland Clinic is internationally recognized. University Hospitals and MetroHealth serve massive patient populations. Case Western Reserve University feeds research and clinical talent into the region. If you have ADHD, you are in a city where access to psychiatrists and therapists is better than in most mid-size metros. But that clinical strength can create confusion when you start looking for coaching, because coaching is a different thing entirely, and the lines between these types of support are not always clearly drawn in search results.

ADHD coaching is focused on the present and the future. It is a collaborative partnership where you and your coach develop practical strategies for managing the real, daily challenges that come with ADHD. That includes things like time management, prioritization, task initiation, and follow-through. A good ADHD coach works with how your brain actually functions instead of handing you systems designed for neurotypical people and expecting them to stick. Neurotypical is a term that simply means someone whose brain processes attention and executive function in the way considered standard or typical. Coaching is action-oriented. You identify what you want to accomplish, figure out what keeps getting in the way, and build personalized tools to address those specific barriers.

Therapy addresses the emotional and psychological layers underneath. A therapist helps you work through anxiety, depression (both of which frequently co-occur with ADHD), past experiences, and emotional patterns. Cleveland's pragmatic, hard-working culture has historically placed a premium on toughness and getting things done. Many adults with ADHD in this kind of environment carry years of frustration from pushing through problems they could not fully understand, blaming themselves for inconsistency, and never connecting the dots to ADHD until much later in life. Therapy is the right space for processing that weight. But therapy alone does not typically hand you the concrete, tactical systems for managing your workday or breaking the cycle of missed deadlines.

Psychiatry handles the medical side. A psychiatrist can formally diagnose ADHD, prescribe medication, and manage your treatment plan over time. If you are exploring whether medication might help or need an official evaluation, that is where to start on the clinical end. Cleveland Clinic's Center for Adult ADHD and the broader hospital network make psychiatric access more straightforward here than in many comparable cities.

These three types of support work together, not in competition. Many adults with ADHD benefit from a combination. You might see a psychiatrist for medication management, a therapist for processing the emotional weight of living undiagnosed for years, and a coach for building the daily systems that hold your professional and personal life together. In Ohio, therapy and psychiatry are often at least partially covered by insurance depending on your plan, while coaching generally is not. We will get into cost and workarounds later in this guide.

The essential thing to understand about coaching is that it is forward-looking and tactical. You are not unpacking your past. You are building a concrete plan for how to manage your energy, stay on top of projects, and follow through on the things that matter to you.

What credentials should an ADHD coach actually have

Before you evaluate a single coach profile, there is one critical fact you need to know: the title "ADHD coach" is completely unregulated. Ohio has no licensing requirement for coaching, no state board overseeing it, no required exam, and no minimum training hours. Anyone can set up a website, list ADHD coaching as a service, and start taking clients tomorrow. In a market like Cleveland, where the total number of people offering ADHD coaching is already small, that lack of regulation means the quality range among the few options you find could be enormous. And from the outside, a directory profile or website alone will not tell you who is genuinely qualified.

So how do you protect yourself?

PAAC certification is one of the most reliable signals you can look for. PAAC stands for the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches. Coaches who hold PAAC certification have completed rigorous ADHD-specific training programs, logged supervised coaching hours, and demonstrated genuine competency in working with ADHD-related challenges. This is not a weekend workshop or an online module you can finish in a few hours. It represents a serious, sustained investment in specialized education.

ICF credentials are another strong indicator. The ICF, or International Coaching Federation, is the most widely recognized credentialing body in the coaching profession overall. An ICF-credentialed coach has completed extensive training hours, accumulated a minimum number of client coaching hours, and passed a formal evaluation process. ICF credentials alone do not guarantee ADHD expertise, but when you see them combined with ADHD-specific training, you are looking at someone who takes their professional development seriously.

NBC-HWC certification is also worth knowing about. NBC-HWC stands for National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. This is a board certification that indicates training in evidence-based coaching techniques, and when paired with ADHD specialization, it adds another layer of verified competence.

Lived experience with ADHD can make a coach more intuitive and empathetic. Many excellent coaches have ADHD themselves and bring a personal understanding of the daily struggles their clients face. But lived experience without professional training and a structured methodology is not enough on its own. You want someone who brings both personal understanding and evidence-based frameworks to their practice.

Red flags to watch for:

• No specific credentials or training programs listed on their website

• The only stated qualification is personal experience with ADHD

• Promises of guaranteed results like eliminating procrastination or curing distractibility

• No mention of continuing education, supervision, or a defined coaching methodology

• A vague approach that sounds more like friendly conversation than structured support

Questions to ask any coach you are considering:

• What ADHD-specific training have you completed, and through which program?

• Are you certified through PAAC, ICF, or another recognized body?

• Do you receive regular supervision or participate in peer consultation?

• What methodology or framework guides your coaching sessions?

• How do you track and measure client progress over time?

• What does support between sessions look like?

A qualified coach will welcome every one of these questions. They have invested real time and money in building their expertise and will be glad to walk you through it. If someone gets evasive or defensive when you ask about their training, take that as a serious signal to move on.

Why does virtual coaching work well for ADHD in Cleveland

Cleveland sits on Lake Erie with a compact urban core surrounded by suburbs that stretch outward through Cuyahoga County and into neighboring counties. Coaches might be based in Ohio City, Shaker Heights, Beachwood, or Strongsville, and a search will pull in results from all of them alongside listings from Akron, about 40 minutes south. The RTA provides bus and rail service in the city, but coverage thins out quickly as you move into outer suburbs and surrounding communities. Most people are driving, and while Cleveland commutes average 25 to 30 minutes in normal conditions, lake-effect weather in winter can turn a routine trip into something far less predictable. None of this makes it impossible to see someone in person, but it does add friction to every single appointment.

Virtual coaching removes that friction entirely. You can work with your coach from your apartment in Tremont, your home office in Rocky River, your desk at a company in the Flats, or your kitchen table in Mentor. Sessions fit into the natural flow of your day instead of requiring extra time for a drive across the metro and back.

But the real advantage goes beyond convenience. When you are no longer limited to coaches who happen to practice within a reasonable drive, you can match based on what actually matters: their experience with your specific type of challenge, their coaching style, and their understanding of your industry or life stage. A coach who specializes in working with engineers managing executive function challenges in aerospace or advanced manufacturing might be a dramatically better fit than a generalist who happens to have an office near University Circle. Someone with deep experience supporting healthcare professionals dealing with ADHD in high-stakes clinical settings might be exactly what you need, even if that coach is based in a different state entirely.

Virtual coaching also helps with consistency, which is one of the hardest things to maintain when you have ADHD. Every logistical barrier becomes one more reason to reschedule or cancel. When your session is a video call you can take from wherever you happen to be, the friction drops. You show up more often. The coaching relationship builds momentum. Progress compounds over time instead of stalling out every time your schedule gets complicated or a January lake-effect storm makes driving feel like an unnecessary risk.

What does a strong ADHD coaching methodology look like

Methodology is the invisible difference between coaching that creates lasting change and coaching that feels like a pleasant conversation you forget about by the next morning. Two coaches can have similar websites, similar pricing, and similar bios, but their actual approaches might be completely different underneath the surface.

Evidence-based frameworks form the backbone of quality coaching. One widely used model is the COM-B framework, which breaks behavior change into three components: Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. Rather than giving you generic advice like "just use a planner" or "set more alarms," a coach using COM-B helps you identify whether a particular challenge stems from a skill gap (capability), an environmental barrier (opportunity), or a drive issue (motivation), and then addresses the actual root cause. Another evidence-based tool is implementation intentions, which are specific if/then plans designed to bridge the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it. Instead of "I will work on my report this week," an implementation intention sounds like "When I sit back down at my desk after my Monday morning meeting, I will open the project file and work on it for 25 minutes before checking email."

Structured sessions versus open conversation is one of the biggest dividing lines between quality coaching and everything else. In a structured approach, each session follows a framework. Your coach prepares. Goals carry forward from previous conversations. Progress is tracked over time. You are building on a foundation week after week rather than starting over each session with whatever happens to be top of mind. Open-ended conversation can feel supportive in the moment, but without structure, it rarely produces consistent behavior change.

Between-session support matters more than most people realize. ADHD does not pause between your weekly coaching calls. New habits are fragile. Motivation shifts constantly. Quality coaching includes some form of ongoing connection between sessions, whether that is messaging, quick accountability check-ins, or access to a supportive community. That continuity between calls is often what determines whether a new strategy actually sticks and becomes part of your routine or fades away within a few days.

Executive dysfunction-specific design is non-negotiable for ADHD coaching. Executive dysfunction refers to difficulties with the brain's management system: working memory, planning, task initiation, emotional regulation, and time awareness. Generic coaching techniques often assume a baseline level of executive function that people with ADHD do not consistently have. A methodology built specifically for ADHD accounts for these realities and designs systems around them rather than pretending they do not exist.

Peer community and shared learning add something that isolated one-on-one sessions cannot replicate. Connecting with other adults who face similar challenges creates accountability, normalizes the experience, and generates practical strategies you might not discover on your own. Hearing that someone in a similar professional situation found a particular approach helpful carries a different weight than hearing it from a coach alone.

Ongoing coach supervision is something most people never think to ask about, but it is a significant quality indicator. Coaches who practice in isolation with no external oversight can develop blind spots or drift into outdated methods over time. Regular supervision means a qualified professional is reviewing their work, providing feedback, and holding them accountable to a consistent standard of practice.

The frustrating reality is that none of these methodological differences are visible from a website or directory listing. Two profiles can look nearly identical while representing very different levels of rigor underneath. The only way to distinguish them is to ask the right questions during a consultation, and now you know what those questions are.

How much does ADHD coaching typically cost

Cost matters, and going in with clear expectations is better than being caught off guard after your first session.

Nationally, individual ADHD coaching sessions typically range from about $150 to $300 per session. Monthly coaching packages, which usually include regular sessions plus some level of between-session support, tend to fall between $300 and $600 per month. Those ranges vary based on the coach's experience, credentials, session length, and how much support is included between calls.

One advantage Cleveland has is affordability. The cost of living here runs about 10 to 15 percent below the national average, which means your dollar stretches further than it would in coastal metros. But that does not change the underlying economics of coaching quality. Coaches who have invested thousands of dollars in ADHD-specific training, ICF certification, supervised hours, and continuing education charge more because their overhead is higher and their expertise runs deeper. That does not mean the most expensive coach is automatically the best, but consistently choosing the lowest price point increases your odds of ending up with someone who has minimal specialized training.

Insurance generally does not cover ADHD coaching. Coaching is not classified as therapy or a medical service under most plans, and Ohio does not currently mandate coaching coverage.

FSA and HSA accounts can often be used for coaching. If your employer offers a Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account, ADHD coaching may qualify as an eligible expense. This lets you pay with pre-tax dollars, effectively reducing your real cost by 20 to 30 percent depending on your tax bracket. With major employers like Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Progressive, KeyBank, and Sherwin-Williams offering strong benefits packages, this is absolutely worth checking with your HR department.

When evaluating cost, it helps to weigh it against the cost of not getting support. Stalled career momentum because you cannot consistently deliver on projects. Strained relationships from forgotten commitments. The mental and emotional weight of feeling like you are underperforming despite knowing you are capable of more. Effective coaching pays for itself when it helps you show up reliably in the areas that matter most to you.

How do you find and evaluate coaches in Cleveland

With a solid understanding of what coaching is, which credentials matter, and what strong methodology looks like, the practical search can begin. Cleveland's specific situation creates a few distinct challenges worth knowing about before you start.

Where to look:

The PAAC directory (Professional Association of ADHD Coaches) is the most targeted starting point. Every coach listed there has met specific ADHD training requirements. The ICF directory is broader but useful for independently verifying credentials. CHADD, which stands for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, does not have a dedicated chapter in the Cleveland area. The nearest chapters are in the Columbus and Pittsburgh areas, so local in-person CHADD meetings are not readily available. However, CHADD offers virtual support groups and meetings nationwide via Zoom, which can be a valuable way to connect with the ADHD community and get firsthand coaching recommendations from people who have navigated a similar search. While CHADD does not provide coaching directly, those connections can point you toward qualified professionals.

The Cleveland-specific challenge:

Cleveland's coaching market is smaller than what you would find in a major metro like Columbus, Chicago, or New York. That sounds like it should simplify things, but it creates a different problem. Fewer coaches means fewer ADHD-specialized options, which means a higher chance that the results you find are generalists who list ADHD as one of many areas they work with. The city's strong healthcare reputation can add to the confusion because therapists and clinical psychologists show up in the same search results as coaches, and their services are not interchangeable. Directory searches will pull in results from across the metro, mixing credentialed ADHD coaching specialists with life coaches, wellness coaches, and productivity consultants who all use similar language on their profiles. In a market this size, there simply are not enough specialized options for the cream to rise to the top on its own.

The vetting process:

Once you have a shortlist, go beyond what their website says. Verify credentials independently through the PAAC and ICF directories. Schedule consultation calls, which most coaches offer for free or at a reduced rate. Use that conversation to ask the credential and methodology questions outlined earlier in this guide.

During a consultation, pay attention to:

• Whether they ask about your specific challenges or move straight into pitching a package

• How clearly they explain their methodology and coaching structure

• Whether they mention supervision, continuing education, or structured frameworks

• How natural and comfortable the conversation feels

• Whether pricing, session structure, and expectations are transparent from the start

When a match does not work out:

This happens more often than anyone talks about. You go through the whole search, commit to a coach, attend a few sessions, and realize the fit is off. Maybe their approach does not match how you process things. Maybe they lack depth in the specific area where you need the most help. And now you are back at the beginning. New search. New vetting calls. New financial risk. New decision fatigue. In a market like Cleveland, where the pool of specialized coaches is already small, restarting that search can feel nearly impossible. The options you already ruled out are still the same options, and you are left wondering if the right fit even exists locally.

Even with the right directories and a thoughtful approach, the full weight of research, vetting, and risk sits on your shoulders. That is a heavy lift for anyone, and it is an especially hard one when the executive function challenges you are trying to get help with are the exact same ones making sustained research feel exhausting.

Why a Shimmer ADHD coach might be the better option

Every frustration described above is exactly why Shimmer exists. We built it because we have been through that same draining search ourselves and knew there had to be a better way for people to get the support they actually need.

The vetting is done before you ever show up. Shimmer coaches go through a selection process with a 4% acceptance rate. Every coach holds ADHD-specific credentials, whether that is PAAC certification or equivalent specialized training. They are not just hired and left on their own. Shimmer coaches receive ongoing supervision and continuing education, which means their practice is consistently held to a high standard. The methodology is grounded in behavioral science frameworks designed specifically for how ADHD brains work, and it is consistent across the entire platform.

Matching is built into the system. Instead of spending weeks scrolling through a small pool of local directory listings and hoping for the best, Shimmer matches you with a coach based on your specific needs, preferences, and goals. If the match is not right, you switch. No awkward conversation. No penalty. No restarting the entire search from scratch. You match with someone new and keep building momentum. In a market like Cleveland, where local specialized options are limited, this removes the biggest barrier to finding quality ADHD coaching. You are no longer constrained by who happens to practice within driving distance.

The methodology extends beyond your weekly session. Shimmer's coaching approach is rooted in science-backed frameworks for behavior change and executive function support. Sessions are structured, goal-oriented, and connected from one to the next. But the support does not disappear between calls. Shimmer includes community access where you connect with other members working through similar challenges. That combination of expert one-on-one coaching and peer community creates a layer of accountability and shared learning that a single weekly session on its own cannot match.

The financial risk is minimal. Shimmer offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Pricing is transparent and published upfront, so you know exactly what you are committing to before you begin. Compare that to the traditional path where you might spend $300 on a first session with a coach you found through a directory, only to realize after two or three sessions that their approach does not work for your brain, and then face the prospect of spending more money to try again with someone else.

Virtual-first means all of Cleveland is covered equally. Whether you live in Ohio City, work at Cleveland Clinic on the east side, are based in a home office in Westlake, or split your time between Tremont and Beachwood, you get the same quality of coaching without geography being a factor. No navigating lake-effect weather for an appointment. No rearranging your afternoon around a cross-metro drive. Just consistent, expert support that fits into your life where it already is.

Shimmer's coaches work with professionals across the industries that define Cleveland's economy. Healthcare workers at Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and MetroHealth managing demanding schedules alongside their own executive function challenges. Engineers and technicians in aerospace and advanced manufacturing keeping track of detail-heavy, high-stakes work. Financial services professionals at Progressive, KeyBank, or one of the region's many firms dealing with sustained-attention demands. IT professionals navigating the growing tech sector. Researchers and students at Case Western Reserve University balancing academic pressures with ADHD. The matching process takes these differences into account so you work with someone who genuinely understands your professional and personal context.

Members consistently describe the difference as significant compared to previous coaching experiences. The structured methodology, the ongoing accountability between sessions, and the ability to switch coaches without friction combine to create something that works with ADHD instead of asking you to power through a broken process just to get help.

How do you get started with ADHD coaching

Taking the first step can feel like a big decision, and if you have been researching ADHD coaching for weeks or months without actually committing, you are in very good company. That pattern of extended research without action is one of the most common ADHD experiences, and there is a real irony in the fact that the challenges you need help with are the same ones making it hard to seek help in the first place.

Getting started is simpler than the research process makes it seem. You sign up, get matched with a coach, and have your first session. That initial conversation is about your coach getting to know you: your goals, your challenges, what you have tried before, and where you want to focus first. You do not need to arrive with a polished list of objectives or a detailed history of your ADHD experience. Your coach is trained to guide that conversation and help you figure out where to begin.

The first few sessions are about building a foundation. You and your coach will identify what matters most to you right now and start developing strategies tailored to how your brain works. Expect it to feel exploratory at first. You are testing approaches, finding out what sticks, and building trust with someone who is going to be in your corner consistently.

Set realistic expectations. Coaching is not an overnight fix. You will not leave your first session with every executive function challenge resolved. What you will have is a structured starting point, a knowledgeable partner who understands ADHD deeply, and a framework for making steady, compounding progress. Most members start noticing meaningful shifts within the first few weeks as new strategies take hold and small wins begin to build on each other.

If you have been going back and forth on this decision, consider that the search itself has probably already taken more time and energy than the first session ever will. You already know what you need. The next step is just letting someone qualified help you get there.