You finally decided to look for an ADHD coach, and within about ten minutes you remembered why you have been putting it off. Kansas City is a metro area that technically spans two states, which means your search results are pulling in listings from the Missouri side, the Kansas side, Overland Park, Olathe, Independence, and a handful of suburbs in between. Some of those results are therapists who mention coaching on a secondary services page. Some are life coaches with a paragraph about ADHD wedged between offerings for weight loss and relationship advice. A few look genuinely specialized, but their websites all say roughly the same things and there is no obvious way to tell who actually knows what they are doing.

You have eight tabs open. You bookmarked two coaches last Tuesday and still have not called either one. The healthcare sector here is enormous, with University of Kansas Hospital and Children's Mercy right in the metro, so you would think finding specialized support would be straightforward. It is not. The size of the metro and the sheer variety of providers makes the search feel like its own project, and if you are dealing with ADHD, an unstructured research project with no clear endpoint is one of the hardest things to finish.

This guide walks through what ADHD coaching actually is, which credentials separate qualified coaches from everyone else, how to evaluate methodology, and how to make a decision you feel confident about without letting the process stall out indefinitely.

What makes ADHD coaching different from therapy or psychiatry

Kansas City has a strong healthcare infrastructure. Between the KU Medical Center, UMKC's health sciences programs, and the concentration of hospitals and clinics across the metro, clinical resources are relatively accessible compared to a lot of other cities. But that abundance of clinical options can actually make things more confusing when you are trying to figure out what kind of support you need for ADHD, because coaching, therapy, and psychiatry serve genuinely different purposes.

ADHD coaching is focused on the present and the future. It is a working partnership where you and your coach build practical strategies, systems, and habits for managing the things that ADHD makes difficult. That includes time management, task initiation, prioritization, follow-through, and organization. A good ADHD coach works with the way your brain actually processes information rather than handing you a planner template designed for someone whose brain works differently. Coaching is about action and forward motion.

Therapy addresses the emotional and psychological layers underneath. If you are dealing with anxiety, depression, shame from years of struggling without knowing why, or past experiences that still affect how you function day to day, therapy is where that work belongs. In a city like Kansas City, where the professional culture in industries like manufacturing, finance, and logistics tends to reward consistency and reliability, a lot of adults with ADHD carry quiet frustration from years of feeling like they should be able to keep up but cannot. Therapy is the right space for processing that. But therapy alone does not usually give you the tactical, day-to-day systems for managing your workload or stopping the cycle of missed deadlines.

Psychiatry handles the medical side. A psychiatrist can formally diagnose ADHD, prescribe medication, and manage your treatment over time. If you are exploring medication or need an official diagnosis, that is where the clinical path starts.

These three types of support work alongside each other. Many adults with ADHD benefit from some combination of all three. You might see a psychiatrist for medication management, a therapist for processing the emotional weight of living undiagnosed into adulthood, and a coach for building the daily systems that hold your professional and personal life together. In Missouri, therapy and psychiatry are often partially covered by insurance depending on your plan, while coaching generally is not. We will cover cost and workarounds in more detail later.

The key distinction with coaching is that it is forward-looking and tactical. You are not revisiting your past. You are building a concrete plan for how to manage your energy, stay on top of responsibilities, and follow through on the goals that matter to you.

What credentials should an ADHD coach actually have

Before you start comparing coaches across the KC metro, there is one fact that changes how you approach the entire search: the title "ADHD coach" is completely unregulated. Missouri has no licensing requirement for coaches. Kansas does not either. There is no state board, no required exam, and no minimum training. Anyone can build a website, list ADHD coaching as a service, and start charging full rates by next week. In a metro area with a growing wellness market and a population of over two million across both sides of the state line, that means the quality range is massive. And from the outside, it is extremely difficult to tell who is genuinely qualified.

So how do you protect yourself?

PAAC certification is one of the strongest signals available. 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 real competency in working with ADHD-related challenges. This is not a weekend workshop or an online module you can finish in an afternoon. It represents a serious investment in specialized education.

ICF credentials add 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 required number of client coaching hours, and passed a formal evaluation. ICF credentials on their own do not guarantee ADHD expertise, but paired with ADHD-specific training, they indicate someone who takes professional standards seriously.

NBC-HWC certification is also worth knowing about. NBC-HWC stands for National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. This board certification indicates training in evidence-based coaching techniques, and when combined 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 personal understanding of the daily challenges you face. But lived experience without professional training and a structured methodology is not sufficient on its own. You want both personal understanding and evidence-based frameworks.

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 outcomes like eliminating procrastination or curing distractibility

• No mention of continuing education, supervision, or a defined 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?

• What does support between sessions look like?

A qualified coach will welcome every one of these questions. They have invested significant time and money building their expertise and will be glad to walk you through it. If someone gets defensive or vague when you ask about training, take that as information.

Why does virtual coaching work well for ADHD in Kansas City

Kansas City's metro stretches across two states, dozens of municipalities, and a web of interstates that connects everything from the Country Club Plaza to Johnson County to Independence to Leavenworth. The city is car-dependent, and while the KC Streetcar is expanding, it covers a limited corridor. If you filter coaches by proximity to your neighborhood, you are cutting out the majority of options before you have even started evaluating quality.

Virtual coaching removes geography from the equation entirely. You can work with your coach from your living room in Brookside, your home office in Overland Park, a break room at a manufacturing facility in North Kansas City, or your kitchen table in Olathe. Sessions fit into the rhythm of your actual day rather than requiring you to block out extra time for a drive across the metro.

But the bigger benefit is about quality of match, not logistics. When you are no longer restricted to coaches who happen to have an office within a 20-minute drive, you can match based on what genuinely matters: their specific experience with your type of challenge, their coaching style, their familiarity with your industry or life stage. A coach who specializes in working with finance professionals navigating executive function challenges might be a far better fit than a generalist who rents an office near the Plaza. Someone with deep experience supporting biotech professionals, which is directly relevant given Kansas City's Animal Health Corridor, might be exactly what you need even if that coach is not physically located in the metro.

Virtual coaching also makes consistency easier, and consistency is one of the hardest things to maintain with ADHD. Every logistical hurdle becomes one more reason to reschedule. 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 weeks and months instead of stalling every time your schedule shifts.

And if a match turns out not to be right, pivoting is simple. You are not restarting a geographic search or committing to someone just because they happen to be nearby. You match with a different coach and keep moving forward.

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 nice 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.

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 offering generic advice like "just use a planner" or "set more reminders," a coach using COM-B helps you figure out 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 close the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it. Instead of "I will work on my quarterly report this week," an implementation intention sounds like "When I sit down at my desk after my Monday morning meeting, I will open the report document and write 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 gets tracked over time. You are building on a foundation week after week rather than starting from scratch each session. 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 fluctuates constantly. Quality coaching includes some form of ongoing connection between sessions, whether that is messaging, quick accountability check-ins, or access to a community of peers. That continuity between calls is often what determines whether a new strategy actually sticks and becomes part of your routine.

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 are not there.

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 matters. Coaches who practice in isolation with no external oversight can develop blind spots or drift into outdated approaches over time. Regular supervision means a qualified professional is reviewing their work, providing feedback, and keeping them accountable to a consistent standard.

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

How much does ADHD coaching typically cost

Cost matters, and it is better to have clear expectations going in than to be surprised after your first session.

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

One advantage of the Kansas City metro is that the cost of living sits below the national average. Housing, food, and transportation are all more affordable here than in coastal metros, which means your budget may stretch further when it comes to investing in coaching. But cost and credential depth tend to go together regardless of where you live. 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 neither Missouri nor Kansas currently mandates 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 across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and the growing tech sector in KC, strong benefits packages are common, so this is absolutely worth checking.

When evaluating cost, it helps to weigh it against the cost of not getting support. Stalled career momentum because you cannot consistently deliver. 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.

How do you find and evaluate coaches in Kansas City

With a clear understanding of what coaching is, which credentials matter, and what strong methodology looks like, the practical search can begin. Kansas City's specific geography and market create a few distinct challenges worth knowing about.

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. Kansas City does not currently have a dedicated CHADD chapter (CHADD stands for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), with the nearest chapters located in St. Louis and Wichita. However, CHADD offers virtual meetings and support groups nationwide, which can still be a useful way to connect with the ADHD community and get firsthand recommendations from people who have worked with coaches.

The Kansas City-specific challenge:

The two-state metro creates a unique complication. A search for ADHD coaches in Kansas City pulls results from Missouri and Kansas, from the urban core and from suburbs stretching in every direction. That mix includes credentialed specialists, general life coaches, wellness practitioners, and therapists who list coaching as a secondary service, all using similar language on their profiles. The healthcare infrastructure here is strong, but that does not automatically translate into a deep pool of ADHD-specialized coaches. University of Kansas Hospital and Children's Mercy are excellent clinical resources for diagnosis and treatment, but the coaching market is separate from the clinical system, and the quality range is wide.

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 jump straight into pitching a package

• How clearly they explain their methodology

• 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 acknowledges. You go through the full search, commit to a coach, and after a few sessions 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. Now you are back to square one. New search. New vetting calls. New financial risk. New decision fatigue. For someone with ADHD, restarting that kind of open-ended research project can feel nearly impossible.

Even with the right directories and a careful 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 difficult one when the executive function challenges you are trying to get help with are the same ones making sustained research feel exhausting.

Why a Shimmer ADHD coach might be the better option

Every frustration described above is exactly the problem Shimmer was designed to solve. The search is draining, the vetting is overwhelming, and the risk of picking the wrong coach and having to start over is real. Shimmer removes those barriers so you can skip to the part that actually matters: getting effective support.

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 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 directories 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. You match with someone new and keep building momentum. This alone changes the experience compared to the traditional model, where a bad fit means repeating the whole process from the beginning.

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 accountability and shared learning that a single weekly session cannot provide on its own.

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 start. 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 Kansas City is covered equally. Whether you live in Westport, work at a hospital near the KU Medical Center, are based in a home office in Overland Park, or split your time between downtown and Olathe, you get the same quality of coaching without geography being a factor. The two-state metro complication disappears entirely. No driving across the metro for an appointment. No filtering by zip code. Just consistent, expert support that fits into your life where it already is.

Shimmer's coaches work with professionals across every industry that defines Kansas City's economy. Healthcare workers managing cognitive overload in demanding hospital environments. Finance professionals navigating detail-heavy responsibilities at firms across the metro. Manufacturing and logistics professionals dealing with shifting schedules and complex operational demands. Tech workers and biotech professionals in the growing Animal Health Corridor. UMKC students and researchers balancing academic pressures alongside ADHD. The matching process accounts for these differences so you work with someone who 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 fight through a broken process to get help.

How do you get started with ADHD coaching

Taking the first step can feel like a big decision. If you have been researching ADHD coaching for weeks or months without actually committing, you are in very good company. That kind of decision paralysis is one of the most common ADHD patterns, 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 already tried, 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 journey. 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 are ready to stop cycling through browser tabs and start working with a vetted, expert ADHD coach who genuinely understands how your brain works, Shimmer is a good place to begin.