Oklahoma City covers 621 square miles of flat central Oklahoma plains and is home to over 700,000 people. It is the state capital, a major energy sector hub, home to one of the largest Air Force installations in the country, and the economic engine for the entire region. You would think a city with that profile would have a mature, well-developed ADHD coaching landscape. It does not.

Search for an ADHD coach in Oklahoma City and the results tell a familiar story. A few therapists who list coaching as a secondary service on their Psychology Today profiles. A handful of general life coaches without any ADHD-specific training. Listings that pull in practitioners from Tulsa or even Dallas. The options that do exist are scattered across a metro area so large that driving from Edmond to Moore for a 45-minute session can eat an hour of your day before you even sit down. And because Oklahoma has historically underfunded mental health services across the board, the infrastructure most people would rely on to find this kind of support simply has not been built yet.

This is not a criticism of OKC. The city has poured real investment into revitalization through projects like MAPS, attracted younger professionals to a growing downtown core, and built something genuinely worth being part of. But ADHD coaching is a niche field, and in a market where many adults are still learning that ADHD coaching even exists as a distinct type of support, finding quality options takes more work than it should.

This guide walks through what ADHD coaching actually is, what separates a qualified coach from someone with a nice website, how to evaluate your options, and how to get matched with expert support without losing weeks to a research spiral.

What is the difference between ADHD coaching, therapy, and psychiatry

These three types of support get confused constantly, and sorting them out before you start searching will save you a lot of frustration. Each one serves a distinct purpose, and many adults with ADHD benefit from more than one at the same time.

ADHD coaching focuses on the present and the future. A coach works with you to build practical strategies, systems, and habits that help you manage the specific challenges ADHD creates in your daily life. That means things like time management, prioritization, organization, task initiation, and follow-through. Coaching is action-oriented. Rather than exploring why you struggle with something, a coach helps you figure out what to do about it and supports you as you put new approaches into practice.

Therapy addresses the emotional and psychological side. A licensed therapist can help you work through anxiety, depression, grief, or trauma, all of which frequently co-occur alongside ADHD (meaning they show up together). For adults who went years or even decades without a diagnosis, therapy is especially valuable for processing the frustration and self-doubt that tend to accumulate over that time. In Oklahoma, where conversations about mental health are growing but still carry some cultural weight in certain communities, finding a therapist who genuinely understands ADHD and is not just treating the co-occurring conditions can take real effort.

Psychiatry is the medical component. A psychiatrist can formally diagnose ADHD, prescribe medication, and monitor how that treatment is working over time. If you are considering medication or need a clinical evaluation, psychiatry is the pathway for that.

For the large military-connected community around Tinker Air Force Base, TRICARE covers therapy and psychiatry visits. That is genuinely useful and should be taken advantage of. But coaching falls outside those benefits entirely. It is not classified as a medical service, which means the insurance pathways that military families are used to navigating don't apply here. People who are experienced at working within structured healthcare systems suddenly find themselves in unfamiliar territory when they start looking for coaching support.

The key thing to understand is that these three types of support are complementary. You might see a psychiatrist for medication, a therapist for emotional processing, and a coach for the day-to-day, practical systems that keep things moving forward. Coaching fills the gap between understanding your ADHD and actually doing something different because of that understanding.

What credentials should an ADHD coach actually have

This is where the search gets complicated, and it is especially tricky in a market like Oklahoma City where the coaching landscape is still developing.

The fundamental problem is that anyone can call themselves an ADHD coach. There is no state license required in Oklahoma. No board certification mandated by law. No minimum training hours that someone has to log before they start charging clients. A person can put up a website tonight, list ADHD coaching as their specialty, and start booking sessions by the end of the week. In a city where the pool of coaches is already small, that lack of regulation makes careful vetting even more critical because you have fewer options to fall back on if your first choice turns out to be unqualified.

So what should you actually look for?

PAAC certification is one of the strongest indicators. PAAC stands for the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches. Their certification requires completion of ADHD-specific training programs, supervised coaching hours, and demonstrated competency in working with ADHD-related challenges. This is not a weekend workshop or a quick online certificate. It represents a substantial investment in specialized education and hands-on practice.

ICF credentials are another meaningful marker. The International Coaching Federation is the most widely recognized credentialing body in the coaching profession. An ICF-credentialed coach has completed significant training hours, logged a minimum number of coaching sessions, and passed a rigorous assessment process. ICF credentials alone don't guarantee ADHD expertise, but when combined with ADHD-specific training, they signal someone who has committed seriously to their professional development.

NBC-HWC certification (National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching) is worth knowing about as well. This board certification is recognized across the health and wellness coaching field and demonstrates that a coach meets national standards for competency.

Lived experience with ADHD can make a coach more relatable and intuitive. Many of us in the ADHD community value working with someone who genuinely gets it from the inside. But lived experience without formal training and a structured methodology is not enough on its own. The best coaches combine personal understanding with evidence-based frameworks and professional accountability.

Red flags to watch for:

• No specific training or credentials listed on their website

• The only qualification mentioned is personal experience with ADHD

• Promises of specific outcomes like eliminating procrastination or permanently fixing focus

• No mention of supervision, continuing education, or structured methodology

• Sessions that sound like casual conversation rather than a guided process

Questions worth asking 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 credentialing body?

• Do you receive regular supervision or peer consultation?

• What methodology or framework guides your coaching sessions?

• How do you track and measure client progress?

• What does support look like between sessions?

A qualified coach will welcome these questions. They have invested serious time and money into their training and will be happy to talk about it. If someone gets vague or defensive when you ask, that tells you something important.

Why does virtual coaching make sense for ADHD in Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City's 621-square-mile footprint creates a practical challenge for in-person anything. This is one of the largest cities by land area in the entire country, and it is built almost entirely around car travel. The EMBARK bus system and the downtown streetcar loop cover a small fraction of the metro. If you live near Lake Hefner and the only coach you can find practices south of I-240, you are looking at a significant drive each way for every session. Multiply that by weekly appointments and the time investment alone starts to feel unsustainable.

Virtual coaching removes geography from the equation. You can meet with your coach from your home in Edmond, your office near Tinker, a quiet spot during a lunch break, or wherever works for you that day. Sessions fit into your schedule rather than demanding that you build your schedule around them. That flexibility matters for everyone, but it especially matters when the executive function challenges you are working on are the same ones that make rigid scheduling and long drives feel like barriers.

The bigger advantage is access to specialization. When you limit yourself to coaches who physically practice in the OKC metro, you are choosing from a very small pool in a market where ADHD coaching awareness is still growing. When geography stops being a constraint, you can match based on what actually matters: expertise with your specific challenges, familiarity with your industry or life situation, and a coaching style that fits how you communicate and learn. An ADHD coach who specializes in working with aerospace professionals or veterans may be a better fit than a generalist who happens to have an office off Memorial Road.

For military families at Tinker, virtual coaching solves a problem that comes up regularly. PCS moves (permanent change of station, the military term for relocation orders) are a fact of life. Building a coaching relationship with someone local and then receiving orders to a new base means you lose that support and have to start over. Virtual coaching travels with you. Whether you are stationed at Tinker today or reassigned somewhere else next year, the coaching relationship continues without interruption.

Virtual coaching also lowers the switching cost. If a particular coach is not the right fit, finding a new one does not require a whole new geographic search. You match with a different coach and keep moving forward.

What does quality ADHD coaching methodology actually look like

Methodology is where the meaningful differences between coaches show up. Two coaches can have similar-looking websites and similar pricing, but what actually happens during sessions can be entirely different.

Evidence-based frameworks are the foundation of quality coaching. One widely used approach is the COM-B model, which identifies three drivers of behavior change: Capability (do you have the skills and knowledge), Opportunity (does your environment support the change), and Motivation (do you have the internal and external drive). Instead of generic advice like just try a planner or set more reminders, a coach using COM-B helps you identify which specific barrier is actually blocking progress and addresses that barrier directly. Another research-backed technique is implementation intentions, which are specific if/then plans that bridge the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it. An implementation intention sounds like: when I get to my desk on Monday morning, I will open my project tracker before checking email. That level of specificity helps override the decision fatigue and task initiation difficulty that many of us with ADHD experience daily.

Structured sessions versus open-ended conversation is one of the clearest quality indicators. In a structured approach, your coach comes prepared, follows a consistent framework, and builds on the work from previous sessions. Goals get tracked over time. Progress gets measured against specific benchmarks. Each session connects to the one before it instead of starting from scratch every week.

Between-session support is critical and frequently missing. ADHD does not pause between weekly coaching calls. The insight you gained on Tuesday can feel completely disconnected from reality by Thursday. Quality coaching programs include some form of ongoing connection between sessions, whether that is check-ins, messaging access, or community resources. This continuity helps new habits actually solidify instead of evaporating halfway through the week.

Executive dysfunction-specific approaches are non-negotiable for genuine ADHD coaching. Executive dysfunction refers to difficulty with the brain's management system, things like working memory, planning, task initiation, emotional regulation, and time perception. Generic coaching techniques often assume a baseline level of executive function that people with ADHD don't consistently have access to. A methodology designed specifically for ADHD recognizes these differences and builds systems that work with them rather than around them.

Community and peer support adds something that isolated one-on-one sessions cannot replicate. Connecting with other adults who are navigating similar challenges creates shared learning, normalization, and a different type of accountability. Hearing someone in a similar situation describe a strategy that worked for them carries a kind of weight that purely instructional advice does not.

Coach supervision and ongoing training is a topic most people never think to ask about, but it makes a significant difference. Coaches who work alone with no professional oversight can develop blind spots or gradually drift from best practices. Regular supervision means a qualified professional is reviewing their work, offering feedback, and making sure the quality of their coaching stays consistent over time.

The challenge is that none of this is visible from the outside. You cannot determine from a website whether a coach uses a rigorous, evidence-based methodology or improvises based on intuition. The only way to find out is to ask the right questions during a consultation and know what solid answers should sound like.

How much does ADHD coaching cost

Money matters, and it is worth being direct about what this looks like.

Nationally, individual ADHD coaching sessions typically range from $150 to $300 per session. Ongoing monthly coaching arrangements run between $300 and $600 per month depending on session frequency, duration, and the coach's credentials and experience level. Oklahoma City's cost of living is well below the national average, but coaching prices tend to follow national ranges since many coaches work virtually and set rates independent of any single local market.

The impulse to find the cheapest option is completely understandable, especially in a city where people are accustomed to getting more value per dollar than in coastal markets. But the lowest-priced coaches tend to have fewer credentials, less specialized training, and less structured approaches. That is not a knock on their intentions. It reflects the reality that coaches who have invested heavily in ADHD-specific certification, ICF credentialing, and ongoing professional supervision carry higher costs and price accordingly.

Insurance generally does not cover ADHD coaching. This is true across Oklahoma. Coaching is not classified as therapy or a medical service, so it falls outside standard insurance benefits. For the military community connected to Tinker AFB, TRICARE covers therapy and psychiatry but does not extend to coaching. This can be frustrating, particularly when you are accustomed to having most healthcare needs covered.

FSA and HSA funds can often be applied to ADHD coaching. If your employer offers a Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account, coaching may qualify as an eligible expense. Paying with pre-tax dollars effectively reduces the cost by 20 to 30 percent depending on your tax bracket.

When you weigh the cost, think about what the absence of support is already costing you. Missed opportunities at work. Stalled projects. Financial disorganization that gets more expensive with every boom-and-bust cycle in the energy sector. The mental weight of feeling like you are constantly underperforming. Effective coaching produces returns that compound over time as the systems and habits you develop start generating results across multiple areas of your life.

How do you actually find and vet coaches in Oklahoma City

With a clear understanding of what credentials matter and what quality methodology looks like, the next step is the search itself. In OKC, that process has some specific challenges.

Where to search:

The PAAC directory (Professional Association of ADHD Coaches) is the most targeted starting point. Every coach listed has met specific ADHD training requirements. The ICF directory is broader and helpful for verifying general coaching credentials. CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is a national nonprofit that provides resources and support. Oklahoma City has the CHADD of Central Oklahoma chapter, which offers support group meetings and educational resources. While the chapter is smaller and reflects the state's overall population, it can be a useful connection point. The ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO) directory is another resource worth exploring.

Running these searches for Oklahoma City specifically will likely produce a short list. For a metro of over 700,000 people, the ADHD coaching infrastructure simply has not caught up to the potential demand. The market is underdeveloped compared to cities of similar size in other states. You may find more results by widening the search to virtual coaches who serve Oklahoma broadly or the south-central US region, which brings you back to the practical advantages of virtual coaching discussed earlier.

The vetting process:

Once you have a handful of names, the real work starts. Review each coach's website carefully. Verify credentials independently rather than relying on what their marketing says. Schedule consultation calls, which most coaches offer for free or at a reduced rate. Use those conversations to ask the credential and methodology questions outlined earlier in this guide.

During a consultation, pay attention to:

• Whether the coach asks about your specific challenges or jumps straight into pitching their program

• How clearly they can articulate their methodology

• Whether they mention supervision or continuing education

• How natural and comfortable the conversation feels

• How upfront they are about pricing, structure, and what to expect

When the first choice does not work out:

This is the part nobody talks about enough. You might do all the research, commit to a coach, invest several sessions of time and money, and realize the fit is wrong. Now you are back to the beginning. New search, new consultations, new financial commitment to try again. In a metro where the pool of qualified coaches was thin to start with, that restart is even more discouraging because you have already been through most of the available options.

The entire weight of research, verification, and fit assessment falls on you. That is a substantial lift for anyone. It is an especially demanding one when the very executive function challenges you need help with are the same ones that make sustained research projects feel like running into a wall.

Why did we build Shimmer

Every frustration described above is the reason Shimmer exists. We built it because we have been through the same exhausting, unclear process and knew there had to be something better.

The vetting is already done. Shimmer accepts only the top 4% of coaches who apply. Every coach on the platform holds ADHD-specific credentials, whether through PAAC certification or equivalent specialized training. They are not simply onboarded and left to work in isolation. Shimmer coaches receive ongoing supervision and continuing education, which means a qualified professional is consistently reviewing and supporting their work. The methodology is consistent across the platform, grounded in behavioral science frameworks designed specifically for how ADHD brains function.

Matching is built into the process. Instead of spending weeks searching, scheduling consultations, and hoping for the best, Shimmer matches you with a coach based on your specific needs, preferences, and goals. If the match does not feel right, you switch to a different coach with no awkward conversation, no financial penalty, and no starting over from scratch. This is fundamentally different from the traditional approach where trying a new coach means repeating the entire vetting process.

The methodology extends well beyond a weekly session. Shimmer's coaching framework is rooted in science-backed approaches to behavior change and executive function support. Sessions are structured, goal-oriented, and connected to each other over time. But support does not disappear between sessions. Shimmer includes community access where you connect with other members navigating similar challenges. That combination of expert one-on-one coaching and peer community creates layers of accountability and learning that a single weekly call simply cannot provide on its own.

The risk is low. Shimmer offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with transparent, upfront pricing. You know exactly what the investment is before you commit. Compare that to paying $250 for a first session with someone you found through a directory listing, only to realize after two or three sessions that their approach does not work for your brain.

Virtual-first serves all of Oklahoma City. Whether you live near Bricktown, out past Quail Springs, on the south side near Moore, in Midwest City close to Tinker, or anywhere across the 621 square miles this metro covers, you get the same access to quality coaching. No driving across town. No limiting your options to whoever happens to practice near your zip code. And for military families who may receive PCS orders, your coaching relationship moves with you.

Shimmer's coaches work with adults across the industries and life situations that define Oklahoma City. Energy sector professionals navigating the cognitive demands of technical roles during volatile market cycles. Aerospace and defense workers at Tinker managing detail-heavy, high-accountability positions. Government employees balancing bureaucratic complexity with personal goals. Entrepreneurs building businesses in a growing downtown market. Veterans transitioning to civilian careers and discovering that the structured support systems they relied on in the military don't cover everything they need. The matching process accounts for these differences so you work with someone who understands your specific context, not a generalist guessing at what your work life looks like.

How do you get started with ADHD coaching

Taking the first step can feel like a bigger decision than it actually is. If you have been reading about ADHD coaching for a while without pulling the trigger, that tracks. Decision paralysis about getting help for the thing that causes decision paralysis is one of the more frustrating loops many of us know well.

Getting started is simpler than the research process might suggest. You sign up, get matched with a coach, and have your first session. That first conversation is about your coach getting to know you: your goals, your challenges, what you have tried before, and what feels most pressing right now. You do not need to show up 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 start.

Early sessions focus on building a foundation. You and your coach will identify what matters most to you right now and begin developing strategies tailored to how your brain works. Expect it to feel exploratory at the beginning. You are testing approaches, discovering what sticks, and building a relationship with someone who is genuinely invested in your progress.

Set realistic expectations. Coaching is not a quick fix. You will not leave your first session with every challenge resolved. What you will have is a structured starting point, a coach who deeply understands ADHD, and a framework for making consistent progress over time. Most Shimmer members start noticing meaningful changes within the first few weeks as new habits and systems begin to take hold.

Oklahoma City is a city that has invested heavily in its own growth and continues to build momentum. The ADHD coaching market here has not caught up to the city's size or ambition yet, but that does not mean you have to wait for it. Quality support is available right now, and accessing it does not require driving across 621 square miles or settling for whoever happens to be nearby.

If you are ready to work with a vetted, credentialed ADHD coach who understands your brain, Shimmer is a good place to start.