Orlando has quietly become one of the fastest-growing professional markets in the country. Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Deloitte, and a cluster of defense and simulation companies have built a significant tech corridor alongside the tourism economy that most outsiders still associate with the city. The University of Central Florida feeds a steady pipeline of graduates into local employers. Digital media companies, financial services firms, and logistics operations are all expanding. If you work in any of these industries with ADHD, you already know what the gap feels like between your ability and your output on any given day. You know you are smart enough. You know the ideas are there. You just cannot seem to get your brain to cooperate on a consistent schedule.

So you decide to find an ADHD coach, and the Orlando version of this search starts with a particular kind of frustration. This is not New York or LA where you have hundreds of options and cannot tell which ones are real. Orlando is a mid-size city with a growing but still limited pool of specialized providers. You find a handful of coaches who mention ADHD, but some of them look more like general life coaches who recently added it to their website. A couple seem genuinely specialized, but their availability is limited or their approach is unclear. You are stuck choosing between a small number of options without enough information to feel confident about any of them. The risk of committing to the wrong one feels real, and the process of starting over if it does not work out feels exhausting before you have even begun.

This guide walks through what ADHD coaching actually involves, which credentials are worth trusting, how to evaluate methodology, what it costs, and how to make this decision without letting it sit in your open tabs for another three months.

What makes ADHD coaching different from therapy or psychiatry

Central Florida has a reasonable mental health infrastructure. Between UCF's psychology programs, AdventHealth's behavioral health network, and a growing number of private practices across the metro, clinical resources exist. But coaching and therapy are different things that serve different purposes, and knowing where each one fits before you spend money matters.

ADHD coaching is focused on the present and the future. It is a collaborative working relationship where you and your coach build practical strategies, systems, and habits for the goals you care about right now. Coaching is about action. You figure out what keeps getting in the way of your follow-through, and you develop personalized tools for managing things like time, prioritization, task initiation, and sustained attention. A good ADHD coach works with how your brain actually operates rather than expecting you to force yourself into productivity systems that were designed for neurotypical brains. Neurotypical is a term that simply means someone whose brain processes attention and information in the way most people consider standard or typical.

Therapy addresses the emotional and psychological layers underneath the daily struggles. A therapist helps you process past experiences, work through anxiety or depression (both of which frequently co-occur with ADHD), and understand emotional patterns that may be driving behaviors you cannot seem to change on your own. In Orlando, where the job market is competitive and growing, a lot of adults with ADHD have spent years pushing through professional demands without understanding why it felt harder for them than for their peers. Therapy is the right space for processing that history. But therapy alone does not always hand you a concrete system for managing your inbox or breaking the cycle of missed deadlines at work.

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 diagnosis, that is where the clinical path starts.

These three types of support work alongside each other, not in competition. 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 years of struggling without a diagnosis, and a coach for building the daily systems that hold your career and personal life together. In Florida, therapy and psychiatry are often at least partially covered by insurance depending on your plan, while coaching generally is not. We will cover cost and workarounds in more detail later.

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 managing your energy, staying on top of your responsibilities, and following through on the things that matter to you.

What credentials should an ADHD coach actually have

Before you start comparing coaches in Orlando, there is one thing you need to know: the title "ADHD coach" is completely unregulated. Florida has no licensing requirement for coaching, no state board, no required exam, and no minimum training. Anyone can build a website, list ADHD coaching as a service, and start taking clients tomorrow. In a metro area that is growing as quickly as Orlando, where the wellness and personal development market is expanding alongside everything else, the range in quality is wide. And from the outside, it is very difficult to tell who is genuinely specialized and who is not.

So how do you sort through it?

PAAC certification is one of the strongest 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 investment in specialized education.

ICF credentials are another reliable 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 by themselves do not guarantee ADHD expertise, but when you see them combined with ADHD-specific training, you are looking at someone who takes 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 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 a personal understanding of the challenges you face. But lived experience without professional training and a structured methodology is not sufficient on its own. You want someone who brings both personal understanding and evidence-based frameworks to the work.

Red flags to watch for:

• No specific credentials or training programs listed anywhere 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?

• What does support look like between sessions?

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 uncomfortable when you ask about their training, that is important information.

Why does virtual coaching work well for ADHD in Orlando

Orlando is a sprawling metro. The city itself covers a significant geographic footprint, and the broader region fans out into communities like Winter Park, Kissimmee, Sanford, Lake Mary, and Altamonte Springs that all function as part of the same professional ecosystem. Finding a specialized ADHD coach who also happens to have an office near your home or workplace narrows an already limited pool even further.

Virtual coaching removes that geographic constraint entirely. You can work with your coach from your apartment near downtown, your home office in Winter Park, your desk at a simulation company in the research corridor, or your kitchen table in Lake Nona. Sessions fit into the natural rhythm of your day rather than requiring you to block out extra time for a cross-metro drive on top of the session itself.

But the bigger benefit is about quality of match, not convenience. When geography is off the table, you can match with a coach based on what actually matters: their experience with your specific type of challenge, their coaching style, their understanding of your industry or professional context. A coach who specializes in working with engineers navigating executive function challenges in defense and simulation environments might be a far better fit than a generalist who happens to have an office on International Drive. Someone with deep experience supporting professionals in fast-growing companies might be exactly what you need, even if that coach is not located in central Florida at all.

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 skip a session. 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 life gets complicated.

And if a coaching match turns out not to be the right fit, pivoting is straightforward. You are not restarting a local geographic search or committing to someone just because they are one of the few options nearby. You match with a different coach and keep building forward.

What does a strong ADHD coaching methodology look like

Methodology is the invisible difference between coaching that produces real, 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.

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 reminders," 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 project this week," an implementation intention sounds like "When I sit back down at my desk after lunch, I will open the project 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 is 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 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 approaches over time. Regular supervision means a qualified professional is reviewing their work, providing feedback, and keeping them accountable to a consistent standard.

The frustrating reality is that none of these methodological differences are visible from a website or a directory listing. Two coach profiles can look nearly identical while representing very different levels of rigor. The only way to tell them apart is to ask the right questions, 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 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 shift based on coach experience, credentials, session length, and how much support is included between calls.

The instinct to look for the lowest price makes sense, especially in Orlando where the cost of living has been climbing steadily as the metro has grown. But cost and credential depth tend to correlate. Coaches who have invested thousands of dollars in ADHD-specific training, ICF certification, supervised coaching hours, and continuing education charge more because their overhead is higher and their expertise is deeper. That does not mean the most expensive option is automatically the best. But consistently choosing the cheapest option increases the 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 Florida 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 Lockheed Martin, Siemens, and Deloitte operating in the Orlando metro, many local professionals have access to these benefits, so it is worth checking.

When evaluating cost, it helps to weigh it against the cost of not getting support. Stalled career progress 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 to you.

How do you find and evaluate coaches in Orlando

With a solid understanding of what coaching involves, which credentials matter, and what strong methodology looks like, the practical search can begin. Orlando's specific situation creates some distinct challenges.

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. Orlando does not currently have a dedicated local CHADD chapter (CHADD stands for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), but CHADD's national virtual meetings and online community are available as alternatives. While CHADD does not provide coaching directly, connecting with the community can be a good way to get firsthand recommendations from people who have worked with coaches serving the central Florida area.

The Orlando-specific challenge:

Orlando is growing fast, but the specialized ADHD coaching market has not necessarily kept pace. The metro's professional economy has diversified rapidly, with major employers in defense, simulation, digital media, financial services, and healthcare all expanding. But the pool of coaches with deep ADHD specialization remains relatively small compared to the size of the population. Directory searches may pull results that include general life coaches, wellness coaches, and productivity consultants who all use similar language on their profiles without the same depth of ADHD-specific training. Distinguishing between them takes effort.

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 covered earlier in this guide.

During a consultation, pay attention to:

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

• How clearly they explain their coaching 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 talks about. You go through the whole 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 at the beginning. 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 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 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.

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 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 whole search from scratch. You match with someone new and keep building momentum. This alone changes the experience fundamentally compared to the traditional model, where a bad fit means going back to the beginning of the process.

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 provide.

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 a few 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 Orlando is covered equally. Whether you live near downtown, work in the Lake Mary research corridor, are based in a home office in Winter Park, or split your time between Kissimmee and Sanford, you get the same quality of coaching without geography being a factor. 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 every industry that defines Orlando's growing economy. Engineers and project managers at defense and simulation companies navigating cognitive overload in detail-heavy environments. Digital media professionals managing inconsistent schedules and creative demands. Financial services and business services professionals balancing multiple priorities. UCF students and researchers working through academic demands alongside ADHD. Healthcare workers in one of the region's largest employment sectors dealing with high-stakes, high-attention work. The matching process takes these differences into account 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 power 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 have been stuck in the research phase for too long, the best thing you can do is take one concrete step today. Pick one option, try it, and trust that you can adjust if you need to. The goal is not to find the theoretically perfect coach on paper. The goal is to start working with someone qualified and see how it feels in practice. Progress comes from action, not from more tabs.