Portland is a city that rewards people who can self-direct. The tech sector has grown steadily, with companies like Intel, Nike's digital operations, and a wave of smaller startups anchoring the economy alongside healthcare systems like OHSU and Providence. The creative and design community runs deep here. So does the food and beverage industry, the outdoor apparel world, and a bioscience sector that keeps expanding. Whether you work remotely from a bungalow in Southeast, commute across the Willamette to a lab at OHSU, or run a small business in the Alberta Arts District, the expectation is the same: figure out your own structure, manage your own time, and deliver. Portland does not hand you a rigid corporate playbook. It hands you freedom and assumes you know what to do with it. If you have ADHD, that kind of freedom can turn into a trap faster than you would expect.

So you decide to look for support, and you hit the Portland version of information overload almost immediately. A search for ADHD coaching pulls up results from across the metro, mixing listings from Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Tigard, Hillsboro, and even Vancouver, Washington, right alongside Portland proper. Some are therapists who list coaching as a side offering. Some are life coaches or wellness practitioners who added ADHD to their profiles because Portland's therapy-friendly culture makes it a marketable niche. A handful look genuinely specialized, but their websites all use similar language and there is no obvious way to separate real expertise from good marketing. You have a dozen tabs open. You bookmarked three of them last Tuesday and have not looked at them since. The fact that your ADHD is making it hard to follow through on finding help for your ADHD is painfully on the nose.

This guide walks through what ADHD coaching actually is, which credentials matter, how to evaluate methodology and cost, and how to make a confident decision without letting this become another project that stalls out halfway through your research.

What makes ADHD coaching different from therapy or psychiatry

Portland is one of the most therapy-friendly cities in the country. Mental health conversations are normalized here in a way they are not in a lot of other places. That is genuinely positive, but it also means the lines between different types of support can get blurry. Coaching, therapy, and psychiatry serve different purposes, and understanding those differences before you start spending money matters a lot.

ADHD coaching is focused on the present and the future. It is a collaborative working relationship where you and your coach develop practical strategies, systems, and habits to reach your goals. Coaching is action-oriented. You figure out what keeps derailing you and build personalized tools for managing things like time, prioritization, task initiation, and follow-through. A good ADHD coach works with the way your brain actually processes information rather than expecting you to force yourself into systems designed for neurotypical people. Neurotypical is a term that describes someone whose brain handles attention and executive function in the way considered standard or typical.

Therapy addresses the emotional and psychological layers underneath your daily struggles. A therapist helps you process past experiences, work through anxiety or depression (both of which frequently show up alongside ADHD), and understand patterns that run deeper than surface-level habits. In a city like Portland, where the culture values self-awareness and emotional literacy, many adults with ADHD have already done some therapy. That work is valuable. But therapy alone does not always equip you with the concrete, tactical systems for managing your calendar, breaking the cycle of missed deadlines, or following through consistently at work.

Psychiatry handles the medical side. A psychiatrist can formally diagnose ADHD, prescribe medication, and manage your treatment plan over time. Portland has strong psychiatric resources through systems like OHSU and Kaiser Permanente, though waitlists can be long depending on your insurance.

These three types of support work alongside each other, not as replacements. 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 Oregon, therapy and psychiatry are often at least partially covered by insurance depending on your plan. Coaching generally is not, though there are workarounds we will cover later.

The key thing to understand about coaching is that it is forward-looking and tactical. You are not unpacking your childhood. You are building a concrete plan for how to manage your energy, stop losing track of projects, and follow through on what matters to you right now.

What credentials should an ADHD coach actually have

This is the single most important thing to know before you evaluate anyone: the title "ADHD coach" is completely unregulated. Oregon has no licensing requirement, no state board, no required exam, and no minimum training hours. Anyone can build a website, list ADHD coaching as a service, and start charging for sessions this week. In a city like Portland, where wellness culture is deeply embedded and personal development is practically a lifestyle, the range in quality is enormous. And from the outside, it is almost impossible to tell who is genuinely specialized and who has simply added ADHD to a long list of coaching niches on their site.

So how do you protect yourself?

PAAC certification is one of the most reliable signals. 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 an afternoon. It represents a serious 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. 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 on their own do not guarantee ADHD expertise, but when paired with ADHD-specific training, they tell you someone 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 indicating training in evidence-based coaching techniques, and when combined with ADHD specialization, it adds another verified layer of 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 struggles involved. But lived experience without professional training and a structured methodology is not enough on its own. You want both personal understanding and evidence-based frameworks working together.

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 look like between sessions?

A qualified coach will welcome every one of these questions. They have invested real 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 important information.

Why does virtual coaching work well for ADHD in Portland

Portland has a reputation as a bike-friendly, walkable city, and parts of it genuinely are. But the metro area stretches much further than the inner eastside neighborhoods most people picture. Hillsboro and Beaverton anchor the western suburbs. Lake Oswego, Tigard, and Tualatin spread south. Vancouver, Washington sits right across the Columbia River and is functionally part of the same metro. Getting from one end of the region to the other during commute hours means sitting on I-5 or Highway 26, and TriMet's MAX light rail, while useful for certain corridors, does not connect every part of the metro efficiently. Filtering coaches by who happens to have an office within a convenient drive cuts your options down before you even assess quality.

Virtual coaching takes location out of the equation entirely. You can work with your coach from your apartment in the Pearl District, your home office in Sellwood, your desk at an Intel campus in Hillsboro, or your kitchen table in Vancouver. Sessions fit into your existing routine rather than requiring you to block out extra time for transit on top of the session itself.

But the bigger benefit is about quality of match, not logistics. When geography stops being a filter, you can choose a coach based on what actually matters: their experience with your specific challenges, their coaching style, their understanding of your industry or life stage. A coach who specializes in working with software engineers navigating executive function challenges at high-growth companies might be a far better fit than a generalist who happens to have office space near the Pearl. Someone with deep experience supporting creative professionals with ADHD might be exactly what a designer or media professional in Portland needs, even if that coach is located in a different state entirely.

Virtual coaching also supports consistency, which is one of the hardest things to maintain when you have ADHD. Every logistical barrier becomes another reason to reschedule. When your session is a video call you can take from wherever you are, the friction drops. You show up more often. The coaching relationship builds momentum. Progress compounds over time instead of stalling every time your week gets complicated.

And if a coaching match turns out not to be the right fit, pivoting is straightforward. You are not restarting a geographic search or staying with someone just because they are conveniently located. 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 supportive conversation you forget about by the next morning. Two coaches can have similar websites, similar pricing, and similar professional bios, but their 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 identify whether a particular challenge comes 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 close my Monday standup and sit back down at my desk, I will open the project document and write for 25 minutes before checking Slack."

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 nice in the moment, but without structure, it rarely produces consistent behavior change.

Between-session support matters more than most people realize. ADHD does not take a break 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.

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 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 to a consistent standard.

The frustrating reality is that 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 questions are.

How much does ADHD coaching typically cost

Cost matters, and it is better to go in with realistic expectations 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.

Portland's cost of living has risen sharply over the past decade. Housing costs, in particular, have pushed budgets tighter for a lot of residents. The instinct to hunt for the cheapest coaching option makes sense when money feels tight. But cost and credential depth tend to go together. 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 Oregon 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 Intel, Nike, and the healthcare systems in the Portland area offering strong benefits packages, this is worth checking into.

When evaluating cost, weigh it against the cost of not getting support. Stalled career momentum because you cannot consistently deliver. Strained relationships from forgotten commitments. The mental 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 Portland

With a solid understanding of what coaching is, which credentials matter, and what strong methodology looks like, the practical search can begin. Portland's specific landscape creates 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. Portland does not currently have a dedicated local CHADD chapter. CHADD stands for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and it is the largest national organization focused on ADHD support and advocacy. The nearest chapters are in Seattle (about 170 miles north) and Eugene (about 110 miles south). However, CHADD runs virtual support groups and meetings that are available nationwide, and those can be a good way to connect with other adults who have ADHD and get firsthand coaching recommendations from people who have been through the search themselves.

The Portland-specific challenge:

Portland's progressive, wellness-oriented culture is a real strength when it comes to mental health acceptance, but it also means the coaching and wellness market is crowded. The city's emphasis on holistic health, personal growth, and alternative approaches creates an environment where a lot of practitioners offer some version of coaching without deep ADHD specialization. Directory searches pull results from across the metro, blending credentialed ADHD specialists with life coaches, wellness coaches, mindfulness practitioners, and productivity consultants who all use overlapping language on their profiles. Sorting through that noise takes sustained effort, which is exactly the kind of task that ADHD makes harder.

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 jump straight into pitching their package

• How clearly they explain their methodology and frameworks

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

• 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 discusses openly. You go through the whole search, commit to a coach, and after a few sessions realize the fit is off. Maybe their style 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 entirely 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 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 path forward.

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 simply hired and left to figure things out 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 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 square one.

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 begin. Compare that to the traditional path where you might spend $300 on a first session with a coach you found through a directory listing, 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 Portland is covered equally. Whether you live in the Pearl District, work at an Intel campus in Hillsboro, are based in a home office in Sellwood, commute from Vancouver, or split your time between inner Southeast and Beaverton, you get the same quality of coaching without geography being a factor. No sitting in Highway 26 traffic. No rearranging your afternoon around a cross-city trip. Just consistent, expert support that fits into your life where it already is.

Shimmer's coaches work with professionals across every industry represented in the Portland metro. Software engineers and product managers dealing with cognitive overload at tech companies. Creative professionals in the design and media world managing project-based schedules. Healthcare workers at OHSU, Providence, or Legacy Health balancing detail-heavy responsibilities. Entrepreneurs building businesses in Portland's food, beverage, and outdoor apparel scenes. Portland State and OHSU students and researchers navigating academic demands 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 just 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 to anything, 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 clicks, 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.