How to choose an ADHD Coach

TL;DR: Choosing an ADHD coach comes down to four things: understanding what coaching actually does, being clear on your own goals going in, checking for real ADHD-specific training, and trusting how a conversation with them feels. Talk to more than one coach before you commit to any of them.

I’m Gary Hammond, a certified ADHD coach, and I’m not writing this to convince you I’m the right fit. I might not be. Nobody can be the right coach for everyone, and a personality clash or a gap in relevant experience is reason enough to look elsewhere.

Ask every coach you speak with direct questions about training and cost, and pay attention to how the conversation actually feels, not just what they say about themselves.

Here’s what to look for.

Understand What an ADHD Coach Does

Before you start your search, it helps to understand what an ADHD coach actually does. ADHD coaches, including me, are not medical professionals. If you need support for emotional healing or a mental health condition, a coach is not the right fit. That’s what therapists and other medical professionals are for.

What coaching does do: help you build your own practical strategies by becoming more aware of how ADHD shows up for you specifically. A coach works with you on real skills, time management, organisation, goal setting, self-regulation, through an ADHD lens rather than a generic one.

You do the work. The coach guides it: helping you make progress and pushing you to experiment with different approaches until you find what actually fits your own patterns.

Identify Your Goals

Start by naming your specific goals and challenges. Are you trying to improve your organisation, manage procrastination, or handle stress better at work? Maybe it’s keeping up a routine. Getting clear on what you actually want from coaching helps you find a coach whose experience matches your situation.

Stay open to your goals changing. This is one real difference between general life coaching and ADHD coaching specifically: as you understand your own ADHD better, what you think you need at the start often shifts.

Look for a coach who supports your starting goals but doesn’t hold you to them. A good one stays curious as your understanding of your ADHD changes, and adjusts what you’re working on together as that happens.

Look for Specialised Training and Experience

Look for training that’s actually specific to ADHD, not general life coaching with an ADHD label added on. Some coaches hold membership with a recognised body, like the ADHD Coaches Organisation. Others come through different structured training routes. What matters is real, ADHD-specific training behind the title, not just the title itself.

Your coach doesn’t need to have ADHD themselves. It can help, since lived experience makes it easier for them to understand what you’re describing from the first session. If they do have ADHD, ask how they stay consistent with their own follow-through between your sessions. That’s a fair question to put to someone managing the same thing you are.

When I was looking for support myself, the people who helped me most didn’t have ADHD. What mattered was the years of ADHD-specific experience they’d built up, not a shared diagnosis.

Look Beyond Productivity Tips

Good ADHD coaching helps you understand your own ADHD well enough to act on what you learn, not just recognise it afterwards when it’s too late to use. PAAC, one of the accrediting bodies named above, treats this as a core competency: coaches should help clients understand their own ADHD, “rather than teaching generic productivity systems” (PAAC, The 5 Essentials).

A coach who only hands you productivity tips leaves you at the same wall you already have: a strategy that works for a week, then stops working, with no explanation of why. Look for one who helps you work out why a strategy might work one day and fail the next. Performance in ADHD genuinely shifts with focus, energy, stress, and how interesting a task feels: a 2013 study found adults with ADHD performed measurably better on identical cognitive tasks once a reward was introduced, evidence that access shifts with motivation rather than being fixed (Marx et al., PLoS One, 2013).

If a coach’s answer to everything is a new planner or a stricter routine, that’s a sign they’re managing the symptom rather than helping you understand what’s actually going on.

Check for Personal Compatibility

This is absolutely essential, the coach-client relationship is a deeply personal one, requiring trust and mutual respect. During initial consultations, pay attention to how you feel when interacting with the coach. Do they listen actively and understand your concerns? Do they communicate clearly and empathetically? Are they talking about themselves too much and not listening to you? Are they just offering you advice and not leading you to your own conclusions?

Feeling comfortable and understood is crucial for a productive coaching relationship, you will not progress if you feel you have to “follow their instructions” and things are fixed and rigid, worse still, you’re not being listened to or judged.

Inquire About Their Coaching Style

Coaching style still varies coach to coach, but direction matters more than structure. Good ADHD coaching helps you work out your own answers. It doesn’t hand you a fixed programme or tell you what to do.

This isn’t just a personal preference. PAAC lists collaboration as a core coaching competency: the coach works with the client, not imposing on them (PAAC, The 5 Essentials). The ADHD Coaches Organization defines the whole practice the same way, client centred and client driven (About ADHD Coaching, ADHD Coaches Organization). Being directed rather than guided is a red flag.

Ask how a coach actually works from session to session. If it sounds like you do most of the talking and thinking, with the coach helping you get there, that’s the sign to look for.

Consider the Setting and Costs

Availability and cost matter in practice, not just in theory. Some ADHD coaches offer in-person sessions, others work entirely online. I work online only, over Zoom, so if in-person sessions matter to you, that’s worth knowing before you get in touch. If remote coaching turns out not to suit you once you’ve started, that’s a reasonable reason to end the engagement.

Ask upfront how sessions are structured and what they cost. Some coaches offer sliding scale fees or package discounts. My own current pricing, exact session cost and what a block of sessions works out to, is on the ADHD coaching pricing page.

Check for Insurance and a Written Agreement

A coach working with you professionally should carry professional indemnity insurance. It protects you if something goes wrong, and it’s a basic sign the coach is running this as a real, accountable practice rather than a side hobby. I carry mine. Ask any coach you’re considering whether they carry theirs. A coach who takes this seriously won’t mind being asked directly.

You should also get a written agreement before you start, not just a verbal understanding. It should cover confidentiality and what happens if you cancel or stop partway through a prepaid block of sessions. If a coach can’t tell you their cancellation policy or what confidentiality actually means in practice, that’s worth noticing before you commit, not after.

Evaluate Their Commitment to Ongoing Education

ADHD research and best practices are continually evolving. A good ADHD coach should be committed to ongoing education and professional development. Ask potential coaches how they stay current with the latest research and techniques in ADHD coaching. Their commitment to learning indicates a dedication to providing the best possible support they can to their clients.

Trust Your Instincts

Finally, trust your instincts. After gathering all the necessary information and having initial consultations, reflect on which coach felt like the best fit for you. Your intuition, combined with the concrete factors you’ve considered, will guide you to make the best choice.

Never be afraid to stop coaching with a coach if you start. Don’t worry, a good coach will fully respect this decision. You should not feel committed to a process that is not aligned with you, isn’t getting you anywhere or makes you feel you can’t be yourself or as open as you need.

A good coach won’t just tell you what worked for them and expect it to work for you too. They’ll help you work out what actually fits your own patterns. Take the time to reflect on your options. The right fit is worth the extra conversation it takes to find.

Background Sources

• Marx I, et al. “The Impact of Financial Reward Contingencies on Cognitive Function Profiles in Adult ADHD.” PLoS One, 2013. PMC3688618
• The 5 Essentials, PAAC
• About ADHD Coaching, ADHD Coaches Organization