Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

[christalwang]

Hi, I’m Chris, one of the co-founders of Shimmer (https://shimmer.care). We offer one-to-one ADHD Coaching for adults. It was born out of my own roller coaster of a journey navigating my ADHD diagnosis.

Getting diagnosed with ADHD as an adult is complicated—equally heartbreaking and liberating. You literally need to rewrite your whole life narrative in light of this new realization. The process currently is super confusing and expensive (medications, therapy, coaching, tools, apps, etc.) and I just wished someone would guide me through it. Someone to personalize things for me, ask me good questions, and encourage me when I was feeling down.

My experience was the basis for what Shimmer is today. We’re creating an ADHD coaching service that is actually affordable (5-10X cheaper than traditional ADHD coaching, in fact!), personalized to your life (because what works for me may not work for you), and focused on action instead of theory (because we’re not short of knowledge—we just aren’t doing it!).

Our service is fit for ADHD brains. We merge the best worlds of telehealth (e.g. therapy/coaching sessions) and asynchronous apps (e.g. Headspace, Noom) to create a solid combo of human accountability and app-based support. You get matched with an ADHD-specialized coach, meet weekly in focused video/audio sessions where you set weekly goals, and over time, bit-by-bit start building a new day-to-day that supports your goals: new routines, systems, and skills.

Our program is rooted in science-backed methodologies including Health & Wellness Coaching, Cognitive Behavioral Coaching (CBC/CBT), Acceptance Commitment Training (ACT), positive psychology, and solution-focused coaching. The way we deliver it, however, is less rigid and more experimental. In each 15-min session and in the asynchronous portions, you’ll draw on collective ADHD community knowledge to work with one thing a week in your life that you’d like to improve on. Your coach will support you via text access (in-app) and by seeing and reacting to your weekly “Actions”.

In terms of the app itself, there are 3 main components: (1) a daily/weekly simple check-list where you track your coaching tasks, checking them off (automatically pings your coach) and reflecting on your progress in-app, (2) a resource hub where you’ll find short, bite-sized content in service of your coaching journey, not standalone education to just “read up on”, and (3) your personalized chat with your coach where they’ll guide you through the journey—checking in on your completed/in-completed tasks, giving you feedback, and sending you resources.

On the back end, our coaches have web and mobile apps that are designed to save them time and cognitive effort, so that they can focus on coaching. Simple things like “scheduled sends” and a prioritized message list are included to help them manage a large case load with less effort.

It’s $99/mo. for 15-min weekly “bite-sized” sessions, or $349/mo. for 45-min “similar-to-traditional” coaching sessions. Traditional coaching can run $400-700+/mo. (up to the thousands depending on the coach). We also reserve a portion of our memberships for those with financial need, on a case by case basis.

If you have ADHD (or think you do), we’d love for you to check out our platform and give us critical feedback (or positive reinforcement!). It’s a super streamlined and ADHD-friendly signup process and in honor of our launch and celebration of October being ADHD Awareness Month, the first month is 40% off (offer until Nov 12).

I invite the greater Hacker News community to share any experiences you have with ADHD & navigating care, and am always open to scheduling a 1:1 call to learn more!

[Uptrenda]

Oh look: another service that thinks ADHD is an inability to do scheduling or some other bullshit. ADHD is literally a neurological disorder that effects dopamine in the brain. It reduces wakefulness, concentration, the ability to filter out distractions, and the ability to motivate yourself. A software solution won't fix this. What ADHD people need isn't a normie couch to tell them to 'prioritize' differently or a bunch of shitty checkboxes to tick off. They need a licensed psychiatrist to prescribe stimulants which are effective for treating up to 85% of suffers. This service is exploitative, idiotic, uninformed, and deeming. I don't know why YC want anything to do with this. Maybe they thought people with ADHD were desperate marks and a startup could be build around exploiting them. Fuck off with that bullshit. You should be ashamed.

[cauthon]

Why do you describe your product as "coaching", and not "therapy"? Is this a marketing decision because of a perceived stigma around the term "therapy"? (The re-branding of CBT/ACT to "coaching" and "training" instead of "therapy" strikes me as odd, I don't understand the emphasis on avoiding the term.)

Will your company be accepting medical insurance? $350/mo (~$90/session) is roughly half of what billed-to-insurance therapy costs have looked like for me ($150-200 per weekly session), which could make this a competitive option for people who are uninsured. However, with insurance I've usually paid $25-40/session out of pocket.

[christalwang]

The closest sister discipline our coaches practice is Health & Wellness coaching, but we also draw on the foundations of positive psychology, CBT, etc. depending on the member's situation. The practices of coaching & therapy, although they have some overlap, are largely different in both practice and outcomes. For example, in the context of ADHD, coaching is very focused on future-oriented outcomes and tactic-oriented skills, whereas therapy is often focused on disentangling thoughts, unpacking trauma, etc. Also, coaching is aimed at taking a person upwards to their goals, and you don't necessarily need a diagnosis of any sort to be here. I may have rambled a bit, but the bottom line is, we don't practice therapy on our platform.

Right now coaching is not covered under most insurance plans, unfortunately. Some members have been able to work with their employer benefits to get Shimmer covered but it's definitely a case by case basis right now. However, we try our best to work with our members (we have a needs-based financial aid package and have something in the works that's a bit bigger than this!) where we can!

[elil17]

From their website: We’re looking for licensed coaches (ICF or NBHWC preferred) or licensed mental health professionals (e.g., PhD, PsyD, LCSW, LMFT, etc.) specializing in ADHD.

Looks like they accept people with coaching licenses (this often means less than 200 hours of training).

My understanding is that coaches are typically qualified to work with people who don't have acute mental health needs. For example a coach might help someone figure out how to eat healthier, but wouldn't be qualified to treat an eating disorder.

[dec0dedab0de]

I heard of coaching in relation to ADHD over a decade ago, it's not something they invented.

I don't know anything about Shimmer, so I don't know how well they fit the mold, but as I understand ADHD Coaching: The general idea is that the coaches are there to supplement therapy and/or drugs with practical "in the weeds" advice. A Therapist would worry about making you feel better, and might point you in the direction of some resources to learn practical coping skills. A coach is one of the resources to help you learn practical skills.

[PragmaticPulp]

> However, with insurance I've usually paid $25-40/session out of pocket.

This is what insured people need to keep in mind.

Always look up the actual cost estimation through your insurer's website first. It's not uncommon for health insurance at tech companies to have therapy options that come out to $20-30/session. Worth checking first!

Also, note that the service offered here is explicitly "coaching" and not "therapy" as you'd receive from licensed therapists through your insurance.

[sadhd]

Coaching probably does not require part 21 compliance. It's like "this is not intended to treat any disorder..." disclaimers on supplements. FDA compliance is exhausting and very difficult/expensive. They might have gone through it. Don't know.

[TheTaytay]

Im really surprised to see the intense skepticism here. As someone who is just stumbling into this world and studying ADHD as an otherwise successful adult, Chris’ description (and $99 price frankly) resonated with me and made me think I might be in the target market. Even one of his responses to someone thanking someone for feedback is being downvoted. Is there a connotation of ADHD being associated with snake-oil or scams that I’m not familiar with?

(Meta-comment questions aside, congrats on the launch!)

[PragmaticPulp]

> As someone who is just stumbling into this world and studying ADHD as an otherwise successful adult, Chris’ description (and $99 price frankly) resonated with me and made me think I might be in the target market.

The issue is that this is likely more expensive for someone with health insurance than it would be to go out and engage with a guaranteed licensed medical professional for ADHD therapy.

They use some vague language on the website (look carefully for the "or" in the qualifications listing) to obscure that fact that you might be working with a "coach" instead of a licensed therapist. They also use some moderately misleading language to avoid saying they offer therapy for ADHD, instead offering things like life skills.

Basically, anyone looking at this should first go to their insurance company's website and check the price of true ADHD therapy from a guaranteed licensed medical professional that you can choose yourself. Over the course of several sessions, the cost of doing this through insurance could be much lower and you're arguably likely to get better treatment (coaches cannot provide therapy by law, so they're kind of coaching around it instead).

[faeriechangling]

>Is there a connotation of ADHD being associated with snake-oil or scams that I’m not familiar with?

With ADHD? Not really, but compared to other disabled people those with ADHD tend to be extremely pro mainstream medicine because they have basically the most effective pharmacological treatments of ANY mental disorder. Stimulants are several times more effective than treatments like SSRIs. So there is a strong bias towards conservatism because well why rock the boat when you have extremely effective treatment options?

Other disabled people tend to have a much more ambivalent or sceptical view of mainstream medicine since trying to treat most mental disorders is akin to trying to stop smoking. It does happen and it's more likely to happen the more times you try, but it's a plodding frustrating business that makes you desire something better. So they're more keen on more, lets call them "speculative" approaches to health.

For me with this specific case, it's them talking up the "science-based" (lol) nature of their program and them directly marketing it to people not diagnosed with ADHD but who suspect they have it. Show me the science showing this is an effective treatment for people who THINK they have ADHD. Thus essentially encouraging people to defer a diagnosis which results in insanely effective treatments to try a program that is experimental at best and is based off methodologies which are far less successful than pharmacological interventions. It smacks of exploitation. I'm not inherently opposed to the fundamental idea they're presenting, I simply don't trust these people AT ALL and think they're dangerous.

[WXLCKNO]

Same. As someone well off with inattentive type ADHD, 99$ is money I wouldn't mind throwing away for a shot at getting better with the daily issues I face. And then if it works progressing to something more expensive is also not a problem.

In my case the issue is that despite having a growth mindset for learning pretty much anything, in the case of ADHD stuff I've been trying for so long to fix myself that it feels like I'll never be able to. And that trying out this service and making efforts would be more draining than living with the symptoms is.

I realise that's not true so I could force myself to do it, it's just what I feel.

Going to go talk with an ADHD specialized psychologist this month and will see if a service like this can be extra help perhaps.

[christalwang]

Hi! Chris(tal) here (also, I'm a woman.. she/her, haha. I get that a lot using my nickname)

Unfortunately, yes. There are many businesses that take advantage of not only people with ADHD but people in other vulnerable communities (e.g. other neurological conditions and mental illnesses). I've been in this space for a long time since I started with my Eating Disorder amongst other things in my teenage years.

Of course, as most of you have seen, there's a lot of splash currently in the news especially in the ADHD space so I completely understand the skepticism.

Quite honestly it's not easy for me to have my story out vulnerably in the open and linked to our business but for me it's worth it! So I really appreciate your positive feedback, it goes a long way!

[jasonladuke0311]

Same here. I think there is a natural undercurrent of skepticism on HN, a lot of which is well-deserved.

The ROI of this could be tremendous for someone in tech. If this helps you get your shit together enough to be promoted a cycle early, for example, or find a new job, it could be a bargain.

[treeman79]

ADHD runs very strong in my family. My mom never learned to control it and lets it ruin her interactions. Changing topics 2-3 times in a sentience is not uncommon. My career was a mix of major success and failures. Basically depending how routine or novel the problem set was. Took medication at 40 for the first time.

First time in my life I was able to work on something boring where it didn’t feel physically painful to be doing it. Sadly I don’t tolerate the medication well. (Pain) so I do without it.

Alternatives are always very attractive.

I’ve often thought it would be awesome if I could just pay someone minimum wage to sit behind me and tap on my shoulder every time I got off task.

[SkyPuncher]

> Is there a connotation of ADHD being associated with snake-oil or scams that I’m not familiar with?

Yes. Well, not really snake-oil, but this spaces is definitely associated with low-effort pill mills and broken marketing promises.

Therapy is hard. Doing it at scale is nearly impossible. Doing it at scale at a price point consumers expect is literally impossible. As a result, you end up with a bunch of "mental health" "tech" companies that are making big promises, but essentially just putting their patients through checkboxes.

[onlyrealcuzzo]

Probably going to get downvoted - but I'll hypothesize anyway...

I imagine for the younger folks on HN, we grew up with what seemed like >50% of people claiming to have ADHD, OCD, Tourettes - or some other TikTok-fad "cool" disorder - which obviously not that many people actually have these problems.

At least not too long ago when I was young enough to be in that crowd - ADHD was the king of "cool" disorders. Everyone wanted to have ADHD. If you were "normal" - that was "uncool". It was like - what's wrong with you? Why don't you have some debilitating problem like everyone else?

So like claimed gluten intolerance in the adult population - I think there could be some skepticism to the occurrence and severity of some of these disorders - and to anyone making products for such groups to be a snake-oil salesman trying to capitalize.

But, who cares? Is anyone getting hurt? Let people do what makes them happy.

[sadhd]

If you have genuine adhd, you are not going to be the best at money management. You will likely also not hold high paying jobs because of the executive function requirements. They probably need to be 21cfr compliant in order to qualify as a medical device. I only did part 11 and clinical analyzers so I don't know about medical devices such as an app.

[ericmcer]

How many adults do you think would describe themselves as having some level of ADHD? With all the distractions of today it is a ripe market so when someone offers "treatment" with no diagnosis necessary and no actual medical professionals (I am not sure what an ADHD-coach is) it does ring a few alarm bells.

[kevinqinhu]

Interesting concept. Personally, I'm not a fan of therapy (tried it 3 times and it didn't stick) because I felt like I wasn't learning anything tactical that I can apply to my life. I'm a founder with ADHD so I'm very focused on building and "unblocking" myself -- e.g. getting myself to do the thing I know I need to do but can't do for some reason. If having a coach who can help unblock me quickly when I'm in a state of executive dysfunction, I can see how it'd be worth the monthly fee.

Thinking of giving it a shot. I'm curious though, how long does it take to start seeing results from the coaching? I suspect that it'll take some time for your coach to get familiar with you and recommend strategies that actually work.

Also curious about what retention looks like. I tend to try a bunch of different methodologies to manage my ADHD but have trouble sticking to them -- I've tried so many productivity tools lol. What's going to get me to stay?

[vaishnavsm]

Congrats and good luck on the launch!

Ok so in general I'd chalk this up to being disinterested, but I think this is relevant for a product meant for people with ADHD:

After a couple pages of choices, I was met with a screen with options A through K, and I instantly closed the tab. I didn't even read what it was asking. I realised that this may literally be ADHD like behaviour, so I opened it back up again, but it was still quite overwhelming and it took conscious effort to read through the form. I think this is just because I'm used to just entering my email and password, or using social logins, so filling the form seemed to be a substantial point of friction (even though I realise how it could be useful)

I'm unsure if I have ADHD, and it's never been a problem for me, but I sure do have a short attention span haha

[annie_muss]

It's really great to see a service like this.

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 30. It's shocking how much damage it can do in your life. On the outside you might see the lost jobs, career trouble and difficulty in relationships but the inner world of ADHD can be even worse. Frustration from unmet goals and shame from letting down those closest to you.

Unfortunately, where I'm from insurance doesn't cover any kind of talk therapy. Online services like this can be an affordable way to access help.

[iamdbtoo]

> We understand that life doesn't always go according to plan. Shimmer members can cancel or reschedule a coaching video call without penalty 24 hours in advance. If cancellation is within 24 hours, the session will be forfeited for the week. Thank you for your understanding!

I understand your need to ensure your time is not wasted, but policies like this can wreak havoc on people struggling with executive dysfunction and that's your target audience. I don't know what the right solution is, but a company serving this market needs a more flexible policy for something like this.

[TaylorAlexander]

Maybe an optional plan that costs a little extra but allows for last minute rescheduling within the week. And everyone starts with this feature at no extra cost at the beginning. The company leaves extra slots open for this possibility, treating it like an insurance scheme.

Also last minute rescheduling means last minute scheduling for other people too. They may find that they just offer this to everyone and the costs balance out. It does seem like imposing too many scheduling constraints on a specifically ADHD audience could lead to a lot of friction!

[LocalH]

I agree with this. Such policies often have very ableist results for people with dopamine shortage. That may not be the intention, it's often a purely business decision based on economic analysis of the business model, but that is a common result.

The sad part is, it would be entirely possible for ADHD and other ASDs to be accomodated in daily society. But, people without those differences would abuse the absolute piss out of those accomodations. How do we prevent abuse without harming those who legitimately require such accomodations? There's a reason there is such a concept as "ADHD tax".

[fragmede]

the right answer, with a pool of VC money, is to have a pool of coaches on tap, so the appointment is NOW. no scheduling stuff in the future to be missed or forgotten. expensive on the back end, but that's what the VC money is for. And also to have it in the middle of the night - so many people I know have their awake hours from 1-3am, meet people with ADHD where they are.

[uberduper]

Am I the only adult that just never got around to getting an official diagnosis for the condition I'd obviously had since a child and thought was dealing with just fine by self medicating with caffeine and nicotine?

I read things like this and it seems so absurd. Is anyone really surprised by the diagnosis?

>Getting diagnosed with ADHD as an adult is complicated—equally heartbreaking and liberating. You literally need to rewrite your whole life narrative in light of this new realization. The process currently is super confusing and expensive (medications, therapy, coaching, tools, apps, etc.)

The only surprise for me was finding out what, what I assume, "normal" is like once I started on real stimulants. Turns out I was wrong. I wasn't dealing with it just fine all along. I'd been living on hard mode and never knew it.

[christalwang]

Appreciate you sharing, and resonate a lot...

For me, I wasn't surprised by the diagnosis but taking the pause to finally recognize (and a 3rd party, professional) my ADHD changed things for me.

I resonate with the hard mode. I had the same realization when I got to the right dose/type of medication.

[okhuman]

"ADHD" needs a rebranding... move away from clinical diagnosis from medical professionals which can be "heartbreaking" or "liberating" to coaches/advisors running community groups which build frameworks for these like minded, like personality individuals (and their associated family/friends) to operate in (like a 'club') and to help educate others (advocacy).

People with "ADHD" are already covered by the Big Five Personality Traits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits like every other person is.

[xeniaangevin]

As a coaching psychologist and a senior member of Shimmer team, I am ever so pleased to see you referring to the most validated bio-psychological model of personality traits. You are absolutely right that ADHD folk have a recognisable “signature” on a Big Five model, within the traditional and the modern interpretations of this theoretical perspective.

However, the Big Five model only talks about the most notable personality traits in statistical terms, whereas the lived experience of a person with ADHD is illuminated by the richness, variety and the amplitude of the rest of the personality traits which may be less statistically profound but critically important to a particular person and the way in which they relate to their ADHD.

While I can’t talk about the ADHD coaching overall, the “Shimmer model” is acutely attuned to the lived experience and phenomenology of each member we work with. And we always welcome critical and well-informed enquiries about what informs our approach. Thank you!

[LocalH]

I propose we either call it "Focus Control Disorder" or where the context would be appropriate, "dopamine dysfunction". If someone is unable to function and it turns out they had a vitamin D or potassium deficiency, we don't call it "sunlight rejection disorder" or "bananaphobia", ya know? The very name of ADHD is ableist, it defines neurodivergent life in neurotypical terms (in this context, "neurotypical" merely means one has a brain that typically generates the proper amount of dopamine to function in modern society).

This is totally a problem with the manufactured society we have created as humans. I'm absolutely certain that when we lived off this earth more naturally, the traits that have become disadvantages were originally communal strengths. My personal hypothesis is that ADHD is a series of traits that evolved to make wonderful hunters. The ability for the slightest noise/motion to grab our attention, the hyperfocus on things that do grab our attention, the ability to make connections extremely fast in a fractal manner, all of these traits would be a huge advantage when hunting prey to feed your social group or to protect your group from predators.

[christalwang]

Agree on the rebranding. Thank you for your positivity & inclusivity!!

Apologize if the "heartbreaking" and "liberating" language felt a bit dramatic (I am a bit dramatic...), but it really did feel that way for me after living my whole life feeling like I was constantly doing everything wrong.

Ever since slowly going deeper and deeper into the ADHD community, the positive spark of the community is undeniably special and since reframing a lot of my views on ADHD & myself, I've been able to lean more heavily on some of my "superpowers" as well.

We actually love the Big 5 personality traits out of all those similar quizzes, backed by good science and I think it's actually the fan fave of our Head ADHD Coaching Psychologist, Xenia!

There's an organization understood.org that is starting/forwarding the movement (neurodiversity as a whole, not just ADHD) exactly as you say! We're excited about some upcoming partnerships with them :)

[falcolas]

So, please tell me, where does executive disfunction fall in the "Big Five"? How about time blindness? Emotional disregulation? Persistent short term memory issues?

It is a disorder which has a material impact on a person's ability to live in our society. In more severe cases, the afflicted benefit greatly from medication. No amount of rebranding or projection will change this.

[drewpc]

Do you think this article describing a better name for ADHD as Variable Attention Stimulus Trait or VAST [1] addresses the concerns you bring up?

[1] https://www.additudemag.com/attention-deficit-disorder-vast/

[sadhd]

Watch Barkley. They can't rebrand it as ADHD is already linked to law like PL 1973 and the Americans with disabilities act, and to get there was hard enough. We need to make people think executive function disorder when they hear the acronym ADHD.

[alvarlagerlof]

Simplify much, are we?

[Twounwhe]

> It’s $99/mo

I'm clearly not one of your intended users because I don't have $99/mo, but I don't have $99/mo because of how ADHD impacts my ability to function in current society.

As for other feedback, 11 options for question 3 on the intake survey is just too much. It takes too much effort to adequately focus on this question, so I closed the page.

[aught]

I’ve been in a special program for adhd through Duke University. Treatment is not supposed to be meds OR coaching, it’s meds AND coaching. While I do appreciate having a team psychiatrist, psychologist, and medical the biggest asset is the flexibility of treatment. CBT techniques did not work for me and the workbook was not a good fit, having a team of specialists that I can contact at any time has been key. Some people can do it with just medication or CBT but most cannot. Another issue is the lack of inclusion of comorbid diagnosis which is more common than not with adhd patients. Getting the diagnosis is great it can be liberating but it can also be traumatic especially when the diagnosis is medication only. It is often the case that developers making the apps narrow the demographic to the point of no real benefit. I personally have often wished for more services such as financial management, meal planning, and work. Apps themselves are limited by the data structures as well. Most adhd patients do not think linearly and it is a disservice to force that on to us. CBT for me was masking heavy which often affects physical health and has been shown to shorten already shorter average life spans significantly. CBT can be harmful and I am wondering why it was chosen. Mindfulness as well is problematic for individuals with adhd.

[weinzierl]

What differentiates you offering from Inflow (https://www.getinflow.io)?

The description of your app sounds almost like a one to one copy.

EDIT: I checked the Inflow offering and even the pricing is similar to yours.

2nd EDIT: Also, the 'coaching, but not therapy' thing is similar.

[christalwang]

Inflow, to my understanding, is a primarily education-based app with community & coaching components. I use Inflow myself, and find their education extremely valuable and easy to digest.

Our service (Shimmer) is focused on the coaching relationship itself. So you get matched with a 1:1 coach and meet every week over video/audio to develop that relationship and work on specific focuses. We do have a smaller element of education in it but it's only deployed in the context of your coaching journey (e.g. your coach may send you a resource related to the task you're working on for the week).

For each person, something different will resonate. For some people, multiple things will resonate! We have members who use or have used Inflow as well.

[endisneigh]

I like the site but it seems overpriced - a good therapist is cheaper and can do the same thing. A psychologist and psychiatrist can both clinically diagnose you and give you pharmaceuticals if needed at prices similar to the ones mentioned if you have insurance.

Personally I would argue from working with some kids who have adhd in the past that more gamification and reasons to use their phone will exacerbate some of the worst symptoms of their adhd.

I don’t see the niche this fills. In any case, good luck.

[chrsig]

> It’s $99/mo.

Person with severe adhd and disposable income here: Nope. This is too much. Especially if you're not offering psychiatric services (e.g., no meds).

> in honor of our launch and celebration of October being ADHD Awareness Month, the first month is 40% off (offer until Nov 12).

I can appreciate celebrating october being adhd awareness month in november.

I also want to call out that there's no regulation around adhd coaching. More or less anyone can do it with out qualifications. You'll notice that there's no mention of insurance being accepted. I say this because it's a ripe area for taking advantage of people. In the absence of regulation, extra scrutiny is warranted.

The faq states:

> All of our Shimmer ADHD Coaches are licensed or certified mental health professionals or have extensive experience with ADHD & undergo our Shimmer Coach Training program developed alongside our clinical advisors Dr. Amin Azzam (MD, MA), Dr. Anil Chacko (PhD), and our Head ADHD Coaching Psychologist Xenia Angevin.

> All of our Shimmer ADHD Coaches are licensed or certified mental health professionals or have extensive experience with ADHD

That's a sneaky 'or' there -- What're the statistics around the coaches qualifications?

> have extensive experience with ADHD & undergo our Shimmer Coach Training program

So not mental health professionals

> our clinical advisors Dr. Amin Azzam (MD, MA), Dr. Anil Chacko (PhD), and our Head ADHD Coaching Psychologist Xenia Angevin.

No linkage to their qualifications

[donclark]

I'm curious why so many companies and products come out of the gate with pricing too high. Are they so overconfident in their offerings? Are they just that desperate? Why not start at lower-than-expected pricing, cause an uproar and influx of new customers, and increase cost to keep the new customer numbers in check? I would think we have a better handle on the launch process by now. I wish you and your team well.

[neon_electro]

Tried creating an account with Sign In with Apple and got this result: https://imgur.com/a/Op7UCBL

[vsreed]

Just fixed the issue! You should be able to sign in with apple id now, sorry about the trouble there.

[sirsinsalot]

I have ADHD (late diagnosis) and am both medicated and have had years of counselling.

The problem with ADHD is that a simple dopamine system deficiency expresses in ways as complex as humans themselves.

I found something that works for me but I imagine it wouldn't work for anyone else.

Even with thousands spent per year on the best help, I'm still my own worst enemy due to the constant brain discomfort.

As an example, my work focus is fine but I struggle with compulsion , impulsively, chronic boredom and addiction.

While I applaud any effort to raise awareness and develop solutions, the solutions I feel are as complex as the problems and they're not something you can encapsulate and charge $99/mo for.

Sorry.

[kevinbunarjo]

This is a really nifty idea! I like the fact that you guys are combining teletherapy with also an app that gives more actionable things to follow. Definitely one of the hardest things about going to therapy was actually practicing the things we'd talk about during the session.

As many have already pointed out, the price point is definitely high, but I think you guys can need to target a wealthier audience in the beginning before being able to make all your resources accessible to everyone.

[lambic]

> If you have ADHD (or think you do)

Does the "or think you do" mean you perform diagnoses too?

[christalwang]

Unfortunately we don't perform diagnoses at this point. We do have some great partners that we refer out to for diagnoses, or we can help support folks through that process.

What we mean by that is we coach people who don't necessarily have a diagnosis. We welcome anyone who wants to come and be coached on ADHD-related skills & goals. For example, if you want to work on your executive function but you don't have an ADHD diagnosis, you're completely welcome here!

This is also because certain cultures (or an array of different circumstances could put someone in this position) prevent folks from getting a timely diagnosis and/or they don't want to tell their parents, etc. But in this case they can still get coaching with less of the stigma. This is a broader challenge/problem in society though that we're barely scratching the surface on.

As a female, queer, BIPOC/AAPI person who grew up in a certain "bubble", I've definitely faced head on how hard it can be to take the first step to diagnosis.