Education is more than just learning facts: it is an emotional experience. Often students who struggle academically also struggle to maintain their emotional wellbeing, and vice versa. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum. To truly thrive, students need to have academic skills and feel balanced and satisfied with their social-emotional lives.

Studies show that college students with ADHD and executive function challenges experience substantial academic and social-emotional difficulties throughout their college years. Academic coaching simultaneously strengthens academic skills, like organization, planning, study techniques and time management, while bolstering a student’s emotional wellbeing, in areas such as resilience, stress management, confidence and emotional regulation. At its best, coaching is a lively, creative and transformational experience, building self-awareness and empowering students to self-advocate and become independent learners. It is particularly effective for students with ADHD, executive function challenges, and those struggling to achieve their goals.

Kelly Schwenkmeyer, MEd, a certified academic coach, will explain how coaching works for high school and college students and will share anecdotes to illuminate how unique and personalized the coaching process can be.