What is EF Coaching?

I coach teens, college students, adults, and families who are often creative, curious, and overwhelmed. Through meaningful conversation and creating graphics, shared to-do lists, or drafts of emails and writing projects, I guide people to leverage their strengths, use their resources, practice accountability, and learn strategies that work for their brains. It’s a little like therapy for the “doing” part of your life. I help clients start tasks they don’t want to do, spend less time on work overall, and speak up for the support they need. I provide a ton of validation for how hard it can feel to try a new strategy. I walk with my clients as they realize hard truths and shed shame.

How do I get buy-in from people I work with?

I try to counteract any shame that any person “should” be able to organize, plan, remember, or avoid a meltdown by a certain age. I’m approachable and relatable, and I’m open about my own struggles. I provide clients with a list of options, including skills and neuroscience-based content they may want to learn from me.

How do I teach transferable skills?

My approach is highly customized because each client is unique. When applicable, I review testing reports, IEPs, and other documentation. I conduct an in-depth 60-minute intake interview to get to know clients’ passions, heroes, and challenges. I provide my clients with a visual survey to gather data about their satisfaction with various aspects of their lives. When clients rate their satisfaction with an area of their lives as 4 out of 10, I start a conversation about how wearying that feels and brainstorm long- and short-term goals.

Sure, I introduce planners, calendars, and workspace organization styles. I work with students and adults to review To-Dos in digital platforms and break down the multiple steps within a larger project or task.

Here’s why clients feel comfortable working together to find solutions: I affirm why their brains may zoom over the list without processing the information. I’m candid with my clients about how teachers, professors, employers, and spouses may not understand how their brains work. Humor is a key ingredient. I make it clear that each client has agency and moves to make.

Some of my favorite strategies

Understand what ADHD is and how it affects your brain, ( so you aren’t so depleted by stigma & shame)

Use an analog clock to monitor the passing of time

How to plan and execute a multi-step task

Use self-talk to reduce anxiety

How do we know it works?

It works because a timid college student asks a friendly face in a giant lecture hall if they could study together for the next exam.

It works because a student says, “Actually, this planner doesn’t work for me. What does work is when I have something simpler, more streamlined...” and makes their own weekly template.

It works because high school students begin using study halls to visit their teachers and ask for help, and because college students begin attending office hours and the writing center to ask for help.

It works because a college student who used to skip classes due to a disordered sleep schedule, depression, and shame about missing assignments has multiple weeks of class attendance, assignments completed on time, and weekend plans to look forward to.

It works because spouses turn to each other and say, “Actually, I don’t have the capacity to do all of those things this weekend. I need more time to myself in order to feel rested and ready for the workweek.”

It works because an employee tells their supervisor, “I am dedicated to improving this project, and I will be able to if you rename a few of these categories in OneNote and let me shift some of the content to a more user-friendly location.”

It works because parents and their children or spouses get more opportunities to connect as a family with intellectual and social interests in common instead of as managers and harried household employees.