College can be a difficult transition for any student and can be especially challenging for students with ADHD.
Many are away from home for the first time and away from the structures that helped them be successful in high school. Students with ADHD often report that they feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with assignments, due dates, readings, and labs. Many struggle with time management, organization, planning, and goal setting. They may have great ideas but struggle to get started on them and see them through to completion.
When coaching college students we also discuss the importance of good self-care and its relationship to ADHD and success.
In order to structure yourself for success, what do you need? Coach and client meet once weekly to plan and prioritize upcoming work, always factoring in how ADHD might get in the way… and how to work around it. Frequent text check-ins between meetings are encouraged as a way to monitor progress, offer support, and brainstorm around possible obstacles or roadblocks.
College students with ADHD who partner with an experienced coach say that they feel more confident, more self-reliant, and are better able to move forward in all areas of their lives.
Benefits of coaching:
- Discover hidden strengths and talents that you already possess
- Convert good intentions into actions
- Develop strategies and systems to become more effective in managing day to day life; time management, tracking assignments and due dates, laundry
- Create an action plan for success during weekly meetings
- Learn more about the neurobiology of the ADHD brain and ways to increase motivation, get into action, and complete tasks
- Improve self-care; sleep, diet, meds, exercise
- Create balance between academic and social demands
- Better able to self-advocate with campus disability services and professors with confidence
