Coaching and Advising

It can be extremely difficult to interpret and align our intellectual, moral, and vocational identities. This can make us feel stressed, confused, and unmotivated to learn or work. Many adults struggle to make sense of their current, former, or future academic experiences as college or university students.

Sometimes this is because we lack practical knowledge about how to effectively study or learn, but it can also often involve not understanding why we are trying to learn what we are trying to learn, and what that personally means to us.

For example, we may wonder:

  • Am I pursuing the right job or career?
  • Should I drop out of school or change what I am studying?
  • Why am I avoiding doing my academic work?
  • How do I make it less difficult for me to learn?
  • What do I really want to learn about?
  • How can I help myself and others by what I am learning?
  • How can I explain to others why I did not finish my degree?
  • Which topic makes sense for me to research?
  • What are my intellectual or ethical goals in life?

As an expert in educational and moral psychology, I am exploring roles, such as academic support/life/career coach or educational advisor, where I would be able to help motivate current, former, or prospective adult students as they navigate higher education and their careers. I am interested in helping them explore and develop effective learning skills, as well as helping them reflect on, interpret, and align their personal intellectual, moral, and vocational development.

Current, prospective, and former graduate students might find coaching from me especially helpful in gathering and organizing their thoughts about their research and pre-professional experiences.

My approach to academic support coaching would be gentle, curious, and exploratory. It would center on helping people reflect on, interpret, and interact with what deeply motivates them in the context of their multiple identities and complex lives. I view the academic experience as part of one’s personal development as a whole person.

I would accompany students on their academic journeys learning about themselves and the world.

In practice, this could involve me helping students:

  • explore their intellectual or ethical interests, values, and aspirations
  • explain their academic experiences (positive and negative) to themselves and others
  • set and prioritize their learning goals
  • increase their motivation to study and learn
  • identify helpful learning strategies
  • develop effective study skills and habits
  • clarify research topics
  • improve their academic writing
  • practice presenting, critiquing, and defending their ideas
  • reflect on the meaning of their academic experience and intellectual lives
  • find and cultivate intellectual peers, mentors, and community
  • explore vocational and career options
  • navigate cultural differences and academic norms
  • design and plan morally meaningful service learning projects and experiences
  • discuss how ones research can help others

Neurodiversity Support and Advocacy

Neurodiverse students often face specific challenges in higher education and employment since they have different ways of intepreting the world. It can be difficult for neurodiverse people to identify or receive the accomodations they believe they need to learn and work effectively.

I bring personal and family experiences with neurodiversity, which informs my sensitivity to the different ways people learn and experience higher education and work environments. I do not diagnose medical conditions involving neurodiversity (e..g, ADHD, ASD), but, as a coach, I would help people reflect on their experiences of neurodiversity so that they can develop effective personal strategies and habits for learning and working in their specific academic and professional environments.

I am NOT a Mental Health Professional or Provider

While I hope my coaching would ultimately improve the physical and mental well-being of students, I am not a mental health professional or provider. My expertise is in educational and moral psychology (especially motivation), teaching, and coaching. I am qualified to research, teach, and coach people. While I have some academic knowledge about psychopsychology and neurodiversity, I do not yet have sufficient expertise in clinical psychology or mental health counseling to diagnose or treat any physical or mental health disorders or illnesses. Such medical diagnosis and therapeutic support is often important, complementary, and necessary, but I do not provide it. If you need such expertise and support, I would refer you to your medical doctor or a licensed mental health professional.

Religious and Spiritual Inclusivity

You may notice that I also identify as a universalist Quaker friar. You don’t have to be Quaker or religious to work with me. As a universalist Quaker, I would welcome working with people from many different cultural backgrounds, including those who identify with different religions, spiritualities, or philosophies, and people who identify as atheist or agnostic. While my coaching is motivated by my universalist Quaker spirituality, and I try to communicate and act in accordance with it, my academic coaching does NOT involve converting or recruiting you to my religion. However, if clients are interested in discussing religious, spiritual, or philosophical matters as they relate to their academic experience, I am open to that as well.

If my exploration interests you, please contact me via LinkedIn.