Life transitions come with learning curves and emotional tolls that are often harder to manage for people with learning needs. I am a transition specialist whose mission is to help coach young adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities so they can achieve their academic, life, and career goals. I am a seasoned specialist with an M.A. in Special Education and a niche expertise of understanding a variety of learning needs and how that may affect a school or work environment. Through using a backwards planning methodology, my philosophy is to build confidence through identifying strengths, skills sets that need to be nurtured, and mitigate learned helplessness by empowering the people I coach.
Goal setting and individualized plans are a part of education, so why shouldn’t those structures continue when they start their careers? I advise young adults and/or their families as they plan for both short- and long-term life and work goals.
My services are geared toward young adults aged 17 to 27 with mild to moderate learning needs of all types. For my services to be effective, the client should be able to communicate verbally and have a basic knowledge of their learning profile (e.g., strengths and weaknesses and areas that require accommodation and scaffolding).
Family Consultation: This type of consultation is for a “do-it-yourself” family whose parents are seeking advice on how to build routines in the household and create contracts with their adult children to help them become more independent within a couple years. We will set goals and routines together and create set checkpoints to measure progress or adjust the goals and routines as needed. Bi-weekly or monthly meetings are preferred.
Transition “Decision Making” Consultation: These consultations are geared toward individuals and families making major transitional decisions, including switching school systems, deciding whether to attend college, mixing work with post-secondary college, securing a job after high school, preparing for career life after college, and goal setting for college or internships. Depending on the family dynamic, this could involve a series of meetings with the full family unit or separate meetings with the parent and the child before meeting together as a full family unit.
Life and Job Coaching: These services involve honing a variety of skills with the individual, including short-term and long-term goals for careers and independent living. Weekly meetings spanning several months are the most effective. Over a series of several sessions, the client and I focus on backwards planning and reflect on the client’s current skill set. We identify strengths and areas of growth necessary to meet long term goals. Once some goals are set, they will be reviewed with the family in case additional background information is needed to better understand any barriers to reaching these goals. Depending on the situation, parents or guardians will sometimes need to be part of supporting any independent living goals. Skills taught include, but are not limited to, interviewing, understanding social nuances in professional settings and communications, how to read job descriptions and determine a good match, how to create a budget, how to create a notification system for paying bills on time, networking, and writing cover letters.
Nothing provides me greater joy than seeing my clients become more confident and independent in making decisions and meeting their goals independently.
I earned my M.A. in Special Education from the College of William and Mary, with the goal of advocating for children with disabilities and creating more inclusive classrooms and communities. Prior to being a life coach, I have gained over 10 years of experience in education in the U.S. and internationally providing individualized academic learning support and developing curriculum. Earlier in my career I worked as a public relations consultant in Washington D.C., where I cultivated my networking and communication skills. I also earned a B.S. in Psychology and Communication Studies from James Madison University. Find out more and connect with me on LinkedIn.