I offer Academic Coaching as a compliment to Sports Psychology, College Admissions, Individual Therapy, and other services. Not every client who receives these core services will want or need Academic Success Coaching, but for some, the combination is a great fit. In fact, there is an emerging field called Therapeutic Tutoring where academic coaching is interwoven with traditional therapy.
Academic Coaching services aim to ensure that you meet academic goals while achieving and being content in other areas. This service is most commonly used to serve high school students, but it might also be used for college and graduate students who want to be sure their academic achievement matches their potential. You can visit here is a nice article from the National Institute of Health about how important academic performance is in a student’s well-being and ability to manage stress.
How Academic Coaching Works
Academic Coaching is designed to look at school as a series of performance tasks. The most common performance aspects of school are tests. I often help students overcome test anxiety, develop confidence in their test-taking ability, and learn strategies to tap into “flow” to successfully and effectively get through each test.
Beyond test taking, however, Academic Success Coaching works to help a student also perform at their best when taking in information, doing homework, and presenting or participating in class. Many of the tenets of Performance Psychology usually associated with sports can help students in the classroom and with homework. For example:
- Homework: Homework for school is similar to the visualization and off-field learning an athlete does before an athletic contest. The more the athlete prepares by ensuring they are fully prepared, the better; this is the same function homework provides.
- Classroom Participation: If tests are like game-day performance, then class participation is similar to practice and scrimmage performance. Class participation also leads to confidence in one’s abilities, just as practice in front of a coach does for an athlete.
- Attention and Concentration: Sports psychologists work with athletes to expand the amount of information they are taking in during their performance. Many athletes who have felt like they achieved “flow” will say that everything slowed down, allowing them to be hyper-aware. This is the same goal we have for learning, whether through classroom work or at-home study.
In summary, Academic Coaching can also ensure that confidence and the feeling of flow can positively affect schoolwork.
Academic Coaching Process
The actual methods I use in Academic Coaching will depend on the unique needs and skills of the student – Academic Success Coaching is always uniquely tailored, given that every student comes in with certain strengths and weaknesses. A treatment plan will be designed that describes the following:
- The challenges the student faces in school
- The pre-treatment effects of those challenges on achievement and, if relevant, post-secondary goals
- Specific, measurable goals for improvement in each indicated area
- Methods to be employed
- Timelines that point to specific outcomes
After designing the treatment plan, I choose techniques to help clients reach their goals. My approach is what is called integrative, meaning that I choose from a wide variety of techniques so that the client’s unique needs are met. Everything is wrapped up in a positive, solution-focused, and client-centered mindset. The specific techniques might borrow from different theories.
We will then review that treatment plan at certain intervals during treatment to ensure goals are met. As the student reaches goals, new ones might be set. Treatment ends when the student feels comfortable that they’ve made the gains they are looking for. The student now has a toolkit to use should challenges arise.
Academic Success Coaching Example
Jeremy is a high school student who is experiencing anxiety when facing pressure. He is an outstanding lacrosse goalie and is being actively recruited by colleges. Still, his anxiety before and during each game interferes with his love of the sport and excitement about playing in college. Thus, Jeremy has started Sports Psychology services with me.
Jeremy also finds that this anxiety also appears when doing other high-level tasks. He is particularly concerned with how it affects his ability to perform at his best on the SATs.
Regarding the SATs, Jeremy did okay the two times he took them before. However, he felt that anxiety kept him from doing his best, especially when he got to a series of challenging questions. He needs to raise his scores just a bit to increase his admission chances. He has been taking small group lessons at a private SAT tutoring center.
Academic Success Coaching Treatment Plan
The treatment plan for Jeremy looked something like this:
- Overview: Overcome anxiety and develop positive and effective test-taking habits
- Concern: Test-taking anxiety may be interfering with positive achievement on SATs and other school tests
- Goal: Take the SATs (and other tests) with minimal anxiety so that scores match achievement, knowledge, and skill
- Cognitive Psychology and Performance Psychology within a positive framework to reduce test-taking anxiety
- Significant improvement before the next test, scheduled for approximately 60 days from now
We would add to the treatment plan as goals are met, or new challenges arise. After the treatment plan was devised, I would explain to Jeremy the types of approaches we could use to meet the goals, so he is fully informed and can give feedback. I would tell him that homework will likely be between sessions, and I ask how he would like his parents involved.
Academic Coaching Treatment
My academic coaching process mixes actual help with certain school tasks with psychological processes. In this case, we used cognitive-behavioral techniques to lower stress and anxiety by noticing and targeting irrational and exaggerated negative thoughts. His homework after each session was to do SAT prep, including taking practice tests, and make sure to integrate the techniques we had gone over. We also reviewed some brief relaxation and positive self-talk techniques that he would begin using.
We also wanted to ensure that the stress he felt under pressure did not affect interview situations. Thus, we used some of the same techniques while having him practice for interview situations in session. He used visualization outside each session to imagine himself confident and compelling in college interview situations.
Academic Coaching Conclusions and My Work
Academic Success Coaching is a perfect stand-alone or add-on service that therapists offer. Sometimes, it is a time-limited course of treatment, while at others, it underlies the entire scope of work. Academic Coaching can be done with high school, college, and graduate students, and even can help those going back for adult learning. This approach can be combined with other clinical services or can stand alone. It can be delivered to small groups who share the same challenges.
My Work
I have found this work helpful and successful, so I have integrated it into my practice. I usually offer an add-on service for those who are also receiving My clinical specialties because there is some synergy and a fit with what we’d be working on there. However, I do sometimes offer Academic Success Coaching as a stand-alone. If you or your child (high school and older) would potentially benefit from the type of service listed above, or you have questions or would like more information about Academic Coaching or Therapeutic Tutoring, please feel free to contact me.
