Skills.
Compassion.
Understanding.
As a social worker and certified executive function coach, I bring the skills and knowledge needed to help you reach your full potential.
As a mom and former neurodivergent student myself, I have traveled this path myself:
trying to fit into classrooms not designed for brains like mine
advocating for better supports for my own kids
supporting my kids at home through their school resistance, missed assignments, incomplete notes, and confusion about expectations.
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I hold a PhD and Masters of Social Work (MSW) degree, with training in clinical work with families. I also am a certified executive function coach, with training from Connections in Mind in the UK. After decades of work with neurodivergent students, ages 6 through 70, I bring a wealth of knowledge as well as lived experience as a parent and neurodivergent student.
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I believe in tailoring my approach to each individual client, which means I take time to get to know you — both your strengths and your areas of frustration. Together, we will identify strategies that have worked in the past or that can use your strengths to help relieve frustrations and increase your success in school and at home.
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My specialty is working with twice-exceptional students: young people and adult students who are gifted and identified as having ADHD, autism, specific learning disorders, or other types of neurodivergence. I believe there is power in self-identification! If you are bright and feel that you aren’t performing at your potential because of challenges with time management, organization, task initiation, or other executive function skills, let’s chat!
Education & Certifications:
PhD in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis
Masters in Social Work (MSW) from Saint Louis University
Certified Executive Function Coach (Level 1) from Connections in Mind
My story
As a late-diagnosed neurodivergent scholar, I quietly struggled through my K-12, undergraduate, and graduate school experiences. Although I did well academically, I always felt different and secretly struggled with things that others seemed to take for granted. I was a night-before-it’s-due kind of student and was chronically late to class or meetings, and I experienced friction in group projects and research teams without knowing why. I learned to mask—to hide my awkwardness (sort of) and to comply with unwritten norms—but at great personal cost. Ultimately, success came, but so did burnout.
In my role as director of a PhD program, I soon realized that these issues were all too typical in my students as well. I began using my own experiences and my ongoing research into neurodivergence to help my students understand how to work with their brains, not against them, to set and achieve academic and personal goals. I’ve helped numerous students to identify pain points in their work, strategize solutions, and prioritize wellbeing to maximize effectiveness. If this sounds like it could be helpful for you, let’s talk!
Lastly, as a mom of neurodivergent kids, I’ve seen how challenging the K-12 experience can be for neurodivergent and twice-exceptional students. Too often, classroom expectations are misaligned with the learning needs of our kids, and little support is offered for children who struggle with executive function skills. I’m passionate about helping kids find ways to thrive in school — and helping parents advocate successfully for the supports their children need.
If this sounds like it could be helpful for you, let’s talk!
[pic: my foster fail, Maverick! We love to foster dogs with Taysia Blue Husky & Malamute rescue!]
Contact
Interested in working together? Share some info about what brings you here and I’ll be in touch shortly. I can’t wait to hear from you!