Support Coaching

Disability & Accessibility Support Services

What is Support Coaching?

Support Coaching is for neurodivergent students figuring out how to make college life work for them—in ways that feel more sustainable, less draining, and more aligned with how they naturally think and operate. Support Coaching is autism and neurodiversity affirming, which means there is no plan to “fix” or change anything about students. Instead, coaching works in collaboration with students toward uncovering strategies that support how their minds work, whether that’s around time management, study habits, communication, routines or just day-to-day life.

Support Coaching is not academic advising, personal counseling, or tutoring. However, it can help connect students with needed on-campus and off-campus resources.

Benefits of Support Coaching

• Self-Awareness and Acceptance: Coaching is a self-reflective practice. By recognizing, understanding and accepting your neurodiverse traits as part of who you are, you can feel more confident and tap into your full potential.
• Leveraging Strengths: Coaching is great for identifying strengths. Neurodiverse individuals often have excellent skills like pattern recognition, attention to detail, creativity, and problem-solving. Support Coaching helps you recognize these strengths and find ways to apply them in many areas.
• Building Coping Strategies: Everyone faces challenges, but neurodiverse individuals might be more likely to struggle with communication, organization, or time management. Coaching can help you develop practical strategies customized to your needs. These tools can make it easier to manage difficulties and perform at your best.
• Building Emotional Intelligence: Coaching also helps you improve your emotional intelligence, making it easier to understand and manage emotions. This can improve relationships, communication, and teamwork, making it easier to connect with others and collaborate both in and out of class.
• Goal Setting and Achievement: Setting and achieving goals becomes much easier with coaching. Coaching helps you learn to break big goals into smaller, more manageable steps, which makes it easier to stay motivated and feel good about accomplishments.
• Promoting Self-Advocacy: Coaching encourages you to stand up for yourself, ask for what you need, and make sure you are getting the support you deserve. It helps you develop the skills to navigate situations like school or work more confidently, ensuring you have everything you need to succeed.

How to get started with Support Coaching

Support Coaching appointments are about 30 minutes long and can be made over Zoom or in the DASS office in the University Pavilion. They can be made as-needed or recurring throughout the semester. If you would like to schedule a coaching appointment, please contact Kelly Sowa, the DASS Support Coach.