Executive Function Coaching for College Students & Young Adults

You know what you need to do. Getting yourself to actually do it is the hard part.

The syllabus is clear. The deadline is on the calendar. You've told yourself you'll start after dinner, after one episode, after you clean your desk. And then it's 1 a.m. and nothing has moved, and the feeling isn't laziness — it's something closer to being locked out of your own plans.

Executive function coaching is for exactly that gap: between knowing and doing. It's practical, week-by-week work on organization, time management, motivation, procrastination, and follow-through — with someone who understands why the usual advice ("just use a planner") hasn't worked.

You don't need an ADHD diagnosis to be here. Plenty of students who come to us have one, plenty don't, and the work is the same: build systems that fit how your brain actually operates, then practice using them with someone checking in.

For parents: they're smart. They're capable. And somehow everything keeps piling up.

You may be reading this at 10:30 at night because your sophomore is missing assignments, sleeping through class, forgetting deadlines, and calling home overwhelmed. You've tried reminders, consequences, and the talk. You know they're not lazy. You just can't figure out why a kid who is clearly bright can't get out of their own way.

That's not a character problem. It's an executive-functioning problem — the set of mental skills that turn intention into action — and it's one of the most workable things there is, with the right structure. Coaching gives your student a person who isn't you to be accountable to, which is usually the part that changes things.

What we actually work on

• Task initiation — the first five minutes, which is where most things die
• Time management — realistic planning, time blindness, the gap between "I have all week" and Thursday night
• Organization — one system for assignments, deadlines, email, and materials that survives a bad week
• Procrastination and avoidance — what you're actually avoiding, and how to make starting cheaper
• Follow-through — finishing, submitting, and showing up, with a check-in loop that makes it more likely
• Motivation and energy — sleep, structure, and the boom-and-bust cycle of hyperfocus followed by nothing
• Self-advocacy — talking to professors, using office hours, requesting accommodations without shame

How it works

Start with a free 15-minute consultation — student, parent, or both. Then choose a rhythm:

Sessions are online across Wisconsin and Illinois, or in person at our Milwaukee office. Coaching is not therapy and is not billed to insurance. Students 18+ enroll themselves; for students under 18, a parent enrolls and the student does the work.

Your coach

Amanda Lo, MSW, APSW, LCSW
Shoreside Therapies

Amanda has spent her career working with college students and young adults — academic pressure, identity, career stress, and the transitions where everything seems to come due at once. She brings a clinician's understanding of ADHD and executive functioning to coaching that stays practical and forward-looking.

Read Amanda's full bio →

Part of a bigger picture

Coaching doesn't exist on its own here. If it becomes clear that a formal evaluation would help, or that therapy is the better fit, or that a parent recognizes herself in all of this — the next step is already in the building.

Common questions

Is this therapy?

No. Coaching is practical, skills-based, and focused on the coming week. It isn't treatment for a mental health condition and isn't billed to insurance. If therapy would serve you better, we'll tell you and help you get there.

Does my student need an ADHD diagnosis?

No. Executive-function challenges show up with ADHD, with anxiety, with autism, and with none of the above. If a diagnosis question comes up, we offer adult ADHD evaluations in-house.

Will you tell me what my student is working on?

For students 18 and over, the student decides what's shared. Most choose to loop parents in on goals and progress at a high level; we encourage it, but it's theirs to decide.

Can we do this remotely if they're away at school?

Yes. Online coaching is available anywhere in Wisconsin or Illinois. Many students do the setup session in person over a break and continue online during the semester.

How fast will we see a change?

Most students have a working system within the first two to three sessions. Whether it holds through midterms is what the accountability check-ins are for — the first month is about building, the second is about keeping it when things get hard.