Organize a student and you help them for a day
Teach a student to get organized and you help them for life
How I Can Help
As your child’s organizational coach I can:
- Teach them to manage their time and meet obligations.
- Reduce stress as their productivity and school management improves.
- Facilitate independence from their parents.
- Create a student-friendly calendar.
- Help the student gain control over school life.
- Look at workspaces and make them manageable.
Who I work with:
- Middle school students – Teach the fundamentals of organization and set up systems early in their educational career.
- High school students – Help manage their busy lives and teach them the skills they will need for college.
- College students – Applying organizational skills to address the new demands of life and education away from home.
Organization improves independence:
My goal as an organizational coach is to help young people become more efficient learners. Students, bombarded with homework deadlines, sports, jobs and other activities, must be able to manage their commitments. Anxiety and stress can quickly turn to avoidance. Organization is essential to their success and a central part of becoming independent.
Organization helps decrease stress:
When you ask your child what homework is due or when they have their next test, have you ever gotten an answer that satisfied you? The barrage of questions from parents and lack of good answers from students interferes with the relationship that families strive to attain. Learning organizational skills will give them tools they need far beyond the classroom. As your student’s organizational coach, l will show them how they can manage their time, meet obligations, reduce stress and be more productive.
Methods
Sessions provide functional strategies for organizing everyday tasks. Examples include:
- Creating a calendar system that works for the student’s needs.
- Making a running To Do list that is easily created and carried out.
- Implementing a reminder system and the use of alarms as needed.
- Setting up a functional workspace/backpack.
- Learning to sync a computer calendar with phone apps for seamless integration.
- Establishing time management strategies.
- Reviewing upcoming assignment due dates, exams and projects.
- Setting up a schedule to prepare for long term assignments and exams.
- Organizing tasks outside of school, such as chores and daily life responsibilities.
- Implementing the website My Study Life or another platform to use specifically for school work.
About Me
I have a BA in Health Science from Simmons University and an MA in Occupational Therapy from Boston University. The core principle of Occupational Therapy is to teach skills that put a person back in control of their life and ensure their independence. Using the collaboration of ideas, thinking outside the box and making modifications as needed, I will help your student learn organizational skills that encourage them to become more self reliant, confident and successful.
I have spent the past few years co-chairing large fundraising committees and organizing events for up to 350 people. I also spent two years as the president of the Kingswood Oxford School Parent Association. My position required organizing numerous events, both large and small, and managing over a hundred volunteers throughout that time.
I made the decision to become an organizational coach due to my experience with my own children. Sometimes my knowledge in organization helped them, but many times they did not want the information to come from me. Getting outside help can be a good way to decrease stress and parent-child tension when it comes to school. I started GET ORGANIZED! so I could help students create functional systems that work within their needs. I create a stress-free environment that facilitates solutions to the everyday issues that students contend with. My goal is to instill feelings of confidence, success and independence so they can take control of their lives.
Testimonials
This is awesome! My daughter came downstairs last night just BEAMING! Thank you for working your magic so fast. You immediately put her at ease, validated her struggles and proposed an approachable plan. ~Barbara
Our daughter benefitted tremendously from working with Heather. Heather has been patient, kind, encouraging. Heather’s material has been incredibly helpful to our daughter and she continues to use what she learned. ~Doug
Heather helped my 8th grade son with a complete system of organization. This not only helped him ensure that his assignments ere all clearly kept in one place, but alelped him with time management for his assignments and for test preparation. Having this system allowed him to feel more confident in his school work, thus alleviating some anxiety he had been experiencing in this regard. Heather’s approach is kind, understanding and effective. ~Sherri
Contact
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a consultation. ok
All student sessions are on Zoom.
Heather Clifford
860-305-4922
GET ORGANIZED! 