About me

TL;DR Bio

Hi, I'm Courtney (she/they), and I provide one-on-one tutoring and coaching appointments that support academic, professional, and personal growth for adolescent and adult learners.

I specialize in several areas of support, including:

  • Time management and organization

  • Analytical and creative writing support

  • Literacy strategies and reading encouragement

  • Project planning and study skills

  • Academic and personal growth mentoring for scholar athletes/artists/activists who need help meeting the demands of their busy lives.

As a tutor and coach, I am:

  • Experienced

  • Insightful

  • Warm

  • Supportive

  • Realistic

  • Communicative

  • Compassionate

  • Collaborative

  • Motivating

  • Relational, taking into account the intersectional identities and systemic realities of each client.

Full Bio

I am an ADHD-Certified, anxiety-informed Executive Function Coach who specializes in helping neurodivergent adolescents, emerging adults, and adults develop practical, sustainable strategies for navigating everyday life with greater clarity, confidence, and agency. My coaching integrates executive functioning frameworks, motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral principles, neurodiversity-affirming practices, and a holistic approach that considers the whole person in the broader context of their lives. I have particular expertise in task initiation, planning and prioritization, time management, emotional regulation, cognitive load management, and reducing overwhelm.

I earned my BA from Smith College and my MA from Brandeis University. With a background in writing, tutoring, education, mindfulness, and individualized academic support, I excel at translating complex ideas into concrete, accessible steps. I am skilled at breaking overwhelming tasks into manageable starting points, adapting strategies to different learning approaches and developmental needs, and using clients’ interests and strengths to make new skills meaningful and engaging. Drawing on more than a decade of experience as a classroom teacher, academic advisor, tutor, athletic coach, mindfulness & yoga instructor, and Academic Center Director, as well as ongoing training in executive functioning, learning differences, and trauma-informed education, I bring a broad, integrative perspective to my work with clients.

I take a relationship-first, strengths-based approach to coaching. One of my greatest strengths is my ability to see the whole person: I am keenly insightful and skilled at recognizing patterns across a client’s experiences, identifying what may be underneath a particular challenge, and connecting seemingly separate pieces of the puzzle. I view challenges as useful data and believe clients already possess many of the strengths they need to grow. My role is to help make those strengths visible, create the conditions for clients to access them, and give clients the agency to determine what works for themselves. My style is warm, curious, humorous, and practical, with the goal of helping clients develop not just better systems, but greater self-understanding, confidence, and agency—and to build lives guided by their own definitions of success, purpose, and intentional living. In a world of increasingly high demands and constant overwhelm, I help clients navigate life’s responsibilities while creating space for what matters most—building purposeful, meaningful lives.

Professional Background:

  • Academic Center Director and Tutor: Leading a team of tutors in an Academic Support Center at an independent school in Massachusetts. Tutoring adolescent learners for more than 10 years.

  • Classroom teacher: Teaching as a classroom educator at the secondary and post-secondary levels for more than 10 years.

  • Academic Advisor: Advising groups of students as an academic support advisor at the secondary level for more than 10 years.

  • Athletic Coach: Coaching as a seasoned multi-sport head and assistant coach at the varsity and junior varsity levels for 10 years.

  • Equity & Justice Facilitator: Facilitating equity spaces as a trained inclusivity & equity leader, trauma-informed facilitator, and social justice educator for more than 10 years.

  • Gender Advocate: Leading and participating in a gender equity task force at a secondary independent school for 5 years.

  • Mindfulness Instructor: Guiding wellness classes at the secondary level as a certified yoga and mindfulness instructor with a concentration in social and emotional learning practices for teens (E-RYT 200) for 5 years.

All of these skills, gathered intentionally throughout my time as an educator, inform my tutoring and coaching today. In this integrative pedagogical approach, I strive to offer trauma-informed frameworks and student-centered care.

Other professional development and educational training:

  • Ongoing training as a writing, reading, study skill, and executive functioning coach for secondary students (attending the Annual Executive Functioning Conference and seminars through The Institute of Learning and Development and workshops at Landmark College).

  • Completing equity and justice professional development at The People of Color Conference (2013/2014/2015); Interactive Institute for Social Change Boston (2018); Restorative Justice Training Suffolk University (2020); and attendee of multiple equity conferences, including the White Privilege Conference (2021).

  • Training at Bard’s Institute for Writing and Thinking (2015, 2017)

  • Training as a certified yoga and mindfulness instructor (200-hr) through the Breathe for Change Yoga, Mindfulness, and Social and Emotional Learning Certificate for educators (2018)

  • Earning an M.A. from Brandeis’ dual English Literature and Gender Studies graduate program, where I also trained as an ELL instructor and tutor for secondary and college students (2011-2012)

  • Earning a BA degree in Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies from Smith College (2008) with honors and distinction in writing.