Building Trust with CSC Signature Clients

As a coach, I know how important it is for me to build a trusting relationship with my clients.

My students need to trust me to share their struggles and vulnerabilities so we can tackle these challenges together.  My goal is to establish a trusting relationship so that as an adult (other than their parent), so I can provide meaningful suggestions and support to help my clients navigate college life with ADHD. 

In my signature package, there’s a few (fun!) ways that we get to bond in addition to our virtual and text conversations.

Building Trust with My Signature Clients

• Welcome package: The “Welcome to my Practice'' package includes many simple, yet effective tools to help maintain focus and progress.  It includes:

  • a small, tabletop white board and markers to be used as either a goal, vision, or victory board

  • a To Do pad broken down by tasks, errands, communication, and notes

  • Post-it Notes for visual reminders

  • 2 Sharpie Markers in school colors

  • a spiral bound deck of index cards

  • a new copy of  Brain Hacks: Life-Changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning by Dr. Lara Honos-Webb

  • Backpack organizer, a few fidget toys, and a pen.

• Handwritten notes: I want my clients to know that I am a real person (not a bot, avatar, app, or AI assistant) who is thinking about them the entire length of our engagement, so I send occasional hand-written notes with personally chosen, high quality vinyl RedBubble stickers related to their favorite shows, internet personalities, musicians, artists, or hobbies.

• Birthday gift cards: If a client’s birthday falls during our engagement period, I send a small value digital gift card so they feel special about another year of growth and progress.

• Exam care packages: This is a client favorite!  The Exam Care package includes a mix of healthy and not so healthy foods to power them through the period before exam week.  It includes everything from SMART Water, a bottled Starbucks Frappuccino, and individually wrapped fruit chews, beef jerky, popcorn, chocolate, KIND bars, whole wheat breakfast cookies, and the like.  Of course, client dietary needs are taken into consideration.  I sometimes work with parents to design boxes that meet their student’s specific dietary restrictions.  I often include small, full color posters or tip sheets about how to best prepare for exams.

• Celebration meal: At the end of the semester as a client assesses their goal attainment, together we determine if they have grown toward their desired outcomes.  This is not based strictly on grades alone; this is all about effort, progress, and movement toward mastery.  If we both agree progress has been made, the client earns a “Celebration Meal” delivered to their room/apartment from a local favorite restaurant up to a $25 value including delivery (through the magic of DoorDash or GrubHub).  

Getting to know my students is my favorite part of my coaching practice. Everyday, my students inspire me and teach me something new.  These tools help us to get to know each other better so my students can make meaningful progress towards graduation!