In brief
- individual coaching voor students with autism
- at the University of Groningen at all levels (Ba, Ma, PhD)
- to improve your daily functioning
- by autism coach Frederik Boven, PhD
- who has years of experience as autistic student and researcher
- there is a waiting list but you can make an appointment for a free consultation
Content of the coaching
I am available for coaching conversations with autistic students at the University of Groningen, at all levels (Ba, Ma, Phd). The coaching sessions aim at improving your everyday functioning during your time as a student. I can support you in planning your activities and tasks and structuring your week. We will work together to achieve balance and control. The goal is for you to become more independent. This will allow you to move forward with your autism.
Because I have experience as an autistic student and researcher, I can also support you with study-related challenges, such as transitions to a different level, reading and writing skills, group work or writing a thesis.
For whom?
I only offer coaching to students at the University of Groningen.
Ik cannot help students who are a danger for themselves or me (e.g. who are suïcidal or agressive) or wo are in an acute psychiatric crisis (e.g. psychosis or severe depression).
My coaching falls under the scope of the Dutch wmo. In only work with personal care budgets, not with something called ZIN. You can also pay out of your own pocket.
At the moment I am not able to offer coaching that falls under the scope of the Dutch WLZ.
Practical matters
- free one time consultation without expectations
- after that: payment out of a personal care budget (PGB, wmo) or out of your own pocket
- at the Lijsterweg 12 in Haren (I won't come to your home)
- or if you want (sometimes) via Teams
- schedule a free consultation
What to expect concretely?
(Click on an orange title to read more detailed information about the coaching.)
You register through the form or by email. I usually respond within 24 hours. I will then propose a date and time to meet.
You are welcome to bring someone you know well and whom you trust.
I prefer to have the consultation in my consultation room. I can get to know you better if we don’t speak via Teams the first time.
The address is: Lijsterweg 12 in Haren. There is a sign at the door that says Verder met autisme. If you don’t see that sign, you are probably at Spoorlaan 12. Then walk a bit to the right
There is no waiting room, so as soon as you ring the doorbell I will open the door and we will start. It doesn’t matter if it’s 5 minutes earlier than we agreed.
Before we start, I check whether you have the head space for a conversation and whether there are any stimuli in the way, from the environment or from yourself.
During the free consultation I will identify your coaching needs. What is going well? What’s not going well? I have no judgment , but if you want to change something yourself, I am happy to support you in that.
We will then look into different areas of life, such as study, relationships, living and leisure. I ask you questions to discover if you want support in these areas.
I will give you an initial advice based on the conversation. Ultimately you have to the work yourself, but I can think along and suggest options.
Finally, we make an agreement about the follow-up. That could be the advice to start a process with me. Then I ask you how you will finance it. It can also be a referral to another organization. Then we’ll leave it at this one conversation.
If you want to start a coaching process with me and financing has been arranged, we will schedule an intake interview.
I will ask you to complete questionnaires about stimuli and/or executive functions. Autism is broader than that, but there are good questionnaires about this and that is a good start. We discuss the results and what this means in concrete terms for your daily functioning during your studies.
Together we will make a plan to work on your goals for your time as a student.
I prefer to meet on a fixed day and time. This can be in Haren or via Teams, or we can alternate between the two.
I will start every conversation by making it explicit what we are going to do and how.
I may ask you to try something you are not used to. This is a merely proposal, you decide whether you will do it.
I may ask you questions to make you think about yourself or your environment in a different way. The answer comes from yourself, immediately or sometimes much later after you hah time to think about it.
I may help you make a plan or come up with a strategy to deal with a situation.
We may work together to map out what you are interested in and enthusiastic about and whether that will be reflected in your study time.
I don’t have ready-made answers, but I do know what could possibly help. Whether it works for you is a matter of trying it out.
I conclude each conversation by making explicit what concretely emerged from the conversation and what we agree on for the next time.
If you have a problem in between, you can always send me a WhatsApp message. That often works better than having to try to remember afterwards what you were thinking and feeling at that moment. I will respond the same day. If necessary, we can make an appointment to do a (video) call before the scheduled time.
You can indicate at any time that you want to stop. I may also suggest that you stop if I notice that you no longer need assistence so much. After all, we are working towards more independence.