What Is College Transition Coaching?
College transition coaching is personalized, one-on-one support designed to help students navigate the practical and emotional challenges of the high school to college leap — and to help them find their footing once they’re there.
It is not therapy. Coaching is forward-focused and skills-based — it’s about building the tools students need to succeed independently: time management, self-advocacy, stress regulation, social confidence, and a clear sense of their own goals and values.
That said, ADAPT Network is uniquely positioned for students whose challenges have both a coaching dimension and a mental health dimension. If anxiety, ADHD, or a mood concern is part of the picture, our clinical team is right here — and coordination between coaching and therapy is something we do well.
Meet Hannah Mize, Certified Youth Life Coach
Hannah Mize brings something most college coaches can’t offer: a decade of experience as a school counselor, working directly with middle and high school students at the moment they’re preparing — or failing to prepare — for exactly this transition.
As a certified Youth Life Coach, Hannah understands the gap between what students are told about college and what college actually requires. She’s seen the students who looked ready on paper fall apart in the first semester. She’s also seen students who struggled all through high school find their stride when given the right support and structure.
Hannah knows what that support looks like — and she knows how to deliver it in a way that respects students’ autonomy while giving them real accountability.
Sessions with Hannah are available in-person at ADAPT Network’s Columbus, GA office or virtually — which means the coaching relationship doesn’t have to end when your student moves away.
Who Is College Transition Coaching For?
For Students
Hannah works with students at every stage of the transition — before, during, and after the move to college:
- High school juniors and seniors preparing for the academic and personal demands of college
- Incoming freshmen anxious about leaving home, making friends, or keeping up academically
- Current college students who are struggling — academically, socially, or emotionally — and need help regaining their footing
- Students unsure of their major, their goals, or what they actually want from their college years
- High achievers who’ve hit their first real wall and don’t know how to push through it
- Students with ADHD, anxiety, or learning differences who need support translating high school accommodations into a college environment
For Parents
Sometimes the hardest part of the college transition is happening at home. Hannah also works with parents who are:
- Watching their student struggle and not sure how to help without overstepping
- Concerned about anxiety, avoidance, academic decline, or social isolation
- Trying to stay connected to their student without creating more conflict
- Looking for a trusted professional to step in where they can’t
- Navigating their own adjustment to an empty nest alongside their student’s transition
Parent coaching sessions are available separately or in coordination with student sessions, depending on what serves the family best.
What We Work On
Coaching sessions with Hannah are practical and personalized. Common focus areas include:
- Time management and independent study habits — building routines that work without a parent or teacher managing them
- Managing anxiety and adjusting to a new environment — including homesickness, social anxiety, and adjustment stress
- Academic self-advocacy — how to communicate with professors, use office hours, navigate academic resources, and ask for help
- Social skills and navigating college relationships — dorm life, friendships, conflict, and finding community on a new campus
- Goal-setting and motivation — clarifying what the student actually wants and building a realistic path toward it
- Identity and values clarification — especially for students who are questioning their major, their direction, or who they are outside of high school
- Parent-student communication strategies — how to stay connected and supportive without recreating dependency
College Coaching and Mental Health: The ADAPT Difference
For some students, the college transition surfaces or intensifies mental health challenges — anxiety, depression, ADHD, or mood concerns that were manageable in high school but become harder to navigate independently.
ADAPT Network is one of the few coaching practices in Columbus, GA where clinical support is built into the same team. If Hannah identifies that a student needs more than coaching, she can coordinate directly with ADAPT’s therapists — including referrals for LENS Neurofeedback if nervous system dysregulation is part of the picture.
Students don’t have to choose between coaching and clinical care. At ADAPT, both are available — and the team communicates.