College Boost Program
Transition to college is a challenging time for most people, but especially for those with mental health diagnoses. At the Lieber Recovery we have expertise helping students successfully transition to college. All participants at the Lieber Recovery Clinic can access the supportive education program, but some want to exclusively focus their recovery on the college transition. The College Boost Program provides this focus on building skills for college success. The program is open to participants age 18+ with a psychiatric diagnosis and addresses the following areas:
Executive Functioning:
Executive functioning skills are critical for college success. These include time management, planning, organization, goal setting, intrinsic motivation, and perseverance. These are the skills which help students to manage their schedules to juggle sleep, class, homework, and social activities, as well as plan their assignments. get started, and work to completion. For most students, the executive functioning demands in college are much higher than they were in high school while the supports and structure are far less. For those without optimized executive functioning skills, this presents a very challenging set of demands. Executive functioning support is offered in group and individually.
Cognitive Skills:
With long lectures, sophisticated subject matter, and much to remember, college students can feel overwhelmed with the cognitive demands of college. Having a mental illness can make this even more challenging. We offer an evidenced-based, cognitive skills training program to optimize attention, memory, and information processing. Cognitive screenings are done to determine an individual's strengths and weaknesses and inform a cognitive training treatment plan. Cognitive skills training is a twice per week component of the program.
Social Skills:
Social skills are essential for success in college. Social skills help students to make new friends and connect to one another, navigate texting and email, manage and post to social media, and communicate with professors. The College Boost program includes one social skills group per week and individual social skills coaching (when needed, at an additional cost).
Stress Management, Wellness, and Mindfulness:
Program members participate in a wellness group where they learn skills to maximize their physical and emotional health and resilience, develop insight and awareness, and identify coping tools and social supports on which they can rely to mitigate stress and manage distress. When applicable, participants can also join CBT and/or DBT therapy groups for symptom management. Finally, all participants in College Boost receive mindfulness training as part of stress management skills training. Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not be overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
Academic Support and Academic Skills:
Supported education services include sessions on assistance in obtaining school-based disability services, self-awareness, stress management, rights and resources of people with disabilities, academic skill practice and development, and other support services. These services are provided in groups and individually. Program participants taking classes locally may obtain homework and study support on site.
Sample Schedule:
Cost:
The College Boost program groups are covered by AETNA, Consolidated Health, and Columbia University United Health Care plans. Individual coaching sessions are not covered by any insurance plans. All others are self-pay.
For more information about the College Boost program, or to schedule an intake appointment, please call our intake coordinator at 212-305-5845 or email us here.
