Therapy for School Stress, Burnout and Executive Function

Missed assignments, late nights, dread on Sunday evenings, a student who used to care and now seems not to: school stress can look like laziness from the outside. Often it is something else, such as anxiety, ADHD, burnout or an executive function gap that effort alone has not fixed.

Our clinicians

• Mandy Rice, LMSW spent many years as a teacher, tutor and executive function coach for middle school, high school and college students before becoming a therapist. She works with teens and adults on academic stress, school burnout, ADHD, anxiety, identity and life transitions.
• Kathleen Fentress Tripp, NP is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner who specializes in ADHD, anxiety and depression in children, adolescents and adults, and is co-author of a workbook on managing ADHD.

What we help with

• Procrastination, disorganization and trouble starting or finishing work (executive dysfunction)
• School avoidance and school-related anxiety
• Burnout in high-achieving students
• Possible undiagnosed ADHD
• Transitions to high school, college or a first job
• Self-esteem and identity under academic pressure

How care works

Therapy pairs understanding with practical tools: what is getting in the way, what the student wants, and small systems that make school manageable again. When ADHD or another condition may be involved, we can arrange an ADHD evaluation and, where appropriate, ADHD treatment including medication management.

For teens, parents are usually part of the picture, with clear agreements about what is shared and what stays private.

Frequently asked questions

Is this tutoring?

No. This is therapy. Mandy's teaching and coaching background informs how she works, but sessions focus on the emotional, attention and habit patterns behind school struggles.

Do you test for ADHD?

Yes. See our ADHD evaluation page for how the process works.

Do you work with college students?

Yes. Mandy and Kathleen both see young adults. Tell our intake team where the student is and how they would like to meet.