As an Imperial student, you will experience many opportunities and also some challenges on your journey. Alongside your studying, you will have outside interests you want to pursue, friendships to build, and the practical responsibilities that come with living independently.

At times, you may experience additional challenges relating to your family or your finances. Over the year, and particularly near to exam time, you may feel more anxious than usual, and this might affect you physically for example through sleep patterns and concentration spans. All these factors and others can feel overwhelming and will impact on your wellbeing and on the way in which you study.

Coaching approaches can help you to maximise your ability to study effectively and feel more able to address challenges and make the most of new opportunities. Coaching approaches help by exploring what you would like to achieve, identifying supporting factors (e.g. strengths, motivating factors, external resources) and obstacles, and then developing a plan of action to help you achieve your ideal outcomes.

About this content

This guidance was written by Dr Arti Maini, a GP, Deputy Director for Undergraduate Primary Care Education, Personal Tutor and Coach. She works with the Imperial Coaching Academy and is the Coaching Theme Lead for the Medical Education, Innovation and Research Centre (MEDIC), in the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, where she trains faculty and students in coaching skills. If you have any questions or comments about coaching, please contact Dr Maini