Support for University Professional Services Staff
Feeling the Pressure in Higher Education Professional Services?
If you work in higher education professional services, you will know that there is constant pressure, unclear priorities, and responsibility without real control. Yet you are expected to remain calm, responsive and reliable.
This is especially difficult for neurodivergent staff, who may have ADHD or be autistic. The effort required to simply remain functional builds up over time, exacerbated by constant change, restructuring, and competing demands.
Many people I work with are neurodivergent professionals with ADHD, autism, or both. Constant context switching, unclear priorities, emotional pressure, masking, and executive dysfunction can create cognitive overload that slowly builds into burnout.
Many people reach a point where they look fine on the outside but are exhausted or close to burnout, yet they can’t quite put their finger on why.
If that sounds familiar, a short, informal conversation can help you make sense of what is going on and whether support would actually help.
What this actually feels like
I have spent many years working in a senior role in the university professional services sector, and I have seen this firsthand. It’s never really spoken about, because people in these roles tend to be professional, proud and dedicated.
You may be working in IT, registry, student services, accommodation, estates, research support or any other non-academic role. You feel the same pressures.
I work with people like you, and you may be mid-career or senior, even if your role title doesn’t reflect your actual level of responsibility. You may be managing complex systems, a charged, emotional environment, whilst constantly anticipating and problem-solving, and absorbing that pressure quietly.
The work I do isn't to try and "Fix you" or “make you perform better”, but more about understanding what's going on, why you are feeling off and how you can get the best from yourself and leave at the end of the day, feeling more like you have achieved something!
You can read more about how pressure builds in these roles here: Pressure and burnout in HE professional services
So what’s coaching, and how can it help?
Good question, you are probably here without considering coaching as a solution, you may not even know what it is.
It isn’t anything magical. It’s a conversation. A conversation that gives you the space to slow things down and make sense of what is happening day to day. As a coach, I listen, I am curious, and I ask questions, to help you understand what is happening in your life.
The emphasis here is on reducing overload, helping to clarify priorities and find ways of working that fit in with your brain and your life, whilst remaining within the constraints of the higher education system.
The work can help with:
- Starting tasks and following through to completion
- Prioritising in environments with constant demands
- Managing overload, burnout risk and emotional fatigue
- Setting realistic boundaries, whilst remaining within institutional constraints
- Decision making and managing self-doubt in pressured environments
Who is this for?
This support is for people working in professional services within higher education who feel the pressure of
a role with responsibility but little control or authority.
- Work in a professional services role at a university
- Mid-career or senior, even though your job title may not reflect that
- Feel overwhelmed, stuck or close to burnout
- Struggle to absorb pressure and to recover
- Take work home with you, and can’t switch off
If this sounds like you, let’s talk.
Related reading on burnout and pressure in university work
These articles go deeper into how pressure, burnout and neurodivergent work patterns can build inside university and professional services roles.
Want to know more?
If you want to understand how coaching works in practice, these pages will give you a clearer picture.