Christie Woodfin: Woodfin & Associates

Christie Theriot Woodfin explains that an Independent Educational Consultant is part Counselor, part Match Maker, part Navigator, and part Case Manager. For Certified Educational Planner Woodfin, admission to a desired school should not be the ultimate goal: Enrollment in a place where the student will thrive and flourish is. In her practice, she directs students to traditional boarding schools, schools for remediating learning disabilities, and therapeutic programs for young people with emotional and behavioral challenges.

In order to make an optimal match, she meets with parents to hear both their goals and the child’s life story, meets with the student to discuss current interests and observe his or her personality and style; studies the-child-in-the-file; talks with teachers and therapists who know the youngster well; and ultimately – after summarizing her findings in written form -- discusses the candidate at length with schools she deems appropriate. She offers counsel and support as families are applying and making final decisions. Additionally, Christie, like most good consultants, spends about a quarter of her professional time visiting schools around the country to keep her knowledge of them current. Finally, she keeps up with “her kids” while they are matriculating in their newly chosen institutions.

Ms. Woodfin’s work embraces a few basic tenants: Students are most likely to prosper in schools that are nurturing and supportive, so a sense that the faculty is truly invested in their charges is what she looks for first in visiting schools. She also seeks to apply her Three Bears Rule in recommending schools, giving consideration to appropriate academic rigor, learning support and, for those students with emotional issues, therapeutic intervention. Of course the rule is: “not too much, not too little, but just right.”

She believes that the most basic qualification for working with students and their families is enjoying and respecting adolescents. But in addition to her commitment, warmth and enthusiasm, she also possesses clinical training as a licensed psychological counselor and two decades of experience. She sees clients from throughout the South in her office in the historic Brookwood Exchange Building, 1708 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, near I-85 and Peachtree.
Her website is www.bestschoolforyou.com

WOODFIN & ASSOCIATES, LLC
CHRISTIE THERIOT WOODFIN, M.ED., L.P.C., C.E.P. CERTIFIED EDUCATIONAL PLANNER MEMBER INDEPENDENT EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION IECA+
THE BROOKWOOD EXCHANGE BUILDING
1708 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 310 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30309
TELEPHONE: 404-264-9995
FAX: 404-506-9660
E-MAIL: cwoodfin@bestschoolforyou.com
www.bestschoolforyou.com