Software
PlanArc
A planner that helps students turn coursework, commitments, and changing deadlines into a week they can see and follow.
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Personal coaching to help you become the student you want to be.
Personal support
Coaching
One-on-one and group coaching for teens, college students, and young adults building greater independence.
Meet the coaches →
Institutions & educators
Training & partnerships
Professional learning for teachers and support teams, student workshops, and PlanArc pilots with institutional partners.
Explore training →One practice
The tool and the teaching belong together.
Executive functioning grows through practice: make a plan, try it, notice what happened, and adjust. ThriveEF supports that loop both in a coaching conversation and in the moments when you are working on your own.
Coaching builds understanding
A coach helps you notice patterns, choose strategies, and make sense of what gets in the way—without blame or judgment.
same method
PlanArc supports the practice
The same approach lives in your week: break work down, protect time for it, begin, reflect, and adjust when life changes.
PlanArc · Plan. Do. Thrive.
A planning tool shaped around how students actually work.
PlanArc keeps school and life in one visible plan, then helps students return to it as the week changes.
Product preview based on the current PlanArc prototype.
Let’s talk about PlanArc.
See PlanArc in one minute.
Interested in PlanArc? Let’s talk.
Plan the week
Bring the work into one place and decide where each piece belongs. Nothing lands until the student says so.
Meet the day
See what changed overnight, choose what matters today, and start with less to hold in working memory.
Reflect and adjust
Look back without judgment: what was finished, what remains, and what is ready to be carried forward or let go.
PlanArc is preparing for a winter-semester pilot.
Diane Aretz
Co-founder · Executive functioning
Coaching at the center
Technology can hold the plan. A coach helps you understand yourself.
Diane Aretz and ThriveEF’s network of trained coaches work with teens, college students, and young adults navigating school and the transition to independence.
- 01Evidence-based and asset-focused, with your independence as the goal.
- 02Nearly two decades of work with neurodivergent young people.
- 03Support for students and the parents, educators, and therapists around them.
Meet the founders
Built by educators who understand both the human work and the technology.
ThriveEF combines deep executive-functioning practice with experience designing adaptive systems for students.
Diane Aretz
Co-founder · Executive functioning
Lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Education with nearly two decades of work alongside neurodivergent young people.
Bobby Madamanchi
Co-founder · Technology
Lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Information who builds the adaptive planning and scheduling technology behind PlanArc.
For institutions & educators
Help the adults around students build environments that support executive functioning.
ThriveEF offers customized professional development for teachers, counselors, administrators, therapists, and parent groups—from K–12 through higher education, community colleges, and trade programs.
Explore institutional supportUpcoming engagement · October 22, 2026
Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science
ThriveEF workshop with the University of Michigan College of LSA
Winter semester
PlanArc institutional pilot
Educator-founded
Two University of Michigan lecturers combining education and technology.
Ann Arbor-based
Backed by Ann Arbor SPARK and U-M Innovation Partnerships.
Find your next step
Every student deserves support that builds independence.
Start with the planning tool, talk with a coach, or visit the dedicated parent path for support with your teen.