Caitlin has spent most of her post collegiate career in education. More than 20 years were spent in higher education with a focus on academic and student success but she has also worked in counseling, advising, and admissions. Caitlin spent the bulk of her career at the University of New Hampshire, more recently as Director of Academic and Student Success in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

After many years in higher education, Caitlin noticed an increasing number of students struggling to succeed in the classroom and with study and academic skills. She saw students unable to advocate for support and who were in ill-fitting majors. These students had increased anxiety and depression and often went off of, or refused, critical academic accommodations. Many times, it seemed that the students would be more successful in a different learning setting. That inspired her to work in secondary schooling as a college counselor. It was there that Caitlin found many of the same issues students were facing at the college level: they were unable to advocate for support, had increased mental health concerns, and demonstrated difficulty keeping up with academic demands (including completely daily work and projects, as well as studying for quizzes and tests.) She experienced students choosing colleges based on popular social media posts or based on where family and friends thought they should go or just because it was the closest one they knew of.

In her role at the high school level, she often found that rather than focusing on the college process she needed to shift to focus on the mental health of her students and provide them with more targeted academic supports for them to be successful. This was especially true for those students with anxiety or a learning disability or for those under pressure to become the first in their family to attend college. Caitlin quickly realized that Through the Trees was the place where she could help these students make better choices when it came to hight school and college success!