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Danville-based Aidan Whitehead founded a neuroscience-based coaching program in January for college students and recent graduates around the world.
Through uNeed A Coach, Whitehead intends to help youth clarify their personal and professional goals as well as make progress toward those goals.
This venture began in 2025, joining Whitehead’s ongoing coaching service for executives called Whitehead Leadership Mastery. He brings to the table a coaching accreditation from the International Coaching Federation as well as training in the neuroscience of leadership.
“We’re trying to get them early, so they actually enjoy the ride,” Whitehead said of coaching students and recent graduates. “Success is really fun if it’s put in its right place.”
Clients of uNeed A Coach set off on a three-month, virtual coaching series by taking stock of their life during an introductory session. They may consider their social endeavors, the relationship they have with themselves and even their punctuality, Whitehead explained.
From there the client identifies the goals they’d like to achieve and then narrows their focus to a few they’d like to pursue. A method for measuring progress is also up for discussion with the coach. Finally, the client is advised to envision the goal coming to fruition.
“If you can visualize it in a way that you actually feel it, your brain will cooperate in taking you in that direction,” Whitehead said.
The client then names each goal based on the feeling they induce and creates steps for accomplishing them.
Attuned to more than just achievement, coaching involves a wellness perspective to address negative thoughts and adjust personal narratives to enable progress in life.
“You’re trying to build a compassionate, non-judgmental love-affair with yourself, so you can be better in the world,” Whitehead said of the program.
Whitehead was inspired to start uNeed A Coach while coaching executives who lacked a sense of fulfillment despite seeming to achieve all of their goals.
“I realized they suffered the same way that I did,” Whitehead said. “Like me, I thought if I got the great job, I’d be good. I thought if I got the great promotion, I’d be good. If I got the kids, I’d be good.”
He added, “Not that there’s anything wrong with setting new levels of success, but to expect it to give you a sense of wellness or a sense of fulfillment or a sense of joy, you’re asking too much from it.”
A drive for success and lack of fulfillment was also something he observed in his brother, who died after a cancer diagnosis. Following the diagnosis, Whitehead remembers his brother asking, “What was it all for?”
“I thought if I could help some of these students early, they won’t run into the same problems as we’ve run into,” Whitehead said.
He began coaching college students about three years ago, when an executive requested the service for his son. Then in January 2025, Whitehead founded uNeed A Coach, where he serves as a mentor to the program coaches.
