What is youth coaching?
The Benefits of Youth Life Coaching
First off, I want to thank you for considering life coaching for your teen, tween, or young adult! It is a less well-known option to help youth rise above a great variety of struggles and issues occurring through adolescence. Here I've listed some of the major benefits of life coaching for young people.
- A trusted non-parent adult to listen to the youth increases the likelihood of making good decisions.
- Develops confidence, solution-finding skills, critical thinking skills, resilience, acceptance, clarity on their current reality, and many other necessary life skills. All of these help an individual move forward from struggles throughout life.
- Avoids potential high-risk behaviors, such as substance abuse, unhealthy relationships, serious mental health disorders, and suicide.
- Having an accountability partner to regularly follow up about progress on goals is highly motivating.
- The youth client has time to be open and honest to learn more about themselves, which leads to high self-esteem and better decision making.
- Decreases stress revolving around academic, social, and extracurricular pressures.
- Creates an understanding of how to prioritize and balance day-to-day tasks to improve time management skills.
These are crucial benefits for kids feeling:
- Uncomfortable with who they are;
- Not sure how to act in social situations;
- Stuck where they are with no way out;
- Like they need to escape;
- Anxious and overwhelmed.
Coaching vs. Therapy
A coaching client is functional in their daily life. The client copes well enough but wants to be better, grow more, and achieve higher goals. The coaching client wants to improve relationships, performance, and overall life satisfaction, with a success partner to help facilitate higher level change.
Approach in coaching and therapy may differ.
- Coaching: Focused on the present and the future.
- Therapy: Focused on the past, present, and future.
- Coaching: Solution focused and action oriented.
- Therapy: Can be solution focused; it varies.
- Coaching: Strengths-based.
- Therapy: Can be strengths-based; it varies.
- Coaching: The coach does not directly offer advice, opinions, or solutions.
- Therapy: The therapist may directly offer advice, opinions, or solutions.
- Coaching: The coach helps the client build competencies. No diagnosing or treating.
- Therapy: Psychological testing, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Coaching: The coach facilitates the client's progress, growth, and resourcefulness.
- Therapy: The therapist is viewed as the expert to help resolve or process what's wrong.
An individual may be better suited to work with a therapist before beginning a coaching engagement if the person is experiencing dysfunction in daily tasks. Those who wish for a mental health professional to treat illness and help them find normalcy by relieving trauma-based pain, directly providing coping methods and solutions to live well, may do best beginning this journey with a therapist.
*Adapted from Youth Coaching Institute
About Coach Heather
I once was an unmotivated, anxious, depressed teenager. I dealt with depression from a very young age after my parents' divorce. It wasn't their fault, but that triggered a long-lasting gloom over my head. Middle school was difficult; learning was hard for me. High school was even more difficult - the learning got even harder and the social pressures got heavier and heavier. My loving parents wanted to help, so they sent me to several therapists who tried to tell me what to do to fix my life. I was not receptive; I needed a non-parent adult to connect with who could guide me, not tell me.
As an adult, I figured things out for myself. I made my own solutions that worked for me, opposed to going along with the typical treatments that were ineffective. It was hard; it took many years and lots of tears. Maybe if I had a great coach as a teen, I could have seen my life clearly much sooner.
Because I hated life during my school age years so much, I decided to become a teacher. I wanted to make kids not dread going to school. I wanted to make them believe in their awesomeness while still in their teen years. I succeeded; however, schools aren't designed for direct confidence-building. There's too much else a teacher needs to do every day (bless their hearts) to focus on creativity and self-esteem. After several years as a special education teacher, I made a ton of life changes, including completing a training program with Youth Coaching Institute and becoming a Certified Youth Resilience Coach.
Now here I am, coaching young people to tell their own story and make their own solutions!
Here's the fun version for the youth client
What brings you here on this fine day?
I'm glad you're reading this right now. Why? Well, you're reading this because you know that you are capable of more than whatever it is you're doing in whatever point in life you're at... And you know there's something better for you, but maybe you aren't exactly sure what that something is, or exactly how to get there... right? That's the only thing I know for sure about you - you, reading this right now.
Your story is unique. It's yours and no one else's. I won't try to guess your life story, or tell you what your goals are, or what makes you feel fulfilled, or how you should live your life. It's your life, and you are the expert on your individual story. Whether or not you believe it, you are the author of your story. I'd love to help you tell your next chapter as you navigate life!
Coaching is a superb option for you if you:
- Struggle to balance school activities with friend/family time and sports/other commitments;
- Feel stuck and think there must be a better way to live;
- Don't like how to feels to get really upset;
- Feel awkward when hanging with friends or even with family;
- Want support with time management or prioritizing;
- Want a bit of a push toward your goals but don't want somebody directing you what you should do.
How does it work?
It's magic. I'm kidding. Mostly... Seriously though, it's kind of magical when you come up with your own solution, someone who cares about your success listens to it, and then they repeat it back to you - it's like a unicorn dropped a beautiful bright light onto your future! But it wasn't a unicorn; it was actually your own solution that you may not have heard when you said it first. And then here I am, holding you accountable for following through with your unicorn's answer--I mean, your solution to your struggle, whatever your unique solution to your unique struggle might be. Bottom line, unicorns are mythical creatures, and when someone asks you the right questions that make you say, hmmmmm that's a tough one... that is precisely when you make magic happen.
THE REAL DEAL: I help young people move forward from whatever it is they're unsure of by getting them to think about things more than they would with a friend, family member, or on their own. When you come to me for coaching, I guide you to setting goals related to your uncertainties in life. I ask you the questions that get you thinking about what it is you really want and how you can get there. If and when unexpected bumps in the road get in the way, I use similar methods of questioning to get you to problem-solve around the bump and moving forward. I hold you accountable for taking small steps toward accomplishment, and I get super excited about your accomplishments with you throughout the process!
Where did I come from?
Once upon a time, I was an unmotivated, anxious, depressed teenager. I dealt with depression from a very young age after my parents' divorce. It wasn't their fault, but that triggered a long-lasting gloom over my head. Middle school was difficult; learning was hard for me. High school was even more difficult - the learning got even harder and the social pressures got heavier and heavier. My dear loving parents sent me to several therapists who tried to tell me what to do to fix my life. I was not receptive. Fast forward, and I figured things out for myself. I made my own solutions. It was hard, it took many years and lots of tears, and I wish I had a guide to help me without telling me what to do.
Because I hated life as a student so much, I decided to become a teacher. I wanted to make kids not dread going to school. I wanted to make them believe in their awesomeness while still in their teen years. I succeeded; however, schools aren't designed for confidence-building. There's too much else a teacher needs to do every day (bless their hearts) to focus on creativity and self-esteem. After several years as a special education teacher, I made a ton of life changes (including adventuring and relocating across the country with my small dog) and I trained with Youth Coaching Institute and became a Certified Youth Resilience Coach. Now here I am, coaching young people to tell their own story and make their own solutions!