Teen Coaching
Teen Coaching
Through years teaching high school Special Education, English as a Second language and Physical Education combined with experience as a Social Worker, I offer a speciality in coaching teenage young men and young women.
I have adapted and modified my adult life coaching to create an emphasis on working with gender uniqueness as it relates to mental and emotional growth in adolescence. A few areas of focus include but are not limited to: managing discomfort or uncomfortable emotions as seen in emotional regulation, increasing one’s emotional intelligence and authentically developing and strengthening self-esteem.
I possess a gift for generating easy rapport, safety and security where a teen feels seen, heard, validated and openness and trust in communication is manifested. These settings are achieved through high levels of compassion, non-judgement, empathy, insight, perspective taking and active listening. I have worked with youth in the high school setting and also at-risk youth outside of the school setting.
As teen boys and girls tend to experience and express various emotions and behaviors differently, different approaches and methods are required. Strategies include stress management, problem identification and problem-solving skills. With various challenges and manifestations of said emotions and behaviour being anxiety, aggression, bullying, social exclusion, social anxiety, substance abuse and at times self-harm. I have experience working with young woman struggling with various types of self-harm.
I personally feel that when teens feel awful, they act awful and that teens lash out when they are in pain, and they deserve our compassion, empathy and non-judgement when they do so. Just as when I work with adults I do not pathologize youth’s behaviour but rather see it as an expression of a life issue that requires care, attention and understanding.
Further focus is on developing and strengthening youth self-esteem avoiding the mentality of giving awards to everyone for everything and showering youth with empty affirmations. A true sense of self-worth comes from well-earned accomplishments and meaningful contributions. Young people should have ways to feel good about themselves that are within their control.
Self-esteem can be fragile in young people as can emotional regulation, expression and identification. The focus of my teen coaching is to facilitate a healthy expression of self and healthy boundaries with self and others while being truly authentic as our young people navigate some of the most challenging years of their lives. The goal being the emergence of a strong, whole, integrated youth ready to confidently make life decisions that will clearly lead them into adulthood and beyond.