Youth Mentoring Circles
What is youth coaching?
As amazing and life-changing as it is, raising a family doesn’t come without it's challenges. The saying ‘it takes a village’ couldn’t be more true. Many parents and caregivers rely on a support network of friends, family and, at times, professionals.
Parents want their teens to be confident and happy with themselves, responsible with their health, have good social skills and strong relationships, be successful and enthusiastic with their schooling and careers and be competent with money.
Youth coaching is a branch of life coaching. It is designed to encourage personal development in young people while providing an outlet for their stresses and anxieties.
Sometimes young people can feel like they are stuck on a never-ending rollercoaster. The expectations they have for themselves, as well as the pressures of fitting in, growing up and planning a future, can make it hard for them to cope. Youth coaching can help young people develop life skills and learn how to manage some of the stresses that come along the way. Being a teenager isn’t easy. As a teen, life can get pretty stressful and emotional. As a parent, it can be a crazy roller-coaster ride! From mood swings to facing pressures in school and social life, all teens experience problems. Some can deal with these problems on their own, but some experience a higher level of distress. Such teens often end up shutting themselves off from others.
And the result? A host of mental health issues that plague the adolescent through their teenage and adult years.
And this is where I come in.
As your high performance coach, I'm here to offer you help and support in whichever way I can. I'm excited to tap into my teaching and business background, my coaching and mentor training plus my many lived-experiences to cheer on, coach and guide your child to improve their overall sense of well-being, self-belief, and outlook on life - and I'm here for parents too.
I love working with young people to help them find their voice and their confidence, normalise the unique, quirky kid, help them discover ‘what’s out there’, who their true friends are and dispel the ‘fear of the unknown’. I help them find their path, unlock their passions and test their self-determination, all within a safe space, free to express themselves in confidence.
How can youth coaching help?
Many of the children I work with are surrounded by loving, caring adults, yet find it difficult to get the support they need because they are growing up in a time and culture that radically differs from the experience of the previous generation.
Whether it’s exam stress, social anxiety or learning to deal with the overwhelm caused by social media, today’s young people have more pressure on them than ever before. As a parent, it can be hard to know where to turn for advice and support when your child is struggling.
Seeking help from someone objective, outside the family, might feel difficult but many of those I work with say they wish they’d done it sooner. Parenting is hard work and it’s ok not to struggle alone.
It’s not just the child having coaching that benefits. By developing their confidence, emotional regulation and change in behaviour, coaching can help to improve relationships throughout the family and in school.
What is the right age for youth coaching?
Children normally develop critical thinking around the age of 12. At this stage, they prefer to be independent and “do their own thing”, including coaching. Therefore, youth coaching suits them, because it “gives them the stage” and guarantees their privacy, including from their parents.
Can parents attend the youth coaching sessions?
No, parents cannot attend the youth coaching sessions as they are designed to empower the teen and allow him/her to develop skills to increase their emotional intelligence and improve their health, wellbeing and success. This process is only possible without the presence of the parent during the session. However, I believe that parents involvement and participation, through the teen’s homework and activities is essential to the teen’s success therefore I incorporated assignments for the teens to complete that will allow you to be involved and aware of every aspect of the program.
I recommend a session for the parents after every 3 sessions with the teen. This is to update the parents about what they can do at home to increase the success and sustainability of the changes.
Do you guarantee the privacy of information?
Absolutely! Metamorphosis Coaching guarantees never to use any details or anything a client says without getting their permission first. At the end of the program, they will be asked to write a testimonial or feedback and they can choose what information they would like to share.
Please note: Metamorphosis Coaching guarantees the privacy of our client therefore I will not be able to discuss with you any information disclosed in the session with your teen. If I believe the information is very important for you to know, I will encourage your teen to share this information with you. The teen coaching program is designed in such a way that teens are asked to share and work with their parents or guardians to stretch themselves and grow.
Who needs to sign the youth coaching agreement?
If the teens are under the age of 18, their parents sign the agreement as guardians. If they are mature by the law, they will sign their own agreement. The teen coaching agreement is a good way to help clients feel that they will get a quality service, but also to get commitment from them, which is essential. The agreement sets out the terms and conditions for a successful delivery of the teen coaching service and for achieving results. Metamorphosis Coaching uses a simple but comprehensive agreement as a good foundation for any life coaching adventure.
What is the difference between youth coaching and counselling?
Counselling is a past-focused discipline, in which the counsellor identifies the reasons for the person’s feelings and behaviours and offers ways to handle a particular issue. Unfortunately, this often gives the client a label, e.g. “I’m depressed”, which they use to justify their actions and thereby limit their ability to change.
Some clients come to me after experiencing counselling when they get tired of having reasons and excuses and want to move forward. With youth coaching, we do not dwell on the reasons, because we want to avoid this negative outcome. Instead, we focus on the future, because no matter what has happened in the past, any person can make it better and learn to achieve, grow and be happy.
Key common focus areas I guide youth clients through
Personal Coaching
Youth may be coached through the following topics to enhance self-awareness: Self-concept, personality, strengths, needs, desires, values, interests/passions, future vision, meaning/purpose, goal-setting, skill-building
Youth may be coached through the following topics to enhance social-awareness: Social groups, social roles, social values/morals, relationships, relationship needs, relationship desires, relationship audit, structural support for goal achievement, most valuable people identification, social/emotional skills
Academic Coaching
Youth may be coached through the following topics to enhance academic-awareness: Academic performance audit, motivation, confidence, capacity and strategy, time management and prioritization, approaches to learning and study strategies, goal setting, and goal striving through achievement.
Positive Behaviour Change Coaching
Youth involved in high-risk behaviour may be coached through the following topics to enhance chances of positive reform: Agency – belief in the ability to choose and take action to achieve goals, self-determined motivation – an internal commitment to goal achievement, meaning and purpose – beyond self and life direction, structural supports conducive to positive reform, self-regulation and self-development, social capital audit and shifting, behaviour modification – consistent, meaningful action toward reform goals. This service is ideal for youth with a history of delinquency, substance abuse, and those reintegrating into communities after release from retention in the juvenile justice system.
Job & Career Coaching
Youth may be coached through the following topics to support research and planning for life post-graduation: Participants process through personality, strengths, and interests assessments, complete all elements of a job/career-awareness inventory, conduct the research and exploration necessary to identify life direction beyond high school graduation, identify needs and gaps, begin skill development in those areas, and earn a certificate of completion.
Sessions and Pricing
High School Years 7-12 (55 minutes)
Zoom or Office Coaching for Youth Aged 11 – 18
Single sessions or packages must be booked and paid for prior to commencing the coaching sessions. Sessions will be conducted weekly for approximately 55 minutes. They can go for two hours (double session) for more intense crisis and sometimes continue over one hour, if something 'comes up' for the child and we need to have closure on an issue. Prior to commencing, I outline confidentiality and mandatory reporting. Each session direction is determined by the 'client' if there are issues of the day, or we work on a program based on the 'Wheel of Life' that will give your child multiple outcomes that they had not realised existed or were within their control to change.