Become a Children's Life Coach

Even before the Global pandemic, we had noticed that something needed to change in our approach to supporting children's mental health.  In the systems of Health and Education, that we are working in, we noticed that there is a reactive, not proactive response to supporting  children's  mental health; that the situation must get 'bad enough' to tip the balance to seek help. 

We noticed that mental health is perceived differently than physical health. Children are given clear messages early on about developing positive physical healthy habits, like drinking more water, eating their five a day, and staying active with the daily mile. But when it comes to mental health, there is very little proactive messages to equip children to face the challenges that they will inevitably encounter. 

What if we  coached children that worry was simply a natural response to something they had never done before, or something different? 

So that we have children that expect to feel nervous if something new is coming their way; they expect to feel anxious and realise that they are simply out of their comfort zone because it is something they have not done before, rather than avoid it. 

What if we coached children to understand that emotions are just signals to guide rather than being good or bad? 

So that children understand their feelings and emotions, have healthy boundaries, and know when someone has overstepped what feels ok for them. 

What if we coached children that the only thing, they could have complete control over is their own feelings, responses, actions, and reactions?

So that children don't waste their time and energy worrying about something they could never control, like ill-health, spoiled plans, or other people's unkindness.

What if we coached children that they had beliefs about their abilities, but these were not the truth, and that they could be changed and rewritten? 

So that we could give children the gift of living a life without limits.

Suppose we support children to develop soft skills, emotional intelligence, confidence, and resilience so that they are prepared for any challenge that comes their way. As adults, we know that the challenges are coming, they are inevitable, but if the children already had their resilience tool kit, what difference could that make? 

We want to flip the script. We all have mental health. It's not good or bad. We want to encourage all children to develop mental strength - which is infinite. 

Some of you might be familiar with coaching, for some, this might be a completely new idea. Let's examine some definitions and distinctions and how we work with children. 

Pure coaching would be from the assumption that the coachee has all the resources they need inside of them to find a solution or the answer they seek, it is the role of the Coach to use coaching techniques, such as active listening and questioning, to unlock that internal wisdom.

But as we are coaching children, our approach must include an element of teaching to introduce new concepts, skills, and techniques. This creates a very safe space to practice these skills before the child uses them in real-life situations, and the way we do this is through stories, activities, and the power of the imagination. 

We are always coaching the child in front of us and always waiting for them to have their own eureka moment.  So, we are not forcing them along a path or wanting them to get something just because we have decided to coach them around it. 

We allow them to have their own eureka moment because that is when you get the powerful transformation, one that will last a lifetime.