The TEEN COACH'S ROLE
At its core, coaching is actionable items and looking forward. This is how it differs from therapy. Therapy is a process of looking back and determining how a person has developed to the present, and coaching starts at a person’s life today and propels it forward.
Being a teenager is incredibly more stressful and complex now than in past generations.
These are the top 10 issues that plague teens today:
Identity
Discovering who they are – and navigating through the confusion while doing so.
Future/Direction
From exams to plans after high school graduation, this can take a lot of thought as there are so many options from which to choose.
Parents/Family Relationships
These interactions will go through a lot of change during the teen years.
Sex, Dating, and Relationships
Teens are bombarded with constant messages about these topics. Along with a rising "hookup culture", it's not easy for teens to determine their best choices.
Technology and Media Overload
The average teen spends over seven hours per day looking at a phone. That’s an increase of two hours since 2015. This can be more damaging for teen girls, given the fact that they are shown so many messages that can negatively impact their body image and self-esteem.
Friendships/Social Relationships
For many teens, the center of daily life is their peer group(s). They can dramatically affect personal and school experiences.
Academics/School Stress
Since a large amount of time is spent in school, this is a significant part of a teen’s overall daily experience.
Body Image/Self-Esteem
This is an enormous issue for teens, with a vast majority (up to 88% in recent studies) believing that the media sets impossible beauty standards.
Drugs and Alcohol
Prevalence and accessibility puts everything in teens’ hands. While the age of initial tobacco and drug use has risen, many teens start experimenting with alcohol by age 13.
Decision Making
There are so many options and choices for teens today that impact their daily life and long term future. These tasks can be daunting for many teens.
A Teen Coach CAN HELP
All of these topics are where a coach can help. A coach is trained to work with teens with a different perspective than a therapist. However, working with a coach can also complement therapy. In many cases, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
The coach’s job is to be relatable and empathetic, while working with the teen to feel good about their own personal growth and emotional progress. While a therapist’s job is to listen, a coach’s job to offer guidance, support, and even share their own experiences as a teen.