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Updated:
August 28, 2024
Written By:
Jonny Baker
We are deep within one of the most critical periods in recent history for the wellbeing of children and young people. I cannot underestimate the need for us to pool our resourcefulness in being agents for positive change for young people. The impact of this change will not only make a crucial difference in the quality of life for young people but the increased wellbeing that we are in a position to facilitate has the potential to create a ripple effect, transforming the future of our society for the better.
Anxiety is something we all experience. The amount of teenagers with anxiety is rapidly increasing.
'Nearly one-third of 16-24 year olds in the UK (31%) reported some evidence of depression or anxiety in 2017 to 2018. This is; up from the previous year (26%) and the same period five years earlier (26%).' (Office for national statistics, 2020)
Some of us may also have experienced periods of generalised anxiety, feeling unable to control our thoughts, feelings and worries. Generalised anxiety can feel constant, or overwhelming and can affect many parts of our lives, such as our wellbeing, our relationships, our education and our work.
There are several ways you can help an anxious teenager at school, but we find coaching to be one of the most beneficial ways to enable young people to learn strategies that help them reduce the impact of anxiety affecting them at school.
Coaching teenagers helps them access patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviours that are associated with or give rise to anxiety. It focuses on how we would choose for those patterns to be different and what may be possible when such differences are manifested. Coaching breaks down the process of embedding these chosen patterns into our day-to-day lives in manageable steps and keeps us accountable and on-task.
Some other approaches that may be found in educational settings (or through GP referral) include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Counselling and Mindfulness. These approaches all overlap with one another and with coaching. However, there are some notable differences:
Similar to Coaching, “CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle” (NHS, 2019). - A CBT Therapist may be more inclined to offer solutions to their clients, based on their analysis of the interaction of their clients’ thoughts, feelings and actions. Conversely, a Coach may be more inclined to guide their client to make this discovery for themselves.
A Counsellor encourages their clients to talk about their feelings, often focusing on past events and emotions, whereas Coaching usually focuses on the present and future. They do not usually give advice, or tell clients what to do, creating a space for clients to come to these understandings of their own accord (NHS, 2020).
A Mindfulness practitioner helps their clients to relax and meditate, opening their awareness to present thoughts and sensory information, such as feelings, sights and sounds. Mindfulness is based primarily in the present and not in the past or future.
Life coaches that work with teenagers may draw upon mindfulness strategies and this type of sensory awareness, but generally in the context of creating new possibilities for thinking, emotion and action (NHS, 2018).
A common factor underlying all personal-development and therapeutic approaches is the therapeutic relationship (Miles, 2017) - the trust and connection between practitioner and client over time. This includes characteristics such as:
Supporting teenagers with the genuine intention for their improved wellbeing. Meaning what you say and saying what you mean will demonstrate that you are someone to be trusted and can create a safe space for self-expression.
I would take this a step further, recommending compassion. Compassion refers not only to seeing and feeling from the point of view of another person (as with empathy) but combines this empathy with a genuine intention for their best interests.
2 + 2 = 5. While it is important to escalate, or refer people for professional help when you feel their situation may be above your pay grade. When you are in that trusted coaching relationship, it is important to make no assumptions as to what kind of person they may be. This can cloud the water and arbitrarily influence any judgements they may make about themselves.
Imagine how you would like to be related to when talking about sensitive personal issues. It is a privilege and honour when a young person trusts you to share their feelings. They both require (for trust to take place) and deserve for you to demonstrate your care and warmth.
By drawing on your lived experience you can both offer and help teenagers to gain insights into how they have constructed their own map of the world and how they can adapt these maps in a way that works better for them. For example, a map that “everyone hates me” can be compassionately challenged by asking “everyone?”
The quality of this relationship may be the most effective way of determining the level of success you can expect (Ardito & Rabellino, 2011). Coaches may have a more similar view to their clients about their therapeutic relationship than Counsellors and their clients (Machin, 2010). Therefore, in reflecting on their coaching relationship, Coaches may have a greater understanding of what is affecting their clients and how effectively the Coaching process is progressing.
Developing quality coaching relationships with young people is one of the core modules of our Worth-it Coach Training Course.
In this balanced relationship, there is less emphasis in the distinction between “expert” and “young person”, with the potential for young people to feel more relaxed, enjoying greater freedom and opportunity to express themselves. This self-expression has clear benefits for young people, navigating their way to re-frame the wounds of mental health difficulties. Through self-expression, these wounds can form the foundations of their wellbeing, growth and flourishing.
As with all approaches to therapy and personal development, Coaching is empowered by the buy-in on the part of the client, equally with the Coach. Not all children or young people begin their Coaching process primed with this “buy-in”. Some may have reluctantly agreed to have Coaching by a parental, or educational adult. Some may be confused about what coaching is. Some children or young people may be wary and mistrusting about who this Coach will be and what they will do, or what they might ask them to do. This makes perfect sense and it is highly likely that I would have felt the same way when I was younger.
This does not mean that coaching cannot be effective for these teenagers. Everyone has their own way of testing to see if we are legitimately there to support them, to see our compassion, particularly if they have experienced adults in their lives as breaking trust and lacking compassion.
Sometimes this needs to be demonstrated by us as Coaches - by not giving up on them, whatever they might say, or do. This involves being flexible and patient and might even mean being comfortable with doing, or saying nothing at all, simply being “there”. When they are ready to talk they will let us know.
An experienced Coach will be un-phased by any resistance presented and will take the time to be curious, without an agenda to change them, or make them “better”. This Coach will be curious about what is important to the child or young person, what they might rather be doing, or what they might want to know about the Coach. In time, trust and openness to the possibility of creating something new in their life, according to their own model of the world, can be established.
Find out more about our approach to coaching young people by accessing our free coaching young people webinar series.
Check out our coach training course. Interested in working in partnership with us to support the young people you work with through coaching, then get in touch to find out more.
Ardito, R. B., & Rabellino, D. (2011). Therapeutic alliance and outcome of psychotherapy: historical excursus, measurements, and prospects for research. Frontiers in psychology, 2(270). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198542/
Machin, S. (2010). The nature of the internal coaching relationship. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 4. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/132154496.pdf
Miles, J. (2017, August 17). This is Why the Therapeutic Relationship is So Different. welldoing.org. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from welldoing.org
NHS. (2018, November 20). Mindfulness. nhs.uk. Retrieved January 15, 2021, here
NHS. (2019, July 16). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). nhs.uk. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from here
NHS. (2020, December 8). Counselling. nhs.uk. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from here
Office for National Statistics ( 2020) retreved September,2023 from here
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