Family life coach can be part of a teen's mental health support team
Did you know that life coaching plays a significant role in managing mental health issues?
Especially in cases of mild to moderate anxiety and depression, life coaching enables people to build resilience and develop better coping strategies.
In my life coach practice, I provide services to teens and parents in rural North Carolina. I see countless students who struggle with mental health.
A lack of insurance and cultural stigma regularly keep these teens from seeking the help they need from medical professionals. Family life coaching can fill this gap. Coaches intervene and help students with psychological, emotional, and relationship problems.
What is life coaching?
Life coaches have a deep knowledge of child development and family dynamics. These skills, coupled with various coaching tools, strategies, and models from many fields (such as psychology and family life education), equip coaches to provide guidance to families.
“This is what great coaches do — they know that people draw energy from their visions and dreams, and that same energy sustains their efforts to change, even through difficult times,” writes Richard Boyatzis in the book Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth.
Coaches empower families to reach their dreams by learning to draw on energy found in their goals, and families can take steps towards lasting change.
It’s a collaborative process that enables families to take these steps. Life coaches encourage families to use their knowledge and expertise to create a plan of action, according to Dr. Kimberly Allen, interim associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State.
How does life coaching help mental health?
Coaches aren’t licensed psychiatrists, psychologists or therapists — they can’t do everything these professionals do. But, with a growing shortage of mental health care providers nationwide, coaches can help fill a gap.
They can still help care for students and families.
When a coach focuses on tackling mental health with students, they enable them to have a greater awareness of themselves while learning tools to manage life challenges better. They also teach teens how to manage emotions, challenge negative thinking patterns, improve relationship skills, reduce stress, have self-love, and so much more — all of which bolsters mental health, according to Shane O’Neil-Hart, LCSW, a senior clinical manager of the mental health coaching program at Lyra Health in San Francisco.
A coach aims to inspire students to build the skills and confidence to tackle anxiety or depression. Just like a therapist, a mental health coach is somebody who actively listens and acts as a support system. They offer a safe, non-judgmental space.
Coaches will typically do the following actions to help students zero in on their mental health goals:
- Ask them questions about what they want out of life. Coaches will ask various questions to help clients see themselves in new ways and open new avenues of transformation and personal growth.
- Introduce coping strategies and skills to students. Coaches teach students coping strategies for when mental health is overwhelming — from calming their breathing to practicing mindfulness— coaches give students tools to face their challenges.
- Help students design and plan a life path. Coaches encourage behavior by working with students to determine their goals. They hold students accountable for making a plan and putting it into practice. Coaches walk side by side with them as they grow. They can even task them with “homework,” such as journaling and meditating when overwhelmed.
Fighting against the mental health crisis
Approximately one in five teens suffer from at least one mental health disorder. Mental health disorders daily impact students’ lives and overall well-being. Mental health even affects relationships, physical health and academic performance. Because of this, I urge that this is an issue we all need to tackle. Together, life coaches,
psychologists, school counselors and social workers combat the growing mental health issues.
While each role tackles different groups of students with varying strategies, each is needed to make an impact.
When collaboration occurs between these groups, more teens are reached; more are provided for and given meaningful relationships. I’ve seen the difference life coaches working hand-in-hand with others can make — let’s all work together and support our youth.
When trained and vetted, coaches can provide similar-quality care that improves mental health outcomes while being more economical.
Gale McKoy Wilkins is a life coach educated through the North Carolina State University Family Life Coaching program who holds a William Peace University Human Services degree. If you want to learn more about life coaching or want life coaching for your students, connect with Project Arrow online at https://project-arrow.com or call our office at 919-824-7528.
