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Our Mission and Goals

We’re a community of social change agents who experienced our share of struggles as adolescents. We managed to overcome, learn to thrive, and establish lives we can be proud of. Now, we’re committed to reaching back and supporting the next generation of young people who’ve yet to see the light on the other side of their struggle.  

Our mission is two-fold. First, to combat marginalization and trauma with resilience building and empowerment by increasing access to evidence-based coaching for underserved youth. Second, to train caring adults and youth serving professionals to do the same by increasing access to rigorous, research-based coach education and credentialing at accessible rates for social servants.

Our goal is to help fill a support gap for struggling young people, one coach at a time. The unique needs of our audience require developmentally appropriate and research-informed practice. To this end, our services integrate relevant psychology theories and evidence-based models adapted for application in a coaching context. Our content is continuously updated to ensure our services are informed by the most current research.

What is Life Coaching?

Coaching is a non-directive, person-centered, strength-based, collaborative support service to help functional clients achieve meaningful goals. Coaching provides the structural support clients need to maximize their personal and professional potential.

Coaching emphasizes autonomy, voice, and choice.

Clients come to coaching with an interest in self-improvement or measurable progress. Through coaching, clients find insight and direction to identify practical means to reach their goals. The coach guides and supports the client’s planned, intentional, and purposeful action toward achievement from a place of openness, acceptance, and non-judgment.

Coaching clients are ready and willing to do the work inherent in the coaching process. They are committed to maximizing their internal and external resources to achieve the outcomes they seek.

Why Coaching Works So Well With Teens & Emerging Adults

Adolescents are in a sensitive stage of development. Their social cognition is developing rapidly, which means they’re much more sensitive to others’ judgments about them. They’re more self-conscious as they’re developing their identity and trying to decide where they fit in. They’re dealing with heightened emotions and sensitivity with hormone surges related to biological changes that are still very new for them. They’re wired to be more impulsive and engage in more risk-taking as they’re developing a willingness to separate from their family and create their own way.

A non-judgmental approach is healthy for all humans, but needed so much more in this developmentally vulnerable stage. The non-judgmental ear can make the difference between if they reach out for help when they’re struggling or get the support and guidance they really need as they navigate toward healthy independence. The non-directive approach is a way to respect their need to develop their own voice, choice, and self-confidence.

Why Research-based Matters

Studies show adolescent interventions including personal and social skill-building practices developed from a strong research base significantly enhance self-perceptions, school engagement, positive social behaviors, grades, and reduced problem behaviors while those lacking a research base show minimal effects.

Our Youth Life Coaching Programs Emphasize

  • self- and others-awareness;

  • self-efficacy;

  • self-determination;

  • meaning, purpose, and goal-orientation;

  • proactive skill building;

  • flexibility, tolerance, and collaborative problem-solving.

Our Youth Life Coach Training Programs Emphasize

  • research-informed practice,

  • trauma-informed practice,

  • cultural awareness and sensitivity,

  • and social responsibility.

Youth Coaching Institute, LLC, Coaching Life, Forney, TX