Coaching young people to improve their wellbeing

MY VISION

My vision is that all young people have the chance to achieve their potential by improving wellbeing and building resilience, through the use of evidence-based coaching, so they can cope with life's many challenges.

The rise in mental health issues and the growing number of young people struggling with confidence, anxiety and lack of self belief is extremely worrying. As a teacher working in Aberdeenshire, I see first hand some of those struggles and I am passionate about helping as many young people as I can. Place2Be’s research has found that half of those with lifetime mental health issues first experience symptoms by the age of 14. The Mental Health Foundation and NHS state that 1 in 8 children and young people aged 5-19 will experience at least one mental health disorder. This increase is largely due to a rise in anxiety and depression. Young people need to be supported but only 1 in 4 said in the past year they accessed specialist mental health services.

Several research studies by Dr Suzy Green highlighted youth participants in a coaching programme showed a significant increase in wellbeing, resilience and academic achievement and a significant decrease in depression, anxiety and stress. Suzy along with other researchers state that evidence based coaching programmes should be considered as one intervention for mental health prevention in schools and can increase student wellbeing. 

I have recently qualified with an internationally recognised coaching qualification and I want to help as many young people as I can to reduce anxiety, stress and worries to lower the risk of mental illness and increase wellbeing, confidence and self efficacy.

Who Can Benefit? Do you know a young person who:

• Has worries or concerns about home life, school or friends?
• Has low confidence and self-efficacy?
• Is about to take exams and is feeling stressed?
• Is unsure what to do when they leave school and lacks confidence in themselves and their ability?
• Keeps doing the same thing over and over and getting the same unhelpful results?

Coaching can help remove limiting beliefs and enable young people to start believing in themselves, find solutions to life's challenges and achieve their aspirations. 

WHY I NEED YOUR HELP! 

With your donations young people will get free access to coaching sessions who may not have the spare funds for coaching but who would greatly benefit from it. I have also recently completed an NLP course and I can help young people with their anxieties, phobias or habits they want to change with various techniques. 

I am building a website and creating promotional materials so I can reach as many young people as possible who might need the help of a coach. A subject tutor is helpful, but they only teach subject knowledge. With a coach, young people learn to believe in themselves, set aspirational goals, find solutions to the challenges they face, build resilience and wellbeing, which then enables them to learn the knowledge they need to succeed, reducing anxiety and stress along the way. With the help of donations I’ll be able to reach as many young people as possible.

With your support I can also develop a range of positive psychology resources, materials and online courses which young people can use to enhance their wellbeing. Research shows that learning about how our mind works, understanding our negativity bias and how to reframe our negative thoughts, understanding our emotions, how to develop more meaning in our lives and enhancing our relationships, can positively impact our wellbeing (Martin Seligman's PERMAH model of wellbeing). Many schools international, especially in Australia, have been implementing a ‘Positive Education’ curriculum to increase wellbeing, based on the science of positive psychology, with great results. I want to make this curriculum and materials more widely available in Scotland and across the UK for our young people. With the help of generous donations I will be able to create those materials and resources and hopefully reach as many schools as possible. 

TESTIMONIALS - COACHING CAN BE TRANSFORMATIONAL!

“I was coached by Angie and I found her balance of support and challenge so amazing. Health professionals might be a bit overwhelming for youngsters. Having a coaching session with Angie would help youngsters get to the root cause of their anxiety and get them thinking about how they want to deal with it moving on.”

“Thank you so much for your coaching sessions, I have reached my goal as I feel a lot more confident and happy now, so it has definitely helped a lot!”

“I’m so lucky to have had you as my coach.”

"The coaching sessions let me understand where my stress and anxiety stems from and different ways to cope with it. This let me deal with it during the exam period. The sessions were stress free and I felt at ease speaking to Miss Shearer as she is a good listener and let me make the decisions by coaching me in the right direction. I progressed a lot in the few sessions we had."

“I have really enjoyed the coaching sessions I have had and got so much out of them. I learned a lot about myself and the processes I need to apply. I wish you all the best for your coaching future, you are very good and you will help so many people with it.”

“Thank you so much for the sessions. I found them useful, energising and enjoyable. It’s a good sign when 45 minutes goes past in a flash. Personally, I feel better after the sessions and it has certainly helped me map out what I need to be doing.”

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS CAUSE!

Today’s young people will grow up to be tomorrow’s adults. The worrying trends surrounding mental health and wellbeing for not only young people but also adults, needs to change. With your help we can start to change the statistics and support young people to improve their mental health and wellbeing! Coaching and positive psychology are evidence based interventions which have been proven to enhance wellbeing and with your help we can support as many young people as possible!