Do you currently have a child that is in high school or college?  If so, are you looking for an additional way to ensure that they stay on track and make good decisions?  If so, Student Coaching may be something for you and your teen.

The Reality
Every decision that a student makes can be critical as it could have an impact on the course of their adult life.  For example, how successful they manage the social aspects of being a teen while juggling academic demands will impact how they perform in school.  How they perform in school will impact where or if they go to college.  What they do once they go to college can determine the path and trajectory for their entire career.  The path and trajectory for the career will determine their ability provide for themselves and for their families. 

As you can see from this pattern, it is critical that students make wise decisions.  Not only must they do this in an environment that has a lot of challenges and distractions, but teens and young adults are also not biologically positioned to make good decisions.  This is because the frontal cortex of the brain is what people use to weigh consequences and this does not fully develop until someone is in the early 20’s.  This means that students make decisions that have huge consequences and they don’t physically have the capacity yet to weigh those out when determining what to do.  In addition, a teen or young adult will typically will not have a large library of experience to use when determining right from wrong and predicting potential outcomes.  This means they must make the good decisions in an environment noisy with distraction and temptations, while not having the capacity to weigh consequences and the experience to predict potential outcomes.

How Student Coaching Can Help
This is where student coaching can help as it provides one-on-one coaching sessions with the student to discuss where they are, identify where they want to go, and help them to stay focused and on track to get there.  Coaching can be effective by helping to establish clarity, direction, and self-awareness.  The process will provide a forum for to talk through thoughts, ideas, and challenges.  This can help to improve decision making and keep them on the right path. 

Great Complement to Parenting
With the normal responsibilities of being a parent, there will typically be some amount of coaching going on.  Why is this not enough?  There are two reasons why this might not be enough.  First, a parent is typically first and foremost a disciplinarian.  It is difficult to be an effective coach and disciplinarian at the same time.  This is because a there must be a completely open channel of communication when being coached.  In some ways, a child may be a more uncensored line of communication with a coach versus someone that sets and enforces the rules that a child live by.

In addition, a parent typically has not been trained in the area of coaching.  While there are aspects of coaching that come naturally to a parent, there are also defined processes, techniques, and philosophies that the average person might not be aware of and experienced in using.  By having a utilizing student coaching with a coach,  a more formal process and coaching knowledge will be used helping to ensure success and progress.

Compass Coaching provides a full suite of coaching services and part of those are focused on helping students to be more successful.