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Written by Karolina Szweda
Karolina is a transformative coach specialising in building confidence, self-belief, resilience, and communication. She offers both online and outdoor coaching programs.
In today's fast-paced, 'always on,' and often overwhelming world, building confidence and resilience is essential for everyone but particularly crucial for young people as they learn to navigate their personal and academic lives successfully, both online and offline. As a transformative coach with a background in supporting introverted and highly sensitive individuals (HSP), I've had the privilege of working with young people through the Yes Futures program, helping them unlock their potential and thrive.
Common Coaching Themes
The topics brought up by students during coaching sessions have been insightful and varied. Some sought confidence to make new friends, while others needed help building resilience to not give up after making a mistake, whether in class, doing sports, or at home. Additionally, improving communication with their family and friends was a recurring theme. Addressing these real-life concerns helps young people navigate their daily challenges more effectively.
Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
One of the first steps in coaching is helping people understand their unique strengths and weaknesses. This self-awareness forms the foundation for personal growth. For this reason, my coachees and I spent significant time identifying their core strengths and areas for improvement. This process not only boosts their confidence but also provides them with a clearer sense of direction. It’s been really rewarding to see young people get excited about their superpowers but also get humble about the areas that might still need their attention and work.
Developing Confidence and Resilience
Confidence and resilience are two critical talents that can significantly impact a young person's ability to succeed. Through various coaching techniques, including positive reinforcement, setting achievable goals, and celebrating small victories, we can help young people build these skills. In my sessions, we focus on creating a safe and supportive environment where coachees feel encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and face challenges head-on.
This was particularly impactful during the Into The Wild day when the students stepped away from their desks and faced tangible obstacles and challenges during teamwork activities outdoors. Even the most shy and reserved students were engaged in supporting their team and had big smiles on their faces when they managed to overcome the difficulty of each challenge.
Promoting Self-Awareness and Communication
Effective communication is another vital skill for young people's success. Encouraging open and honest dialogue helps them articulate their thoughts and feelings, fostering better relationships with peers and adults. By practicing active listening and empathy, we can guide them to become more self-aware and expressive. This approach not only improves their communication skills but also enhances their overall emotional intelligence.
It’s been incredible to see the change in students’ openness and trust throughout the program, moving away from one-word responses in the first meeting to full engagement by the end of the program.
Into The Wild - The Power of Outdoor Coaching
As part of the program, we spent the whole day outdoors. This was a fantastic opportunity to see the students in a different light, away from their screens, and engage in activities that develop key skills.
We spent the day at Essex Outdoors Harlow developing teamwork, communication skills, resilience and confidence through a range of adventure-based challenges, including archery, canoeing, orienteering and climbing.
Outdoor activities or a simple walk-and-talk can be incredibly beneficial for inspiring creative thinking and building resilience, especially for introverts and highly sensitive individuals. Despite the rain, the young people showed up for themselves and embraced the challenges, demonstrating great resilience. And trust me, at the beginning, most of them were very reluctant and wanted to stay indoors.
Leading By Example
Anyone can benefit from coaching, and it’s no different for young people. From my perspective as a coach, empowering people through confidence and resilience is a rewarding journey that can lead to lasting positive change. When it comes to young people, our role as adults is to provide them with the tools and support they need to navigate their unique paths. And perhaps most importantly, it’s our role to lead them by example.
By fostering self-awareness, promoting effective communication, and encouraging resilience, we can help young people achieve their goals and unlock their full potential. And we might want to put that into practice ourselves first.
For more information on our programmes and to find out how we could support your students, please visit our Programmes page.
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