Working with young people and youth coaching

Abstract

This chapter seeks to emphasise factors particularly relevant in youth coaching and provide an insight into the work with young people. These reflections are clarified by an examination of a series of coaching sessions. The chapter includes: an examination of how coaching psychology can be presumed as a form of intervention; a definition of how coaching, coaching psychology, and postmodern youth can be assumed; a consideration of how youth coaching—as a sub-discipline in its own right—can be understood with a focus on specific factors in work with emerging adults (young people); a presentation of five coaching sessions, illustrating how youth coaching appears in practice and which elements can be useful for the coaching psychologist to keep in mind; and essential “takeaway” and learning points from the practice presented and discussed throughout the chapter. Coaching in this area can be beneficial to young people’s academic work and in general satisfaction with life. Coaching can also help promote mental wellbeing (Hultgren, Palmer, & O'Riordan, 2016) in the young person (Robson-Kelly & Nieuwerburgh, 2016), and increase their productivity in school. Therefore, the author considers it relevant to see which factors apply particularly to coaching work with emerging adults to gain a better understanding of what youth coaching is and what it involves.