Why is Life Coaching for Kids so Important?
When faced with challenges or disappointments, most kids don’t have the tools to handle them.
As a result, they often get down on themselves or give up on themselves-developing belief systems that can hold them back for the rest of their lives.
This crushes self-esteem and it crushes self-confidence.
Life coaching isn’t just for grownups. Its a game changer for our children when they learn how to use the power of their thoughts and power of their minds to:
- Feel good about themselves
- Handle the ups and downs of growing up
- To go for it in life, and
- Reach their fullest potential!
Life events can “wound” children and most of the time their parents don’t realize it.
Parents might see a shift in their child’s confidence or self-esteem, but they don’t know what happened or what to do about it.
And most of the time kids won’t tell because they are too embarrassed. They don’t want their parents, the people they love the most, to think less of them. Instead they cry themselves to sleep, often suffering in silence.
And a lot of kids are struggling.
Child mental health was in trouble before the pandemic, and now it’s worse.
In December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, released a rare Surgeon General’s Advisory report warning that the challenges that today’s youth are facing are unprecedented, the impact on youth mental health is devastating, and that “in many cases they are treatable, and often preventable”.
This followed an equally rare statement by three U.S. pediatric organizations in October 2021, declaring a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health. They called for “strategies to meet these challenges through innovation and action … to improve the access to and quality of care across the continuum of mental health promotion, prevention, and treatment”
Did you know that:
● Depression and anxiety doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, with 25% of youths experiencing depressive symptoms and 20% suffering anxiety symptoms.
● For adolescent girls, emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose 51% in early 2021 compared with 2019.
● 16% of youth (12-17) report suffering a depressive episode in the past year (2022) but 60% could NOT access a mental health provider.
And it’s not just in the United States…
A fact sheet on adolescent mental health from the World Health Organization in November 2021 reveals:
● 1 in 7, 10-19 year olds experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group.
● Depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents.
● It is estimated that 3.6% of 10-14 year-olds and 4.6% of 15-19 year-olds experience an anxiety disorder.
● Depression is estimated to occur among 1.1% of adolescents aged 10-14 years, and 2.8% of 15-19-year-olds.
● Suicide is the 4th leading cause of death among 15-19 year olds.
We must reach kids at an earlier age to help them develop mindset skills for resilience, self-confidence, and self-leadership skills, so they can handle the ups and downs of growing up and thrive.
And help is getting harder and harder to find
According to the 2023 Mental Health America Report, there is only one mental health provider for every 350 individuals.
In U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy’s panel discussion, “The Kids are not Alright – the Decline of Mental Health Among Youth” presented at the American Psychological Association 2022 conference, Dr. Murthy declared that mental health is his primary focus “because if we don’t rebuild this foundation for wellness in America, we aren’t going to do as well as a country…”
Dr. Murthy added, “How our kids do in school is informed, guided, and empowered by their mental health and well being.”
Dr. Murthy also discussed the struggle that parents across the country are happy with getting help. He said, “I think one of the hardest things as parents is to see your child struggling and to not know what to do about it…They can’t get appointments to see mental health providers, even when they do get an appointment, it’s 6, 7, 8 months away… I just can’t think of any pain that’s worse for a parent than to see your child struggling and to feel like they can’t get them the help they need.”
Parents need to know that there are resources to support their children across the mental health continuum, including mindset skills training and child life coaching.
Child life coaching focuses on the prevention side of mental health.
Mindset skills are the key to mental fitness and kids can learn these skills at an early age!
Kids Wisdom Adventures 