Life Coaching and Mentoring
Almost every person who has found success in life has a mentor or two they can thank. Unfortunately in our nation today 1 out of 3 kids won’t have a mentor in their life before they turn 18. In the Bay Area that number is more like 2 out of 3 won’t have a mentor in their life before they turn 18.
When working with students who have had adverse childhood experiences or trauma. Counseling and therapy are only part of the solution for them overcoming their past and finding success. Research has found that students who have mentors, but aren’t able to get therapy, fare better than students who get therapy but don’t have mentors. A good mentor can make all the difference in the life of a student.
At StudentReach we provide weekly life coaching classes for at-risk students throughout Northern California and in Portland Oregon. Our life coaching helps equip them with the tools they need to find success. We teach them that everyone needs a “Yoda” a mentor to help guide them through life.
Jackie was a student that was referred to us by a teacher. We went over to invite him to our life coaching class and at first he seemed uninterested and skeptical. After just two weeks of coming to our life coaching class his attitude did a full 180. He went from not being sure what these overly energetic “life coaches” wanted. To feeling comfortable and confident being a part of our coaching group, he participated in discussion and in all of our outings. Jackie came with us to our spring break trip and shared how he was glad we sought him out and encouraged him to come join our program. After Jackie graduated we kept in touch and I would periodically check in and let him know that I was rooting for him in life and ask how he was doing. We soon started meeting for coffee to chat about life. Jackie also started volunteering with us at events and fundraisers.
The problem of lacking mentors in students’ lives, cannot be solved by our government, or our schools alone. It needs to be solved by healthy caring adults who volunteer their time to help mentor or coach a young person. A good mentor relationship helps a student learn that they’re valuable, that they matter, that they’re important and that they can be successful.
