3: Supporting Young People Through Transition Available to Purchase

Coaching and mentoring have been used successfully at key transitional points in people’s lives (Harding, 2013), such as offering someone an executive coach when moving into a new position of leadership, or within the field of education, mentors always being offered to newly qualified teachers at the start of their career. Young people will go through a range of transitions, such as moving from primary to secondary school, growing into adulthood, leaving school to go to work or university or leaving university to start a career. More recently, growing evidence has pointed towards the quarter-life crisis, where young people start to question their purpose during their mid- to late-twenties. At each of these transition points, it is important that young people access the right kind of help and support, as navigating new terrains can be unsettling and challenging. This chapter will look at a few transitional points, explore what might be going on for that young person and what kind of coaching or mentoring support might be appropriate and helpful. This chapter will also consider ethics, as it is important that coaches and mentors are aware of their own experiences of youth and growing up, so that these are not projected onto the young person they are supporting. It could be appropriate for the coach or mentor to share some of their own experiences, as long as the focus is on the coachee or mentee. We also explore what good practice might look like when a young person is feeling overwhelmed by change or aspects of their future which might be unknown or outside of their control.