Working with Teens in Atl Area (Atlanta, Forsyth: sales, homes, private schools)

[GwinnettCoach]

Hi All,

I need some guidance please. I am a Personal Life Coach (NLP certified) and work mostly with teens and their parents. I have been desperately working on getting coaching into the schools at the middle and high school level.

I have written principals and superintendents and have never received a note back. When I speak with people in person they act as though there really aren't any issues in the schools. If they could get over taking it personally, they'd realize that a lot of kids have parents going through divorces, some kids have bad friends, and some kids have other things going on in life that the schools don't have time or resources to address.

My bottom line is that I just want to work with groups of kids and make a difference. I charge only a fraction of what a therapist does so this isn't a money thing.

I'm looking for an outlet to be able to reach parents of teens, especially in the north metro area, especially Gwinnett, Forsyth and North Fulton. Short of running ads (that no one sees) or sending mailers (that people throw away) I'm really running out of ideas. Meanwhile, I see kids going through the court systems by the hundreds. What am I missing here?? I know schools are afraid of liability but there's bigger liability by avoiding the problems.

By the way, I have approached the courts where a few have been extremely interested in what I have, but they haven't been able to do anything with it because of funding and not being able to refer (or something like that).

I'm really open to hearing some ideas or finding out about places that I'm unaware of. I know that when I was having problems with one of my kids a few years ago I would have done just about anything to have put her with a good coach. The schools just shrugged their shoulders and told me 'good luck'. I really want to reach out to parents and teens and make a difference here! Coaching is pretty new so I'm up against that as well.

I have been working with parents of troubled teens and troubled teens for two years in private schools and churches. I have been a coach for more than 10 years working with mostly weight loss, sales strategies, new entrepeneurs, etc.

Thanks to you all in advance!!

[Mattie]

Maybe you might try taking your message to PTA groups directly. If the parents see a need, they will find the funds.

[GwinnettCoach]

Thank you!! Good idea!

[RoslynHolcomb]

You might also try to get an appointment with some juvenile court judges. They're frequently looking for someone to work with their diversion programs to redirect juvenile defendants. I had a gig for a while where I worked as a coach for parents with kids with behavioral problems. As you know, parents are often reluctant to look at the issues holistically and just want you to fix the kid. With parental coaching you can work with the parents to help them resolve issues in their homes.

[ReadNCoach]

I realize this thread is a year old, but I feel the need to commiserate because I'm going through the same scenario as you. I am also certified in NLP and I have used my training to teach children to read...

I taught a boy in one afternoon whose teachers had told his mom he would never be able to read... they were giving him all his tests orally. Well, in just 2 hours he read a page from a Harry Potter book conversationally! He learned about 20 new words and could spell them both forwards and backwards.
Oh, and did I mention he's dyslexic?

But whenever I approach the schools, I get the very same response as you. I feel like I have three heads or something... because they have no experience with NLP they can't fathom how I can do this so easily.

Perhaps we can help each other... if you have already succeeded in this, I'd sure like to know what you did. I tried volunteering at the library, but they only wanted to use me for ESL and that's not what I want to do! Those people already know how to read, the person they wanted me to work with only needed a better English vocabulary... so watch TV with the captioning on and a dictionary!

I once mentored a 5th grade boy who was failing his classes and was demoralized... in 2 weeks time he totally turned around. I made school fun for him again by giving him many more choices.

Yet the schools won't give us a chance! I've never had a failure! I had 100% improvement in every child I've taught. The very first boy I taught was threatened with repeating 2nd grade because he couldn't read. What was actually happening was that his eyes were scanning ahead to the bigger words he didn't yet know but he was vocally stumbling over the tiny connecting words... the "a's" and "the's", etc. He was getting angry because they were focusing on stuff that wasn't the problem! But he was only 7 and could't vocalize what was actually happening. I worked with him the summer I was first learning NLP and guess what? Not only did he easily learn to read, he took several AP classes in HS and is now in college.

What I actually want is to teach the teachers how to help the kids that can't learn to read via phonics. The teachers need to realize that the reading process is visual, then concept recognition, followed by phonetical pronunciation, and verbalizing the words only slows the process down. Speed readers are fast because they don't subvocalize the words, saying the words is not a part of the reading process. Vocalizing words is a communication process... it's useful feedback for the teacher but it impedes the student's learning to read process.

I teach people to read wherever I can find them... the last child I taught ( 6yr old pre 1st grade ) learned 120 words in 5 days and she could spell each word forwards and backwards... and she read the storybook containing those words. BTW, she's dyslexic. Schools are lucky if the children learn 20 words in a week.

Yes, NLP is one powerful tool. I'm sure you've had similar responses in your coaching experience.

BTW, I know of someone in the north Atlanta area that can make you a magnetic ad sign for your car at a reasonable rate.... a NLPer rate.