Austin’s mother who helps parents support children’s mental health
Renaye Thornborrow is the founder of Adventures in Wisdom, a company that has certified hundreds of children’s life coaches to raise awareness of life coaching for children.
AUSTIN, Texas – In the most recent Mental Health America Report, Texas was ranked 51st in the nation for mental health service providers per individual.
At a time when children’s mental health is in crisis and waiting lists are getting longer, parents need to know how life coaching for children and mental skills training supports children’s mental health.
Renaye Thornborrow is an Austin mom and the founder of Adventures in Wisdom, a company that has certified hundreds of life coaches for children in more than 30 countries. Since 2013, Thornborrow has been on a mission to raise awareness that life coaching for children is a critical part of the mental health solution, helping children be confident and prepared to thrive in life.
“A lot of times, when parents see their kids struggling a little, they think, ‘Well, I need to find a counselor for my kid.’ Many people are unaware that mindset life coaching, skills training, is available to children,” Thornborrow said.
Life coaching focuses on prevention by helping children build mental skills for resilience, confidence, self-esteem, and self-leadership so children can navigate the ups and downs of growing up and thrive in life.
“Maybe they see their child beating himself up. They see their child sitting on the sidelines, not wanting to participate or afraid to try new things. Maybe they want to achieve a goal, like making a sports team or getting really good grades. So it’s just not necessarily that they’re struggling,” Thornborrow said.
Adventures in Wisdom works with children ages 6 to 12. There is first an intake process with both the child and an adult to find out how the child feels about different areas of her life, be it studies, friendships, relationships, family, and physical and extracurricular activities.
“We get their input on what they would like to see different in their lives. But we hear the same thing from the parents, and then we work together to put together a plan: What do they want to work on more?” said Thornborrow.
Austin’s mother said their coaches are here to be on their parent team. Coaches work with children individually, in small groups and in workshops.
“They are not here to replace the parent in any way. They are working together to support that child to really live to their fullest potential,” Thornborrow said.
Adventures in Wisdom uses coaching stories to help children develop mental skills.
“It’s all through the coaching story format, which is a very engaging and interactive way to work with children because we want to reach children when they are young. We want them to develop these skills in elementary and middle school so they can use these skills throughout high school, college and even into their adult lives,” Thornborrow said.
For parents looking for support for their children, they can connect with one of their coaches here and find a match that might work for their child.
For those interested in working with children and being a coach themselves, Adventures in Wisdom has a tab for more information on being a coach.
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