Child Life Coaching Course

Lesson 1 • Defining Child Coaching

Clarifies what child coaching is, what it is not, and where it fits among helping professions. Provides the conceptual anchor for the entire course.

Lesson 2 • Child Development Essentials

Covers key developmental stages from early childhood through adolescence relevant to coaching practice. Enables coaches to calibrate expectations and methods by age.

Lesson 3 • The Coach's Mindset and Self-Awareness

Explores the beliefs, biases, and attitudes coaches bring to sessions with children. Builds reflective capacity as a foundation for effective practice.

Lesson 1 • Motivation and Self-Determination

Covers intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation and self-determination theory as applied to children. Equips coaches to foster genuine, lasting motivation in young clients.

Lesson 2 • Stress, Resilience, and Coping

Examines childhood stress responses and evidence-based resilience factors coaches can strengthen. Prepares coaches to support children facing academic, social, or family pressures.

Lesson 3 • Attachment and Relationship Dynamics

Examines attachment theory and how early relational patterns shape a child's openness to coaching. Helps coaches build secure, trust-based relationships quickly.

Lesson 4 • Behavior, Beliefs, and Mindset

Explores how children's core beliefs drive behavior and how coaches can shift limiting mindsets. Provides a cognitive-behavioral lens for interpreting client actions.

Lesson 1 • Language, Tone, and Vocabulary

Addresses how word choice, tone, and pacing affect a child's sense of safety and engagement. Coaches learn to match language to developmental stage and individual style.

Lesson 2 • Powerful Questioning Techniques

Covers open, scaling, and solution-focused questions calibrated for children's cognitive levels. Enables coaches to spark insight without leading or overwhelming young clients.

Lesson 3 • Active Listening with Children

Teaches full-presence listening techniques adapted for children's communication styles. Forms the bedrock of every productive coaching conversation.

Lesson 1 • Maintaining and Closing Relationships

Addresses how to sustain engagement across sessions and how to close coaching relationships well. Ensures children experience endings as positive transitions, not abandonment.

Lesson 2 • Working with Parents and Caregivers

Defines the coach's role in relation to the child's support system and how to communicate with adults. Prevents triangulation and keeps the child as the primary client.

Lesson 3 • First Sessions and Contracting

Guides coaches through intake, goal-setting, and agreement-making with children and caregivers. Sets clear expectations and shared ownership from the start.

Lesson 1 • Cognitive and Narrative Techniques

Introduces cognitive reframing and narrative coaching methods adapted for children's storytelling nature. Helps children author empowering personal narratives.

Lesson 2 • Mindfulness and Somatic Techniques

Covers age-appropriate mindfulness, breathing, and body-awareness practices usable within coaching sessions. Equips coaches to help children self-regulate in real time.

Lesson 3 • Solution-Focused Coaching with Children

Applies solution-focused principles—exceptions, preferred futures, and scaling—to child coaching contexts. Shifts sessions from problem analysis to possibility building.

Lesson 4 • Play-Based Coaching Interventions

Explores structured play, games, and creative activities as legitimate coaching tools, especially for younger children. Expands intervention range beyond talk-based methods.

Lesson 1 • Child-Centered Goal Identification

Explores methods for helping children articulate what they truly want, not what adults want for them. Anchors coaching in the child's authentic aspirations.

Lesson 2 • Structuring Goals Effectively

Applies goal-structuring frameworks adapted for children's developmental capacity and time perception. Produces goals that are specific, motivating, and realistically achievable.

Lesson 3 • Breaking Goals into Action Steps

Teaches chunking, sequencing, and scheduling techniques that make goals feel manageable to children. Bridges the gap between intention and daily behavior.

Lesson 1 • Coaching Through Family Transitions

Prepares coaches to support children experiencing divorce, relocation, bereavement, or blended family changes. Distinguishes coaching support from grief counseling.

Lesson 2 • Academic and Learning Coaching

Addresses coaching children around study habits, learning challenges, and academic confidence. Connects motivational and goal-setting skills to the school context.

Lesson 3 • Social Skills and Friendship Coaching

Covers coaching children to navigate peer relationships, conflict, and social confidence. Applies communication and emotional intelligence skills to social contexts.

Lesson 4 • Inclusive Coaching Practice

Addresses adapting coaching for children with diverse needs, backgrounds, and abilities. Ensures equitable, culturally responsive practice across all client populations.

Lesson 1 • Setting Up a Child Coaching Practice

Covers the practical steps to establish a coaching business, including structure, safeguarding policies, and environment. Translates professional knowledge into operational readiness.

Lesson 2 • Marketing and Client Acquisition

Introduces ethical marketing strategies for reaching families, schools, and referral networks. Connects professional credibility to sustainable client growth.

Lesson 3 • Supervision and Continuing Development

Establishes supervision as a professional requirement and outlines pathways for ongoing skill development. Builds a career-long learning orientation in new coaches.

Lesson 4 • Pricing, Packages, and Sustainability

Addresses fee-setting, package design, and financial sustainability for a child coaching practice. Ensures coaches can serve clients without compromising their own viability.