Lisa O’Loughlin
As an elementary school counselor in a small town in Virginia, Lisa O’Loughlin has over 30 years of experience working with students. But nothing prepared her, or her peers, for the mental health and social development challenges that the post-COVID world has had on students.
Maggie Hayes agrees. She has worked as a school counselor in New York City and Savannah, Georgia. She says, “COVID-19 has changed the landscape of education, and we will be learning and seeing the effects of these ramifications for a long time. Our kids need additional support now more than ever. Schools are forced to focus on addressing the academic regressions created by the pandemic. We need to look at the whole child in order to best support their success.”
Maggie Hayes
Not enough time in the day
Lisa shares, “I was doing a lot of crisis intervention with kids, but didn’t have a strategy to help kids build skills that would help them grow.” She adds, “We usually get children for about 20 minutes during the school day, and I felt like I needed to see them more and do more in-depth work.”
Maggie adds, “Our scope of work is limited to the school environment and so many of our students need more support than we are realistically able to provide.”
A gap in the curriculum
Lisa sought a way to help her students develop strategies to manage their minds and emotions. “I wanted to find something to teach kids why their minds are responding the way they are and why they are feeling anxiety and why they are feeling fear.”
She pulled articles and books but didn’t have a curriculum to help kids develop these skills. As an interactive counselor who uses puppets, stories, and artwork in her work with children she was hoping to find something that would fill that gap.
Maggie adds, “As educators, oftentimes we can’t devote as much time to social emotional learning as we would like, or truthfully, as much is necessary. Not to mention that kids are often taught the value in being successful without much emphasis on how to be successful. As school counselors, part of our role is to support a child’s academic success by helping them navigate some of the ‘hows’, but with caseloads of 300-500 students it can be challenging to say the least.”
Lisa and Maggie find a solution – life coaching for kids
What Lisa and Maggie have in common is that they each sought a solution and found life coaching for kids!
Child life coaches help kids develop mindset skills that support mental fitness and protect child mental health. They teach kids how to use the power of their minds to:
- Create strong self-esteem
- Build self-confidence
- Make good decisions
- Build resilience
- Achieve goals
- And so much more
School counselors are referring parents to Child Life Coaches – to provide additional support to kids. As Maggie says, “As a school counselor, one of our most valuable resources for students and families are community partners.”
School counselors are also getting certified as a Life Coach for Kids, so that they can use the tools with kids in school and extend their work with kids outside of school.
Why Lisa and Maggie chose to Get Certified by Adventures in Wisdom®
Adventures in Wisdom® has certified hundreds of life coaches for kids (WISDOM Coaches), in over 30 countries, to teach mindset skills to kids using stories, activities and a proven STORY coaching process.
Lisa has remained a School Counselor and she has been certified as a WISDOM Coach®. Now she has a curriculum to teach mindset skills to kids in school, after school, and in her own private practice. She says, “I jumped on it quickly after I researched it…We’ve been looking for a great curriculum. And you guys just nailed it.”
Lisa adds, “My administration has really hopped on board. I’m going to start doing after school clubs, I’m writing a grant to bring [Adventures in Wisdom] into the school system, a couple of private schools in my area have reached out … because a lot of private schools don’t have counselors… It’s really growing and I’m so excited about it and the kids are really excited about it. The minute kids learn about the conscious and subconscious minds, and they understand why they feel the way they feel, it’s like an ‘aha’ moment, and then they grab it and run with it. It’s really exciting to see their eyes light up.”
Maggie left school counseling in 2021 and into. She says that “Becoming certified as a life coach for kids feels like a dream opportunity for me. I see becoming a WISDOM Coach, especially at this moment in time, as a unique opportunity to provide students with the tools they need to to reach their full potential. “Adventures in Wisdom not only teaches kids skills and techniques, but also why these techniques work. When we understand how our brain works, we are in the best position to set ourselves up for success.”
Success Story: Helping an 11-year-old Girl move out of her Mom’s Bedroom
When we asked Lisa if she had any success stories that she would like to share, she immediately recounted the story of an 11-year-old girl who had a goal of moving out of sleeping in her mom’s bed. Lisa shares the baby steps this girl took as she implemented mindset skills in this video:
Lisa says that the young girl was so proud of herself that she shared her victory with her classmates, saying, “You’ve got to go to Miss O’Loughlin because she can help you conquer anything! I know this is your class, but you have to share this with the other kids.”
Read and watch Lisa’s interivew here:
Read Maggies interview here:
1. Want to be a Life Coach for Kids?
You can create impact and income – working part time or full time – as a certified WISDOM Coach®.
You can get certified to use the Adventures in Wisdom Life Coaching for Kids Curriculum, where you’ll use fun coaching stories, activities and a proven STORY Coaching process to teach mindset skills and life coach kids.
WISDOM Coaches use coaching stories and activities to help children develop mindset skills for confidence, resilience, self-esteem, self-leadership, and achievement so that they can be confident and prepared to handle the ups and downs of growing up, reach their fullest potential, and thrive.
To see what it’s all about and learn how you can create a business you love as a life coach for kids, simply click below. You’ll find everything you need to know, including how to apply and save.
2. Want to Find a WISDOM Coach for Your Child?
Simple click below to:
- Use the “Connect with a Coach” form or
- Search the WISDOM Coach® Directory
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Adventure well, my friend!
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