Understanding the Benefits and Application of Emotion Coaching with System-Involved Youth

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT

Training Description

Emotion coaching is an evidence-based strategy for helping youth to understand the different emotions they experience, why they occur, and how to handle them. It is a method that can help system-involved youth (SIY) navigate everyday interactions and has been linked to better health, positive social relationships, higher academic achievement, improved behavior, and greater resilience. This training is based on the book “Emotion Coaching with Children & Young People in Schools” and will equip participants with the information needed to apply the practice of “Emotion Coaching” in education and community settings with SIY. Participants will be informed through presenter instruction, a slide presentation, learning application, breakout room sharing, and guided discussion.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

· Identify five evidence-based benefits of emotion coaching for system-involved youth (SIY);

· Identify and apply the four steps of emotion coaching within efforts to support SIY; and

· Identify the five stages of the emotion coaching journey.

Agenda

2:00pm – 2:15pm  Welcome & Introductions

2:15pm – 3:30pm  Education

· Why do we need Emotion Coaching?

· What is Emotion Coaching?

· How to Emotion Coach

· Using Emotion Coaching Effectively

· Applying Emotions Coaching to Supporting SIY

3:30pm – 4:00pm  Application

· Case Study 1: Applying Steps of Emotion Coaching

· Case Study 2: Applying Steps of Emotion Coaching

· Questions & Answers

4:00pm – 4:30pm  Breakout Room Practice

· Meet in Pairs

· Partner 1 shares an example of a youth they are supporting in need of Emotion Coaching (no identifying information should be shared)

· Partner 2 applies Emotion Coaching steps & shares insights about Emotion Coaching Journey

· Partner 2 shares an example of a youth they are supporting in need of Emotion Coaching (no identifying information should be shared)

· Partner 1 applies Emotion Coaching steps & shares insights about Emotion Coaching Journey

4:30pm – 4:45pm  Main Room Conversation

· Reflections from Breakout Room Practice

· Questions, clarification, and comments about Emotions Coaching with SIY & Emotion Coaching Journey

4:45pm – 5:00pm  Closing & Wrap-up

Meet Our Trainer

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT is a Grief Specialist. She is credentialed as a Fellow in Thanatology (the study of death, dying, and bereavement) by the Association of Death Education and Counseling, and a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Wendy worked as hospice Bereavement Specialist from 2017-2022, offering grief care to patients’ loved ones, hospice staff, and community partners. Through hospice work she recognized a gap in grief education for helping professionals, and a need for better understanding and support for grievers. As a result, she left corporate hospice care and launched Grief Guide Consulting, LLC in 2022. Her private practice grief services include individual counseling, support group facilitation, group education, and consulting. She believes that grief is not a problem to be fixed. It is a journey that we can learn to navigate, and when the path is unfamiliar or uncertain it can help to have a guide. You can learn more about Wendy or contact her at her website: www.griefguideconsulting.com.

This course meets the qualifications for (3.0) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.