Effective Coaching for Teens Using Music and Art

If you have wondered how to help your teen struggling with mental health, music and art may help. Effective coaching, using music and art as a tool, is one way to approach this strategy. Trying to coach your own teen can feel difficult for many reasons. First, you’re their parent, and the relationship there comes with a shared history. That shared history means your teens aren’t starting fresh with a clean slate.

Second, effective coaching can be a blurred term. Some of the questions you might be asking yourself include:

• How do I know if what I say is getting through to her?
• What if he pretends to be okay but isn’t?
• Can I take off my “parent” hat and become a coach that helps him or her solve problems?

Third, and perhaps the biggest obstacle to a parent coaching their son or daughter, is that you are known as “mom” or “dad” and that’s reason enough for your teen to struggle opening up. You know your child well, but sometimes you are too close to be able to recognize symptoms, signs, and solutions.

A trained coach can offer the support teens need because it’s with someone who doesn’t have a shared history, and effective coaching is ideally conducted by a trained professional. Also, teens respond better to adults who aren’t related to them simply because the risk perception is lower.

What is effective coaching?

Teens often look to a coach for a less intimidating approach to counseling. Thanks to some misrepresentation in popular films and television shows, counseling or therapy can feel awkward for a first-timer.

Effective coaching is when teens share what’s going on with someone who can connect on their level but who has the professional training to recognize where the deeper issues are. For example, if a teen struggles with the motivation to complete their homework or take part in self-care routines, a coach can ask questions to help uncover the root of the issue.

To be effective, a coach needs to have:

• Excellent listening skills.
• An appreciation for young people.
• Respect for others that is not age-dependent.
• The ability to ask open-ended questions.
• A psychotherapy background to recognize mental health concerns.

How do coaches use music and art to help teens?

Music helps teens by grounding them in the notes, lyrics, and genres to which they most easily relate. One expert in the field said that music can act as a witness to what teens are going through. At the same time, it can be their spokesperson by expressing through a lyric what they’re having a hard time talking about in their own words.

Art is a tool that coaches can use to help teens identify with their feelings. Whether creating art or connecting with a piece of art, the tool is used the same way as music. It can help a teen process what feels chaotic internally.

Not all coaches use these tools, but some do. Coaches use music and art differently depending on their expertise.

Music as therapy.

Here are three ways coaches use music to approach teens with guidance.

Ask a teen what his or her favorite song is, and have them play it.

This builds bonds of trust and a shared interest. By expressing an interest in the style of music a teen listens to, a coach shows that they’re willing to learn. A willingness to listen and learn are key components of effective coaching.

Point out lyrics that may mirror how a student is doing, based on what he or she has shared.

One of the important pathways to solutions that a coach can achieve is by helping a teen understand how he or she is feeling. By revealing where a lyric may intersect with how a teen is feeling, the teen has language to express those emotions in a way that may not have come easily before.

Play a style of music that a teen expresses an interest in.

Asking questions based on a piece of music creates space for the teen. He or she can examine emotions without talking about them directly because the conversation is based on a piece of music, not emotive words.

Art in effective coaching.

Similarly to music, teens are usually more open to expression through artistic formats. Whether it’s a film, a book, or a painting, they can identify with some element. Art becomes the language they need to share about what stresses are in their life.

Coaches may use art to help teens who are reticent to talk and share verbally about their problems. They can ask teens to draw a symbol of what they believe to be a struggle, paint a picture of their idea of freedom, or listen to an audiobook of poetry to help calm their restless minds.

Teens can also engage in looking at pieces of artwork online and explain why they like them and how those art pieces make them feel. All of these methods help teens to identify what they’re feeling, begin to explore the root of those emotions, and help verbalize where their disconnects are.

Who does coaching help?

Sometimes it’s tough to understand the different types of therapy available to teens. Talk therapy, which is most widely understood, is just one of many options. Coaching done by a trained psychotherapist can be helpful for people of all ages and mental health challenges. However, as it relates to teens, coaching has been found especially helpful to teens who experience:

• Loneliness.
• Worry.
• Fear.
• Anger.
• Grief or loss.
• Low motivation.
• Chaotic or spiraling thoughts.

Many emotions and practices from the preceding list are symptoms of anxiety, ADHD, depression, and/or bipolar disorder. A parent should look for a trained psychotherapist to conduct effective coaching.

Finding the right coach for your teen.

The field of coaching isn’t regulated, and there are not any guidelines around an accepted form of coaching. This can create problems if you find a coach online to speak to your teen. Coaches who are not behaviorally science-backed can waver in their suggestions and approaches, so doing your research is paramount.

Your teen may be struggling with a mental health condition where music and art can be integrated into the overall treatment plan. However, this treatment plan may also need to include other types of therapy. A coach not trained in behavioral science may not recognize these therapeutic approaches.

These integrated therapies could include family therapy, teen group therapy, art therapy, and trauma-informed practices such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Effective coaching for teens isn’t anything they need to fear or be ashamed of; in fact, they should be involved in choosing who does the coaching.

As a parent, it can be scary and/or feel overwhelming to guide your teen in the right direction. With a little help, it can be done.

If you want to pursue coaching for your teen, it’s best to contact one of our offices. We can match you with a psychologist who is trained in behavioral science and has a background in working with teens. We can also help you find one who uses art or music as part of an overall approach to coaching teens.

Music and art are gifts of expression that don’t limit themselves to words. This makes them ideal components in coaching teens because teens often struggle to verbalize what is happening inside. Whether your teen is dealing with anxiety, depression, change, transition, or struggles in friendship, there is hope. Your teen’s struggle can get better. Let our offices guide you through the process, one step at a time.