I recently coached a group of four 15-year-olds who had each been referred for a different reason: Lack of self-confidence, lack of self-esteem, anger issues, stress.

At the beginning the group were out of their comfort zone and had to be encouraged and prompted to get involved.  As the course progressed and the exercises showed them the possibility of thinking and behaving in a positive way, their self-confidence increased and they became confident enough to let their opinions be heard, to support each other and to accept support from others in the group.  This increased their awareness of how they impact on others and how others impact on them.  Their self-esteem increased and they became able to recognise and verbalise their needs i.e. ‘were able to say if they needed more time to reflect.’