Digital Coaching for Youth Workers

Description

Reaching young people who feel excluded or disconnected from mainstream society and culture often requires meeting them “on a common ground”, that is to say, by way of digital tools.

For someone who has limited interaction with formal structures, digital approaches can open new pathways to connection.

This course introduces participants to practical digital coaching strategies that promote engagement, trust, and empowerment in young people.

Through interactive exercises, role-playing, case studies, and peer coaching, they will be able to build an awareness of the coaching mindset, encouraging empathy, curiosity, and empowerment while emphasizing collaborative learning and inclusion.

They will learn how to apply this mindset in real-world contexts to create positive, inclusive learning environments for young people.

Participants will explore and experiment with digital platforms and apps such as Miro, Mentimeter, Trello, Canva, Habitica, and Headspace, using them as support tools to foster environments that promote well-being and trust and create sustainable plans for implementing digital coaching for life-long learning, engaging hard-to-reach youth through digital media.

By the end of the course, with a combination of digital tools and interactive activities, participants will be able to engage marginalized young people, create inclusive environments that encourage well-being, resilience, and trust needed for deeper engagement.

Finally, they will be able to design practicable and adaptable digital coaching plans that promote lifelong learning and empowerment to hard-to-reach young people, offering them accessibility to skills and tools indispensable to being better prepared for the demands of the future.

Concept by Esme Garza

Learning outcomes

The course will help participants to:

• Apply digital life coaching strategies in various youth work real-world contexts;
• Recognize and address common barriers faced by marginalised and hard-to-reach young people;
• Demonstrate a coaching mindset based on empathy, empowerment, and inclusion;
• Promote wellbeing, trust, and engagement;
• Use core coaching skills to build trust, motivation, and sustained participation among youth;
• Design and facilitate engaging digital activities for hard-to-reach youth to connect with;
• Create supportive and inclusive digital environments where young people feel valued, safe, and confident to contribute;
• Develop sustainable action plans to integrate digital coaching practices into personal or professional settings;
• Collaborate with peers to exchange ideas, reflect on experiences, and share effective strategies for youth empowerment.

Tentative schedule

Day 1 – Introduction to the course

• Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
• Icebreaker activities;
• Presentations of the participants’ schools;
• Understanding digital coaching in youth work;
• Group discussion: challenges and opportunities when working with marginalised youth.

Day 2 – Overcoming barriers and promoting wellbeing

• Identifying digital, social, and psychological barriers for marginalized youth;
• Techniques to overcome barriers and fear of failure;
• Coaching strategies for confidence-building and wellbeing.

Day 3 – Coaching mindsets and core skills

• Master coaching mindsets: empathy, curiosity, empowerment;
• Practicing active listening, questioning, and constructive feedback;
• Role-play activity: navigating difficult coaching conversations;
• Group workshop: peer-coaching session with observation and feedback.

Day 5 – Digital tools for coaching and development

• Exploration of digital tools: Miro, Mentimeter, Trello, Canva, Habitica, etc;
• Designing action-oriented engagement strategies;
• Ethical considerations: privacy, safeguarding, inclusion.

Day 5 – Engaging hand-to-reach youth through digital media

• Connecting with youth and increasing accessibility;
• Building trust and connection through online communication;
• Empowering youth voices through digital platforms;
• The importance of digital literacy.

Day 6 – Course closure and cultural activities

• Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
• Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
• Excursion and other external cultural activities.

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