TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Árpád Bárnai
Coaching for change was a Training Course for youth workers and youth leaders working with young people with fewer opportunities to learn Brief coaching skills and techniques in order to address the needs of young people effectively and efficiently.
Through this Training Course, we were aiming to reinforce the quality of the supporting services by improving the skills of those professionals working directly with young people with fewer opportunities. The course aimed to support different organizations in developing quality services that involve young people with fewer opportunities by educating youth workers of how to coach youngsters with the Brief Coaching approach and methodology.
Brief coaching is scientifically proven to be a highly effective, efficient, and person-centred method to achieve desired change/goals. Good quality coaching is a tool that is more than often reserved for people who can afford it. Youngsters with fewer opportunities have minimal chances to benefit from modern approaches that improve lives, performance and behaviour. Further, youth workers who work with these groups are often too busy to attend a high quality training that would equip them with effective tools. This training course filled this gap and offered high quality training with four professional facilitators in Brief Coaching for change, in order to spread the skills of coaching to the disadvantaged.
This training course gathered together 26 participants. Half of them had already been engaged in the project application stage, but we wanted to offer an opportunity for wider public to participate as well. Hence we had 13 places available for public call in following dynamic: 2 participants from Belgium, 2 participants from Netherlands, 2 participants from Hungary, 2 participants from Latvia, 1 participant from Poland, 1 participant from Romania, 2 participants from Slovenia, 1 participant from Spain.
As training methods we built on the approach of Self-directed learning and Experiential Learning. The participants practiced coaching conversations, thus got to know Brief Coaching tools and the approach itself.
We used practice session, recordings of professional coaching conversations and the participants had the chance ot practice their coaching skills supporting youth from a local youth club.
The course was a very enriching and insightful learning experience for the participants.
The group continued the learning process and some participants organized a follow-up event in Bulgaria.
After half year they are still open and willing to continue their learning process as coaches and they are working on creating safe frames for practice sessions.
We co-created the whole process together.
I created the framework for the practice sessions. I was taking care of safety at the venue and also did graphic facilitation.