Coaching Generation Z: Necessity, challenges and opportunities

Individuals are shaped by the values, pressures, and constraints of the time and place in which they grew up – each of us is a child of our time. Generation Z are the first generation to grow up with the internet, smart phones, and social media consistently available during adolescence. These technological advances have been accompanied by increased prevalence of mental-health issues and related challenges. Alongside the putative effects of such technologies, Generation Z have also grown up in cultures much more focussed on safety. During their formative years, the concept of safety was expanded to include emotional safety, which is to say a felt need that one must never be upset, and that one should believe one’s own emotional reactions unquestioningly. Such a conception of human emotion runs directly counter to the evidence base behind Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Coaching. Demand for mental health services is at an all-time high in many countries, however many of the challenges Generation Z are facing are not clinical and may ethically be supported by a sufficiently trained coaching professional. There are a number of cognitive-behavioural processes, such as psychological flexibility, that seem to fit well with some of the challenges most commonly experienced by members of Generation Z, and which coaching psychologists would be well-placed to employ with this population. With this paper we hope to start a broader conversation about the potential contribution of coaching psychology in this context.