TRIGGER ALERT

Recently, I saw a political campaign in England that spoke about a certain leader allowing child sexual abusers to walk free. I was disgusted and appalled at the audacity of using such below the belt tactics to gain leverage in a political race...This prompted me to write this blog which is probably going to be more of a vent and a huge big punt for good old fashioned values...here goes: 

"I have lived in and contributed to the UK for 8 years. I became a British citizen after LOTS of money invested into the National Health Service, doing an English test and passing a life in the UK test. I have towed the line. Contributed to taxes and paid my dues.  

I see myself as a contributing member of society. I am proud and grateful to live in a country that offers me opportunities that my country of birth cannot match. Those that know me well rarely hear me complaining about South Africa (where my family lives) or England (where I now live) because I choose to see the good rath...

I started coaching children in 2003. A time were as a pioneer in this new field, I had nobody to follow and nobody to teach me. As a lifelong learner and with at that stage a teaching degree under my belt, I put the puzzle pieces together as best I could. It was only when I did my Honours degree in Psychology of Education in 2005 that I realised just how many gaps there were in education and supporting children. So I started devouring books, courses and trainings to learn as much as I could about the best way to support children for long term results. With so much knowledge under my belt, I felt the need to consolidate my life's work and I did a Masters Degree in Clinical Child Psychology in 2020. Yet again....I saw gaps in the knowledge and glaring loopholes to young psychologists being trained to support children. 

The good news...is that I realised that intuitively, I had co-designed a programme with the children I had coached and that my play based coaching model was indeed spot o...

When I did my Masters Degree in Clinical Child Psychology

It was gruelling.
It was exhilarating.
It was exhausting.
It was uplifting.

Being accepted into pretty much unrelated degree to my Bachelor of Education Honours degree based only on my experience was an adventure of note!

I did tons of assignments from ADHD to Autism to Bipolar and more….from Trauma to Social Support….child abuse to suicide. I learnt the intricacies of brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders.I read research papers and attended lectures that left me full of new insights.

As a Psychiatry researcher at Oxford University, I have found ample evidence that labels are for things and not for kids!  I have learnt through the evidence, that a lot of children are misdiagnosed and incorrectly supported. I learnt that “testing” and “medicating” (as I have always believed) is not always the answer as many times complex trauma caused by adverse childhood experiences (ACE's) is overlooked.

Most of all I learnt tha...

This past week, I have had the privilege of spending time with certified Kids Life Studio coaches in my hometown of Lymington! They flew in from the USA and Belgium to join me for our Press Pause and Play Retreat 2022! Hosted in the beautiful New Forest in Lymington, England, we did everything from riding bicycles and taking selfies with ponies to doing water obstacle courses and visiting stone henge.

It was truly amazing to see the collaboration and connection that happened in only one week! These lovely team zealers managed to not only connect to each other but they connected to their own inner child as they took the time to walk the walk and talk the talk. Since play based coaching requires us to play, it is important to take time out to connect with nature and with our inner selves and we did all of that and more!

It is hard to stay positive and on track when faced with the daily pressures of life. I love how these participants made an effort to invest into their own mental, phys...

Every week on a Thursday my students and certified coaches from around the world gather in a zoom room with me leading them in a peer to peer supervision session. This is one of the things we love to do at The Kids Life Studio Global Network

We value being lifelong learners and discussing our client progress, challenges or opportunities with each other.

Our topic changes each week and recently, our topic was technology addiction. I was super excited about this one as we are seeing such an upswing in this problem in young children. The Kids Life Studio has coaches in over 42 countries and there isn’t one country that is immune to this!!

We all need to be part of the solution as secret parents by staying informed and providing children with a road map for safe tech use. Technology can be good….when managed and when parents role model good habits!!  t starts with us walking the walk and talking the talk as Secret Parents so that we can rebrand childhood for resilience, coping and menta...

In 2003 I started developing a play based coaching model for children that educates, motivates and inspires children to become the leaders of their own lives.

In my research I soon realised that Maslows motivation theory had dire outcomes for children since there was so much existential threat relating to life!

Watching a video from a leading psychiatrist reminded me that Maslows theory certainly has merit but I have adapted it to be more relevant to todays culture and environmental context.

All students who go through my Kids Life Coach training through The Kids Life Coach Academy learn how to flip this model to consider a child’s wants and needs.

This enables us to see potential rather than deficit and allows us to enable a child’s labels in a positive way!

Want to join our team. Let me know. Happy to answer your questions.

Regards with zeal,

Zelna Lauwrens

Founder Kids Life Studio and Kids Life Coach Academy

When I first started building and developing my proprietary Play Based Coaching® System (PBC) in 2003, I intuitively knew that children had to be at the centre of the intervention. So I created a system that "speaks" childhood play fluently and taps into potential in a non invasive way.

At the time, I didn't call it Play Based Coaching®, but as time progressed, and I found myself using the name more and more, I decided to formalise it and today this evidence informed approach is being used in 40 countries across multiple cultures, religions and demographics. 

This Play Based Coaching® System (PBC) works...

Why?

Because EVERY child has the same needs and those needs are simple...One of the things I teach in my Level 2 training is 'Choice Theory' which is based on the simple concept that every individual only has the power to control themselves and has limited power to control others. Applying Choice Theory allows children to take responsibility for their own life so that their needs ar...