Mental Health Awareness Week invites us to pay closer attention to the emotional wellbeing of those around us. It offers the church an important moment to pause and reflect, not simply on the scale of the challenge facing children and young people today but also on how we are called to respond – faithfully, wisely and with hope.
Across the UK today, children and young people are facing pressures like never before. We are seeing rising anxiety, emotional dysregulation and a growing mental health crisis. In 2024 it was reported that 1 in 5 children have a probable mental health condition. Across the UK that’s 2.8 million children, with over 900,000 children and young people referred to mental health services tragically still waiting for help. The scale and urgency are clear.
And yet, in the midst of this, I am continually struck by a quiet but powerful truth: the local church remains one of the most relationally rich communities in our society. Since TLG began our work with children facing challenges 27 years ago, I’ve had the continual blessing of seeing how local churches are uniquely placed to walk alongside children, young people and families in their most vulnerable moments.
"Coaching has helped me realise I can be more myself"
Coaching offers something profoundly hopeful. It creates safe spaces where children are empowered, not directed. Where their feelings are honoured, their pace is respected, and their stories and journeys are held with compassion. Coaching offers churches a practical, scalable way to nurture wellbeing, belonging and long-term participation for the next generation.
At TLG, we know that church volunteers and leaders can feel underprepared when emotional or mental health challenges surface. The pressure to respond ‘correctly’ can lead to anxiety, burnout or withdrawal. Taking a coaching approach offers a different way – one shaped by presence, curiosity and compassion.
The TLG Coaching Academy is an accredited training programme that equips church leaders and volunteers with trauma-informed coaching skills to better support children and young people facing emotional and mental health challenges. Alongside this, our Coaching Network provides ongoing resources, supervision and support, helping churches embed a sustainable, relational culture of care into everyday ministry.
Scripture reminds us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1:19). Coaching takes this command seriously, embedding listening as a missional practice rather than an optional skill. This conviction sits at the heart of the TLG Coaching Academy and Network.
Our participants repeatedly tell us that the training is as formative for their own wellbeing as it is transformational for those they support. This matters because mission is never sustained by passion alone. It requires resilience, confidence and practices that nurture healthy cultures over time. Coaching strengthens pastoral care, enriches children’s and youth ministry, and equips leaders to model emotionally healthy discipleship.
I was so inspired by Toni’s experience. A youth worker and member of the 2025/26 Coaching Academy cohort, she shared about the need she is regularly encountering among children and young people. Toni said, “For children and young people to have undivided one-to-one attention from a trusted adult is like gold dust. They really value that time and space to be genuinely listened to.”
For children and young people to have undivided one-to-one attention from a trusted adult is like gold dust.”
Toni also spoke about the impact of the Coaching Academy on her local ministry with children and young people. She said, “It has really progressed my understanding of the value of the space that I am providing, and how to hold that well. It’s taught me to value the young person and their autonomy and their ability to think for themselves.”
At TLG, our vision is to see fullness of life for every child, no matter what struggles they face. Through the Coaching Academy and Network, we are equipping the local church with evidence-informed, trauma-aware tools that help children and young people move towards hope, agency and belonging. We believe that when the church listens well and responds wisely, lives are transformed – one relationship at a time.
During Mental Health Awareness Week – and beyond – I invite you to reflect on how listening shapes your own ministry context. Consider exploring TLG Coaching Academy and Network, or share this story with someone in your church who cares deeply about the next generation. Together, as we listen well, we can multiply hope and point children and young people toward the fullness of life Jesus promises.
How you can pray
- Pray for children and young people navigating anxiety, loss and emotional distress.
- Pray for church leaders and volunteers to increasingly feel equipped, confident and supported.
- Pray that churches would become places of deep safety, listening and healing.
