Sally was distraught on our first phone call. Her son Oliver had been such a bright, bubbly fun little boy. But something had gone wrong and she couldn’t put her finger on it. Perhaps it was the new school, the new area they’d moved to or maybe the divorce she’d been through. 

 

Her 8 year old had become very withdrawn, just wanted to play on his PS4. School was ok and he liked playing football there but otherwise he just didn’t want to see friends or spend much time with her.

 

It was breaking her heart. She didn't know what to do. She was hesitant at first and after a couple of conversations we started working together. She learned how to coach her son using my simple process that focuses on engaging children by talking about what matters to the children. This empowers them since so much of their daily lives is based on fitting in with their school's agenda.

 

I showed her how to use football as a way to get Oliver to open up and as a Trojan horse to back into how he was feeling. He started to get a handle on how to change his outlook watching a video based on the fun training workshops I've run in schools. They watched the video together. He learned where his feelings really come from and how to change his mood for the better. 

 

But it was doing the fun activities in the book that really lead him to breakthroughs. Now he’s well on his way to being the happy boy he’d been before all the change that had rattled his self-confidence. Sally is a lot happier too because she's got her son back.