Emotion Coaching
Emotion coaching provides a value-added dimension to behaviour management strategies and creates opportunities for longer-term solutions to children's well-being and resilience.
What is emotion coaching?
Emotion coaching was first introduced by John Gottman and his colleagues in the USA. Emotion coaching is about helping children to become more aware of their emotions and to manage their own feelings particularly during instances of misbehaviour. It entails validating children's emotions, setting limits where appropriate and problem-solving with the child to develop more effective behavioural strategies.
In effect, emotion coaching techniques instil the tools that will aid children's ability to self-regulate their emotions and behaviour. It enables practitioners to create an ethos of positive learning behaviour and to have the confidence to de-escalate situations when behaviour is challenging. Emotion coaching provides a value-added dimension to behaviour management strategies and creates opportunities for longer-term solutions to children's well-being and resilience.
Useful links
“They listen to you and make sure that you're OK and, like, try to make sure you're stable and stuff and all of this helps you.”
(Young Person aged 15)
Projects
Bath Spa University is currently working in partnership with Somerset County Council's Children and Young People Health and Wellbeing in Learning Programme. The Somerset County Council Public Health team have commissioned Bath Spa University and EHCAP (a social enterprise company) to deliver a programme of Emotion Coaching training to the children and young people's workforce across the five districts of Somerset.
The training is based on Bath Spa's Attachment Aware Schools Programme, Professor John Gottman's work on Emotion Coaching in the US and the Tuning into Kids Emotion Coaching programme in Australia.
Reports
Research publications
Katz, Maliken, and Stettler. Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy: A Review of Research and Theoretical Framework. Child Development Perspectives, v. 6, no. 4 (2012), pp. 417-22.
Gus, L., Rose, J. and Gilbert, L. (2015) Emotion Coaching: A universal strategy for supporting and promoting sustainable emotional and behavioural well-being. Educational & Child Psychology, 32 (1), 31-41.
Havighurst, S., Duncombe, M., Frankling, E., Holland, K., Kehoe, C. and Stargatt, R. (2014) An Emotion-Focused Early Intervention for Children with Emerging Conduct Problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
Havighurst, S., Wilson, K., Harley, A., Prior, M. and Kehoe, C. (2010) Tuning in to Kids: improving emotion socialization practices in parents of preschool children - findings from a community trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51 (12), 1342-1350.
Katz, L. and Windecker-Nelson, B. (2006) Domestic Violence, Emotion Coaching, and Child Adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 20 (1), 56-67. DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.20.1.56
Kehoe, C., Havighurst, S. and Harley, A. (2014) Tuning in to Teens: Improving Parent Emotion Socialization to Reduce Youth Internalizing Difficulties. Social Devlopment, 23 (2), 413-431.
Rose, J., McGuire-Snieckus, R. and Gilbert, L. (2014) Emotion Coaching - a strategy for promoting behavioural self-regulation in children/young people in schools: A pilot study. The European Journal of Social and Behavioural Sciences, XIII (2), 1766-1790.
Shortt, J., Stoolmiller, M., Smith-Shine, J., Eddy, J. and Sheeber, L. (2010) Maternal emotion coaching, adolescent anger regulation, and siblings' externalizing symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51 (7), 799-808.
Gilbert, L., Gus, L. and Rose, J. (2021) Emotion Coaching with Children and Young People in Schools: Promoting Positive Behaviour, Wellbeing and Resilience. London: Jessica Kingsley.