Engaging Young People in Support Struggle

Developing initiative

In this section, we explore how and why to engage young people in supported struggle, which is connected to the ‘initiative’ skill. Initiative is defined as the capacity “to take action, sustain motivation, and persevere through challenges toward an identified goal.” 

This involves young people: setting ambitious and realistic goals; developing and sustaining motivation by doing work that matters to them; and experiencing perseverance through the ups and downs of difficult work. 

This module will support you to: 

  • Understand the characteristics of ‘supported struggle’ and growth mindset; 

  • Use encouraging language to facilitate supported struggle and foster a growth mindset; 

  • Explore avoiding potential pitfalls of growth mindset by using an equity lens; and 

  • Create an implementation plan with strategies to help the young people that you support to engage in supported struggle. 

The key staff and volunteer practices that support this skill area are scaffolding (providing ongoing assistance to help young people develop motivation) and coaching (encouraging young people to persist through challenging work, making sure that the efforts behind each young person’s achievement/s are recognised). This is supported by: 

  • Building positive relationships;​ 

  • Planning for struggle; and​ 

  • Using encouraging language. 

We will explore and practice these approaches in the training. You can find more detail in your participant notebook (see below) as well as on page 95 of the Thrive Guide. 

Resources

A series of resources to enhance your understanding of support struggle. 

Supported Struggle: participant notebook

In this workbook, you will find the following activities: 

  • Rephrase and Reframe Practice 

Take the phrases that are given and have a go at rephrasing and reframing them using growth mindset or young-person focused language. 

  • Finding the Balance 

Write down various aspects of your life (goals, achievements, health, plans for the future, etc.) and indicate with a mark on the arrow how much control you think you have over that aspect of your life. 

  • Case Studies 1, 2, and 3 

Take each of these scenarios and have a think about what you can observe and how you might implement some of the practices to encourage a growth mindset, facilitate a supported struggle, and support initiative skills. 

  • Reflection Questions 

Two questions to help you to reflect on what you’ve learnt about strategies for facilitating a supported struggle. 

  • Implementation Plan 

Use this worksheet to develop a plan for applying your new learning to your work with young people. 

  • Reflection Journalling  

Take a moment to explore how you might make a shift in your own growth mindset or attitude towards struggle, in order to better support the young people that you work with. What support might you need to persevere through the struggle? 

See more
Supported Struggle: Rephrase and Reframe – Rewrite Examples

Some examples of answers for the Rephrase and Reframe Practice activity.

See more

Further Reading

 

A selection of articles, books and websites offering additional resources designed to deepen your understanding. 

Nurturing the social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people during crises [UNESCO]

An important discussion on the value of building social and emotional skills to enable behaviour to address the impact of living during a time of crises. 

Read here

Social and Emotional Learning and Resilience Education [Helen Cahill]

An examination of the relationship between SEL and resilience. 

Read here