Teen Life Coach in Lake Forest and the North Shore, IL

Evolution Mentoring and Coaching provides teen life coaching and mentoring to families in Lake Forest, Highland Park, Northbrook and Deerfield on Chicago’s North Shore in Lake County, Illinois. Jeffrey Leiken, MA is an experienced mentor with more than 25 years of practice with teens and young adults ages 13 to 31. Sessions are virtual. This is mentoring, not therapy.

Where Everyone Is Expected to Be Well-Rounded

North Shore families raise capable, involved kids. In Lake Forest, Highland Park, Northbrook and Deerfield, the standard is not simply good grades. It is the whole package. Strong student, strong athlete, involved, likeable, headed somewhere good. Most teenagers here carry it well. The ones who worry their parents are carrying it and quietly buckling.

Jeff Leiken gets called when a young person who has always been dependable starts letting things slide, and no conversation at home makes any difference.

The Private Cost of Being the Capable One

The teens Jeff works with are bright, thoughtful, sensitive and intense. They overthink until they become their own worst enemy. Being the reliable kid means never getting to be the struggling one, so the struggle goes underground: into anxiety, into avoidance, into a room with the door closed and a game running.

Parents on the North Shore come to Jeff about teens who are anxious or socially anxious, who have stopped going outside, who quit a sport or an instrument they had done for years, who were levelled by a breakup, or who are motivated in principle and immobilized in practice.

An Alternative to Treatment

Jeff Leiken is a life coach and mentor. He is not a therapist, does not provide therapy, and does not accept insurance. Many families arrive having already tried the clinical route without much changing. Evolution Mentoring and Coaching offers growth and learning instead of treatment: honest conversation, practical skills, and direction from an experienced adult who talks to teenagers like people.

And he is not the parent. That single fact does most of the work. A teenager who has stopped listening at home will often talk freely to a trusted outside mentor who has no stake in the outcome and no history in the argument.

Jeff also works directly with parents. A parent coaching consultation gives you a clearer read on what is underneath your child’s behavior and a practical way to handle it at home. For a teenager who is not yet willing to talk to anyone, that is often the sensible place to begin.

Regular Meetings and Access In Between

North Shore families work with Jeff by video and phone on a regular schedule. At the comprehensive level he also stays reachable in between by text, email and phone, and is available to parents when something urgent comes up. A teenager decides to talk on a Sunday night, not at the next appointment, and by then the door has usually closed again.

Ask About Room Before You Commit

Evolution Mentoring and Coaching takes a small number of families at a time. If you want someone with real time to invest in your child rather than a practice where your child is one of many, raise it directly on the call. Jeff would rather say he is full than take you on and give you less than the work deserves.

Schedule a free consultation to talk about your teenager.

Frequently Asked Questions