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In the News
New Mental Edge Office
The Mental Edge has opened our third office! In addition to our
North and South offices, we have added a new office in Elk River.
Our new office address is 19050 Industrial Blvd., Suite 4, Elk River
MN 55330
Mental Edge Welcomes Four New High Impact
Mentors
The Mental Edge is proud to announce we have added four new High
Impact Mentors. In addition to Shaun and Justin, we welcome Cindy,
Brian, Shannon and Jessica to our Mentoring Team!
Mental Edge Roles Out High Impact Academic
Mentoring
The Mental Edge is really excited about our New High Impact Academic
Mentoring! If your child struggles academically or simply wants to
have an edge or fine-tune a skill set, this one-on-one Academic
Mentoring will help provide him/her with the tips and strategies to
succeed! See Shannon Tilley’s article below and our Services Page
for more information on the program and Shannon’s impressive
experience as an Academic Mentor.
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Announcements
90-Day Challenge for Parents
The Mental Edge has launched a 90-day Challenge for any parent that
wants to revitalize and increase the quality of relationship with
his or her kids by being a better asker of quality questions. Each
month we will provide 5 or more quality questions to help you make
bids toward your son or daughter. Please email
Dawn@MentalEdgeNow.com
to accept the challenge!
Mental Edge Roles Out High Impact Academic
Mentoring
The Mental Edge is really excited about our New High Impact Academic
Mentoring! If your child struggles academically or simply wants to
have an edge or fine-tune a skill set, this one-on-one Academic
Mentoring will help provide him/her with the tips and strategies to
succeed! See Shannon Tilley’s article below and our Services Page
for more information on the program and Shannon’s impressive
experience as an Academic Mentor.
Mental Edge Maintenance Program
Have you mentored with the Mental Edge yet would like an opportunity
to keep in contact with your Mental Edge Coach? We are please to
announce our High Impact Maintenance Program! You can get unlimited
phone, text, and email contact with your coach on a monthly basis
for $275.00. Please call Dawn at 763-439-5246 to begin. Open to all
past mentoring clients!
Did you know
we offer complimentary 30-minute telephone
initial consultations? If
you or someone you know would like a first-hand experience of what
we are all about, simply call Dawn to schedule your no-obligation
consultation with Shaun or Justin today! |
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The High Impact
Association
Shaun Goodsell, MA
Youth sport associations have an outstanding opportunity to
significantly influence and impact the lives of youth and families.
However, many young people appear to be lacking the internal drive,
motivation, and passion that many represented in years past. There
are most likely many opinions as to why this is true. I have heard
that kids are playing too many video games, they are less mature,
they have more choices, we live in a small community and lack the
resources of a larger community and the list seems to goes on.
Understanding why kids seem to be emotionally and physically
disengaged is vital if we want to see this troubling trend turn
around. Unfortunately, this is not just a challenge our youth
associations are facing; our school systems and other youth center
organizations are working hard to turn this around as well.
I would like to respond to this troubling trend. There is no doubt
in my mind after 22 years of work with kids and families that there
are some troubling signs regarding our youth. Certainly, there are
concerns with drug use, alcohol use, teenage sexual behavior, peer
harassment, family breakups, and things that catch the headlines and
significantly impact our society. I would like to address a problem
that, in my mind, is at the root of all these problems in some
manner and very fixable. The apathy and lack of interest combined
with self-centeredness many children and teens appear to approach
their life with is frightening. In my mind this is a symptom that
many of our youth have lost hope and interest in what society has
been selling and asking them to buy into. For instance, kids have
been told to work hard at their sport, show up to practice, and they
will be rewarded with opportunity, success, and a “good time”. This
is far from the experience that most kids are reporting today. Many
kids are reporting that they simply are not having fun anymore. When
asked why they say they are tired of getting yelled at and not
hearing when they do something “right”. I have heard this literally
hundreds of times and in my mind this represents the kind statement
that means we are losing our kids. We may not be losing their
participation in all cases but we are losing their trust…we need to
be able to shape and mold the minds and lives of kids. After all,
isn’t that why youth programs exist? Because of this troubling
trend, it is my belief that we need to spend time and energy
focusing on how we are going to earn our influence back with kids.
Simply stated we need to be better recruiters of kids. We need to
know what challenges them, what inspires them, what draws the best
out of them and recruits them to invest significantly. This means we
need to be better coaches, parents, teachers, and leaders. If we can
accomplish this we will earn back our capacity to shape the thinking
of young people we seek to make a difference with. If we don’t we
will see the hearts of kids slowly die in front of us and this
problem will continue to magnify with the speed and pain of a
disease that is out of control.
I believe the answer lies in putting a significant focus on
re-engaging our kids. We can accomplish this by creating clearly
defined roles that provide a place of belonging for them, train
coaches to become more skilled at communication that creates better
verbal exchanges between athletes and coaches, and it also goes
along way to breaking down barriers that poison the relationship
making it virtually impossible to influence the kid. We also need to
start involving the kids in intellectual and strategic side of the
game. In reality, we need reinvented strategies that are focused on
inspiring kids.
The Mental Edge is committed to helping associations and all groups
that are focused on developing kids become “High Impact” by
assessing the current heath of the system through a series of
information gathering exercises addressed to the parents, coaches,
and kids. This information will be gathered and presented to the
association with a written plan to address the needs the association
has. The Mental Edge also has a number of programs to offer to
counteract some of the most common challenges and can tailor make a
plan to address specific needs. We need to do something to address
the disease of apathy. Will you partner with us?
To find out more about this topic and to schedule a free
telephone consultation, please call 763.439.5246.
Shaun Goodsell
President and CEO
Mental Edge
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Asking for Help!
Shannon Tilley, Mental Edge Academic Mentor
Often times, one of the most difficult things for kids to do is to
admit that something was difficult or that they failed something
they attempted. With young athletes, many times this can be in
regards to school and academics. I have worked with endless numbers
of students that stress out about having to tell mom or dad that
they are struggling with school. Added to the stress is fear that
they will be in trouble, have let you down or may even have their
sport taken from them as punishment.
While there will be times in which a stronger approach is needed,
there are many times a simple encouraging approach will work to ease
this stress. Here are some suggested ways to help reduce the stress
associated with asking for help.
1. Ask questions. This shows that you are interested and want
to know what is going on
2. Understand that they may not always feel like talking
about school when you ask. Tell them that you respect this but also
tell them that they will need to tell you a time in the next day or
so to have this discussion. Letting them chose the time within these
boundaries allows them time to work up the courage to have difficult
talk.
3. Praise all successes. Not every student can be an A
student. If they tell you they did their best, tell them you are
happy and encourage them to continue to do so.
4. Use poor grades/scores as way to motivate, not punish. If
they are trying and still struggling, look for solutions rather than
see it as something they did bad. By asking the questions about what
could help them improve, you are increasing communication and
reducing potential stress.
5. Always ask what they need from you to be more successful.
This may mean help in explaining an assignment, getting them an
academic mentor/tutor, or just telling them that you understand
their frustration.
6. Always tell them that you are their biggest supporter. We
can ask them to do their best and if they do that, we can’t ask
anything more of them. With added encouragement and the support
academically that they need, we have the power to make them as
successful as they can be.
To find out more about this topic and to schedule a free
telephone consultation, please call 763.439.5246.
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What They're
Saying about the Mental Edge “We wanted
to send you a thank you for the wonderful work you have done with
our son, Tyrone. Somewhere along the line, the pleasure and
enjoyment Ty got out of sports began to feel more like pressure. He
had a harder time focusing and felt frustrated with his performance.
Through the profile assessment and the individual sessions with you,
he learned tools to help him with positive thinking, managing
disappointment and diversity, focusing, and increasing his
confidence in all situations. He could apply these tools immediately
and see the results in all areas of his life… his grades, his
relationships with family, friends and teammates, and his sports
performance. Most of all, he’s having FUN again. You made an instant
connection with him and understood exactly what he was feeling. Your
honest and direct approach quickly built a high level of trust and
he valued you as a trainer and coach. We’ve spent a lot of money
over the years for sports training but the Mental Edge program was
definitely the best dollars for the results we ever invested in our
son.
Thanks to Justin Johnson for his coaching and guidance (especially
during the pre-tryout time) and to Dawn for keeping it all
organized. You have a fabulous program and we would be happy to be a
reference at any time.”
Colleen and Dan Simcoe
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Thank you for
being such caring and giving people! It is awesome for Jack to have
such a positive mentoring relationship!
Cheryl
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“I wanted to take a minute and reflect on the
time that you spent with Allison. I can’t tell you how much a change
we’ve seen in her since she started the program with you. She became
acutely aware of what issues that she needed to address if she
wanted to achieve the goals that she has for herself in hockey. She
has worked so hard on improving her physical skills – which she has,
but she really needed some focus on the mental part of the game;
both on and off the ice. You helped her so much in that area! She
feels that she is so much better prepared to handle the issues that
affected her in hockey, and I have really seen the difference in her
game since starting the program with you. As we both have told
Allison, this is just a beginning in developing a stronger mental
approach to the game, and that she has to consistently use the tools
that you gave her to continue improving her game.
What’s even better is the “blueprint” that you left her with in
which the both of you collaborated on, that will help her deal with
future situations as they arise. She now has the tools that will
help her better deal in the future with all the issues that affected
her play in the past.
From a parent’s point of view, it was great to have someone outside
the family with credibility to discuss these issues with her. She
readily accepted your ideas, guidance and counseling and again, the
results were outstanding. We know that we will be in touch again
with you soon to develop a “maintenance” program for her as she
continues down the path of achieving the high goals that she has for
herself.
Thanks so much for your time with Allison; she really enjoyed the
time she spent with you, and she feels, as my wife and I do, that
she really got a lot out of the Mental Edge program. Thanks again!”
Respectfully,
Don Micheletti |
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For additional information regarding the newsletter articles or to
schedule an appointment
please call 763-439-5246 or simply email
Dawn@MentalEdgeNow.com
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