Evolution Mentoring and Coaching provides one-on-one life coaching for teens in Marin County, California and virtually worldwide. Jeffrey Leiken, MA is an experienced mentor with more than 25 years of practice working with bright, thoughtful, sensitive teenagers who look capable on the outside and feel stuck underneath. This is mentoring and life coaching, not therapy.
For the Capable Teenager Who Has Stalled
Most parents who reach Jeff are not describing a troubled kid. They are describing a bright, creative, often accomplished teenager who has quietly stopped moving. The grades slip or they hold while everything behind them frays. The effort goes. The conversations at home turn into the same conversation, over and over, with nothing changing.
These are teenagers who overthink until they become their own worst enemy. They are harder on themselves than any parent would ever be. They want direction badly and will not ask for it, because asking would mean admitting they do not already have it.
What Brings Families Here
Parents get in touch about teenagers who are anxious or socially anxious, who have withdrawn into video games and stopped going outside, who were flattened by a breakup, who quit something they used to love, who have begun refusing school, who are gifted and underachieving, who cannot start their work no matter how much they intend to, or who simply seem to have gone quiet and unreachable.
None of that is a diagnosis. It is a young person who has not yet been taught how to handle their own mind, and who is trying to work it out alone.
By the time a parent finds this page, the easy answers have been tried. Tutors, therapists, the summer program that was supposed to help. The teen is still in there — just behind a closed door.
Evolution Mentoring® is not therapy.
It is the developmental work of growing up — helping a teen build what adolescence demands but no class teaches: identity, ownership, direction, the ability to take a hard decision and stand behind it. The work happens in real conversation with a trusted outside adult who listens for what’s underneath, names the pattern in language the teen can use, and gives them something to walk away with.
This is mentoring, not clinical care. Most parents who land here have already worked with a therapist; some teens carry a diagnosis. Either way, this is different work. We do not diagnose, label, or medicate. For many families, Evolution Mentoring® begins where therapy has done what it can; for others, the two run in parallel.
If a teen is in crisis, that first call belongs to a clinician.
What Teen Life Coaching Is
Teen life coaching is one-on-one work with an outside adult — not a teacher, not a therapist, not the family. It addresses the developmental work of adolescence: building character, taking ownership, finding direction. At Evolution Mentoring, this happens through Mentor Counseling, a methodology Jeff developed in 1998 for teens who are bright, sensitive, and stuck — what he sometimes calls the deep water kid.
Meetings happen on a regular monthly schedule, in person in Mill Valley and Marin County or remotely by video and phone anywhere in the world.
How It Works?
Evolution Mentoring is built on three things working together: life coaching, leadership development, and deep listening. Each one applies slightly differently for a teen than for an adult.
Life coaching is the clarity layer — naming what the teen actually wants, separately from what teachers, parents, and college applications want them to want.
Leadership development is the skills layer — the daily capacities no class teaches: making a decision and keeping it, raising a hard topic at home, recovering from a setback.
Deep listening is the foundation. Jeff spends most first sessions listening, because most teens have not been heard the way they actually need to be. Each session closes with one specific thing to try before the next call.
What We Address
Mentor Counseling supports teens across the issues that surface in late adolescence:
- Motivation and academic engagement.
When the teen is capable but the engine isn’t running. The work targets underlying ownership, not the symptom of unfinished homework. - Identity and confidence.
Figuring out who they are separately from what’s expected. The teens here often feel the weight of that question more than their peers. The work helps them find their own answer. - College readiness.
Applications, the choice itself, and the harder question of whether college fits at all. Not every bright teen thrives on the conveyor belt. - Communication at home.
Fewer dinner-table standoffs, more conversations that go somewhere. An outside adult gives the teen a different audience for their interior life — which usually changes what they bring home. - Resilience under pressure.
Setbacks, competition, and the velocity of high school. Today’s academically-engaged teens carry a load their parents did not carry. The work builds skills that make the load sustainable. - The “what comes next” conversation.
Exit ramps for paths that don’t fit the standard track — gap years, alternative programs, or pathways our young-adult practice supports later.
Why Evolution Mentoring and Life Coaching
The teen years are short. Patterns set under pressure follow a teen into adulthood. Parents aren’t built to interrupt — too close, too invested, too easy a target for the teen’s normal differentiation. What helps is an outside adult — competent, present, not the parent.
Jeffrey Leiken has worked with teens since 1998. Across more than 25 years of practice, the work has reached families in 17 countries.
Jeff’s training matches the work: a Master’s in Educational Counseling, adjunct teaching at the University of San Francisco, guest lectures at Stanford. A TEDx talk and book on adolescent leadership extend the work beyond the practice.
What Families Commonly Report
Over three to six months, parents tell us what they notice:
- Studying without being asked, even on a low-motivation day.
- Conversations at home that don’t end in slammed doors.
- Initiative the parent didn’t have to prompt — homework, plans, questions raised.
- Steadiness through high-school weeks that used to undo the household.
- Talking about the future with less avoidance, more curiosity.
The Process
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- Start with a 30-minute consultation — a working call that surfaces what’s going on at home and whether this is the right work.
- If it fits, meetings begin on a regular monthly schedule, in person in Marin County or remotely by video and phone.
- Direct reach-out between sessions — when something hard happens, you don’t wait.
- Cadence recalibrates as the work matures.
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Standard agreements:
- No obligation to continue after the first session if the fit isn’t right.
- Confidentiality holds within the bounds of mandatory reporting law.
- No diagnoses, no clinical labels, no treatment of mental illness.
If you are not ready to schedule yet, two no-friction next steps-
Read the Book
Jeff’s book distills 25+ years of practice into a framework for raising capable, grounded young adults.
Watch the TEDx Talk
Jeff’s TEDx talk on what it actually takes to mentor adolescents into capable adults.
About Jeffrey Leiken, MA
Jeffrey Leiken built Evolution Mentoring and Life Coaching around a single question: how do you reach a teenager who is bright, sensitive, and stuck? He has been answering it through Mentor Counseling® — the methodology he developed for that work — since 1998. More than 25 years of practice with teens, parents, and the family situations where the conventional playbook has run out.
Jeff holds a Master’s in Educational Counseling. He teaches as adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco, has guest-lectured at Stanford, and spoke at TEDx on adolescent leadership — the same topic as his book. His practice has reached families in 17 countries from Marin County, California.
Meetings are available in person in Mill Valley and Marin County or remotely by video and phone. The work begins with a consultation.
What Parents say
“Jeff served as an invaluable mentor and coach in guiding our son to think more logically about the short- and long-term consequences of his personal choices so that he could begin leading a more intentional, value-driven and value-aligned life and to also communicate his choices, desires and needs more effectively and maturely with important individuals in his life. Jeff did this all with 100% commitment, 100% accessibility, and a great sense of humor, which we deeply appreciated. We will forever view Jeff’s involvement with our family as a blessing and gift.”
— Peter and Julie
“I often think of Jeff as my secret weapon in helping to raise my daughter successfully as a single parent. Most times it’s reinforcement of a discussion I’ve already had with her that cements it in for her, other times it’s something that he’ll drop in that will connect for her and make sense in a way what I’ve offered didn’t, and there are those times where she just can’t speak to me as freely as she will with Jeff and this moments have made all the difference for her, I know.“
— Joseph, Princeton
How the Work Runs
Jeff is a life coach and mentor, not a therapist. He does not provide therapy and does not accept insurance. What he offers is straightforward: teaching a young person a way of life, in plain language, with skills they can use immediately.
Most parents notice change in the first two to six months, with deeper development continuing well beyond that.
Start With a Conversation
Evolution Mentoring and Coaching works with a small number of families at a time, which is what makes this level of access possible. Ask about current capacity when you speak. Jeff would rather tell you he is full than take you on and give you less than the work requires. Schedule a free consultation to talk through your teenager and hear how he would approach it.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is this the same as therapy?
No. Therapists treat mental illness with diagnoses, labels, and sometimes medication. This work is character and direction, not clinical. It often follows therapy — rarely replaces it.
How is Mentor Counseling different from a generic life coach?
Mentor Counseling is Jeffrey Leiken’s trademarked methodology, developed in 1998. It combines life coaching, leadership development, and deep listening — specialized for “deep water kids,” bright teens not well served by surface-level interventions.
How long are sessions, and how often do we meet?
A minimum of three appointments a month at the comprehensive level, or one longer monthly session at the limited level, plus availability in between.
Are sessions virtual or in-person?
Both. In person in Mill Valley and Marin County, or remotely by video and phone anywhere in the world. Jeff’s practice reaches families in 17 countries.
How do I get started?
Schedule a 30-minute consultation with Jeffrey Leiken. No obligation to continue if the first session isn’t the right fit.
What ages is this for?
Teenagers roughly 13 to 18. College students and young adults through 31 are served by a separate offering.
What does it cost?
Monthly fees range from $750 to $3,500 depending on the level of access and support needed. The first consultation is free.
Our teen has come out of a treatment program. Can Jeff help with what comes next?
Often, yes, and this is a common reason families get in touch. Once clinical care is complete and a young person is stable, there is usually a long stretch where the crisis has passed but confidence, direction and momentum have not come back. That rebuilding is exactly what mentoring is for. Jeff is not a substitute for clinical treatment and will say so if ongoing clinical care is what is needed.
Our teen has stopped going to school. Do you work with that?
Yes. School refusal and school avoidance are frequently anxiety and confidence problems rather than defiance, and they are among the situations Jeff works with most. Parents can also start on their own with a parent coaching consultation.
What if my teenager does not want to do this?
That is common. Most agree to one conversation, and continue because they want to rather than because they were told to.
Neighbourhoods we serve in California-
Neighbourhoods we serve in other US states-
- Chicago Teen Coaching
- Dallas Teen Coaching
- Houston Teen Coaching
- Jacksonville Teen Coaching
- Los Angeles Teen Coaching
- New York City Teen Coaching
- Philadelphia Teen Coaching
- Phoenix Teen Coaching
- San Antonio Teen Coaching
- San Diego Teen Coaching
- Austin Teen Coaching
- Fort Worth Teen Coaching
- San Jose Teen Coaching
- Columbus Teen Coaching
- Charlotte Teen Coaching
- Indianapolis Teen Coaching
- San Francisco Teen Coaching
- Seattle Teen Coaching
- Denver Teen Coaching
- Oklahoma City Teen Coaching
Schedule a Consultation for Young Adult Coaching
Jeff offers a consultation to learn about your family’s situation and determine whether this mentoring relationship is the right fit. There’s no pressure—just a chance to get real answers and explore a different path forward.