Empowering Youth To Break Free From Self-Sabotage – Exclusive Interview With Nathan Francis
Updated: May 31, 2024
Nathan Francis is a leader in the Youth Coaching space. Drawing from 10+ years experience inside the mainstream system, it became quite evident to him that the system is failing our youth. Nathan has dedicated his life to helping our youth unleash their innate human potential. He is the founder of Teenage self-sabotage where he offers 1:1 and group coaching programs. Author of Breaking Free: A Teens & Young Adults guide to identifying their addictions and overcoming them. He is also the host of the breaking free podcast.
Nathan Francis, Youth Self – Sabotage Coach
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
My name is Nathan and I am 30 years old.. Former Teacher turned Youth Self Sabotage Coach & Mentor, Author, Podcast Host, Blogger, Writer and Reiki Level 2 Practitioner currently residing on the Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia.
I was like many young males out there in modern society from age 16-26… I drank, partied, smoked, did drugs, gambled, had lots of casual hook ups and lived my life thinking it was great… However, at the start of 2020 this lifestyle began to take a toll on me… I started looking at the world and myself in a different light. I didn’t like what I was seeing out there and within me.. I quit all of my self – abusive habits and set upon a transformational inner healing journey. My shadow presented itself immediately after quitting alcohol and I knew it was time to face my inner darkness.. Starting this journey it became clear to me that teaching in the mainstream schooling system was not for me.. This was an unknown path however once I found and studied under Jason Christoff the founder of an online psychological reprogramming institute.. I immediately knew I had found my calling in life… Jason has had a massive impact on my life in seeing my potential when I wasn’t quite ready to see it myself…I learnt all about self-sabotage (starting with my own), how the subconscious minds and how we can repgrogram to live better lives.. Fast forward, I now see everyone's potential and helping people remember and see it brings me so much joy. I remember discussing this with my family and I was met with some concerns however I made the best decision of my life. I have never looked back.. I absolutely love what I do!
I am passionate about helping people (in particular our Youth) unleash their full potential which has been hidden dormant under psychological programming…The system is failing our youth on every level and I intend on accomplishing my soul mission and Mentoring/Coaching/Helping as many youth and people as I can…
If you would like to transform your life then you need to learn to master Patience, Resilience and Discipline.. If you can master those skills then you are well on the way! We all deserve to live the life of our dreams and break free!
When I am not coaching, writing or podcasting you can find me on the beach on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia. I love spending time in nature, going to the gym and keeping active. I love having deep and meaningful conversations with people from all walks of life… I love empowering people to become the best because that’s what we came here to be!
What inspired you to create Teenage Self Sabotage, and what are your primary goals?
Having been inside the mainstream schooling system for 10 years it became very clear to me that this system is failing our children. Our children, our youth are the future. We leave this realm for them better than when we found it. Right now, look around… What do you see? This realm is no better than when we found it. My primary goal for my work is to empower and inspire our youth to unleash their full innate human potential, never look back and to not make the same mistakes as I did… As a teen I never had someone like this in my life, and I love being that person for our youth to be better and be a head cheerleader on the sidelines as they climb up the mountain of success..
Can you share some insight into the most common forms of self-sabotage you've observed among teenagers, and how your platform addresses these issues?
The most common forms of self-sabotage amongst our youth are (in no particular order) Video Games, Pornogrpahy, Junk food, TV, Smoking/vaping and alcohol. I share my story on my platforms and give my audience the other side that they are not getting on mainstream media. I interview inspiring people on my podcast who have overcome self sabotage to inspire and engage my audience.. I educate them on how their subconscious minds work and how to begin to reprogram it to live a more fulfilling life… I inspire people through my experiences with these habits and how I overcame them and how I continue to stay away from temptations.
How do you ensure your content is engaging and relevant to your target audience of teenagers?
I keep my content as basic and as easy to innerstand as possible for our youth… I keep my message short, brief and to the point… I know our youth won’t watch a video longer than 2-3 minutes on social media… I also share with my audience all parts of me and my life with a lot of humour along the way. We still all need to have fun, no matter how serious life gets. We all need more fun in our lives.
What strategies do you employ to promote mental health and well-being among teenagers, particularly in the context of combating self-sabotaging behaviors?
Learn new skills.
Connect with people face to face rather than through a screen.
Keep physically active.
Journal/draw..
Be creative.
Have more fun!
How do you integrate professional expertise and personal experiences to provide valuable resources and support for teenagers navigating self-sabotage?
I love sharing all parts of my own experiences, good, bad and ugly with my clients as they can learn from my mistakes… Sharing my experiences allows the client to know that their goal, dream or aspiration can be achieved… I share with my clients all of the resources that have helped me along the way from books, podcasts, hypnosis recordings, affirmation, vision boards and so much more whilst working with their mind to remove the mind viruses holding them back..
In what ways do you collaborate with mental health professionals, educators, and other stakeholders to expand the reach and impact of Teenage Self Sabotage?
My podcast is called ‘Breaking Free’ and it is available on all platforms audio and video… The podcast is how I continue to grow the reach of my work. In doing so, it helps me gain more of an insight from professionals who have been in this work a lot longer than me whilst inspiring myself and my audience with their story. I absolutely love podcasting. I gain so much insight and I am sure my audience does as well!
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
The one thing I could change about the industry is allowing our youth the freedom to choose what it is that they would like to do… Also reminding them that they can be more than one thing, they can do and be multiple things.. To be truthful, the system programs them to be one thing forever whilst building someone else's dream instead of their own… Too many career expos and not enough guest entrepreneurs coming into schools! It is time to buck this system, and show our children another way!
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
It was the night I told myself I would quit alcohol forever. I looked myself in the mirror on September 25th 2021 and said, “Nath, this is your last night of drinking and partying..” I then said to myself, “Enjoy it because tomorrow the journey begins.” 12 hours after setting that intention, I was very drunk and quite high sitting on a plastic fold out table attempting to communicate with three young girls… Let me paint you a picture, I was the oldest person at this gathering by 5 years. I was 27. Anyway, as I said a pick up line to one of the girls, I fell through the table hitting the concrete hard… This was my moment. My rock bottom. My cousin carried me to bed after this incident.. A few hours later whilst still high and hungover I came across the podcast that changed my life forever. My mentor Jason was speaking about self-sabotage and I ticked every single box. The journey had officially begun.
