About Jo
I believe kids have a lot more to say than adults give them credit for.
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I'm Jo Phillips: speaker, youth resilience coach, restorative practice practitioner and facilitator.
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I work with kids, teens, young adults and the adults who support them, through speaking, coaching, parent support, training and conversations about the things shaping their lives.
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For more than a decade, I've worked at the intersection of youth development, education, justice, business and community. I've spent a lot of time in rooms with kids asking questions, listening to what they're actually saying, and helping the adults around them understand what they're hearing.
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My work can look very different depending on who's in the room.
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Sometimes I'm talking with a group of kids about resilience, relationships, social media or AI.
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Sometimes I'm coaching a teen or young adult who's stuck and trying to figure out what's next.
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Sometimes I'm helping a parent navigate a situation they have no idea how to handle.
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Sometimes I'm working with a school, team or organization through conflict, harm or a complicated situation.
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The common thread is always the same: listen first.
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​How Jo Works
I don't believe kids need to be fixed. I believe they need to be heard, understood and given the opportunity to build the skills to navigate their own lives. And I believe adults need better tools for listening and responding when things get hard.
That's why my work starts with curiosity rather than assumptions.
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Get in the room.
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Listen for the signal.
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Understand what's really happening.
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Then figure out what to do with it.
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A little more about me
I bring a pretty unusual mix of experience to this work.
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I'm a Youth Resilience Coach, public speaker, restorative practice practitioner and social media expert.
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I also spent 11 years running a digital media agency, working inside the world of social media and digital communications long before today's conversations about what technology is doing to kids.
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Alongside that, I've built and led businesses, worked in schools and restorative justice, and spent more than a decade listening to kids and the adults who support them.
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That combination matters.
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I understand the technology and the kids growing up with it. I understand organizations and families. And I've spent enough time in difficult conversations to know that the answer is rarely as simple as “take the phone away” or “kids these days.”
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I've learned that the most useful thing I can bring into a room isn't a perfect answer. It's the willingness to ask a better question.
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