Following an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of 14 students who received one-to-one coaching over one or two years, we formulated a list of eight tensions which the undergraduates experienced at university. These have been expounded in the Eight Tensions Framework, which is a roadmap for coaches and their student clients, for whom coaching at university may be unchartered terrain. The use of tensions highlights how it is not unusual for life to be fraught with tensions. The position taken on them will vary according to which areas of life they are applied, when they are applied over the undergraduates’ degree and how the individual changes. Examples from the data are given to show how these tensions manifested for the students in our sample. Detailed strategies, techniques and examples of how the tensions might be applied in coaching sessions are given, including using them in scaling and ‘wheel of life’ exercises. The transferability of the model to other student populations is discussed. Finally, we highlight links between the Eight Tensions Framework and existential psychology
