Confidence building in teenage boy

[ExhaustedPigeon3]

My son is 16 and has said tonight that he feels he suffers from social anxiety.
At hone, with close friends and family, he is pretty confident, funny and happy. However, he says at school and outside of the home he constantly worries about other people’s judgement of him, even friends sometimes. He’s is a lovely young man who is kind and considerate and really very normal!
I’ve explained that I used to be very similar but as I have grown older I have learnt to become more confident/care less what people think but I am so aware how debilitating this is for him right now.
What can I do to help?
Youth coaching? Confidence building classes?
Does anyone have any they can recommend in the Hampshire area?

Anything I can personally help him with?

That sounds very hard for you to hear. My son's six weeks old and I already worry about him having the same teenage issues I had.

Do you think a martial arts class might help? Boost his confidence, discipline and fitness. I know that Jujitsu really helped my husband when he was a teenager.

He used to do jujitsu but gave it up. I don’t think it really helped but then I don’t think it was a particularly great class for him. I doubt he’d try again.
He is going to college in September and I’d love for him to be able to fully engage in college life. He really is so lovely and a great person to be around. It’s just that not enough people realise that because he is so closed for fear of making himself look stupid.
I think I say all the right stuff and I do know it’s something that he will eventually grow out of but I always wish I’d felt more confident about myself as a teen!

What will he be studying at college OP? I'm wondering if there will be any clubs etc he can join.

Is the college attached to his current school? Or independent?

There is much more opportunity to 'find yourself' in college! And build confidence and new friendships.

I’ve said that to him, that he will find more of his people at college. It’s compulsory to do an extra curricular activity at his college. It’s not attached to school but it’s the only college in our area so he will still be with lots of the same people.
Yo be honest, I think these people think he is perfectly nice!

So hard for you both while he is going through this.. Resilience is really hard to learn but he will not be the only student at college feeling this way. Any sport or physical activity would probably be a benefit and help him meet a group of new people. A drama group would also take him out of his comfort zone and teach him some useful techniques about presenting himself. It sounds as if you are doing a great job, just remember to acknowledge what he says about how he sees himself without necessarily adding in how you see him..

I had social anxiety as a young teenager. What fixed me was going on exchange to a foreign country on the other side of the world for a year, where I didn't speak the language and the culture was really different - it shocked me into coherence. It was intensely miserable at times but it did me an amazing amount of good. I don't know how it worked - I guess I was forced to cope with terribly difficult situations without any sort of safety net to rely on if it got too hard, so was forced to learn all the right social skills. I had just turned 16 when I left and turned 17 just before I came home so it is a good time to explore that for your son if he is interested. I could have asked to come home any time - but as I had worked hard jobs (fast food, grocery shelving etc) for two years to save up for it I didn't want to throw that away lol

Mine joined a boxing club. He loved it