IT'S TOUGH being a teenager. If it wasn't embarrassing enough dealing with spots, strange new odours and sudden growths in body hair, suddenly you have the advances of the opposite sex to contend with.

Beauty therapist Deborah Sussex is helping to ease that embarrassment with her new after school course for teenage girls. As well as imparting essential advice on skin, hair and nail care, Deborah discusses nutrition, manners and that crucial issue for teenage girls- boys.

"It's not just about beauty," Deborah explains. "It's all about feeling good about yourself on the inside and the outside."

Deborah, who has taught beauty therapy at South East Essex College, qualified as a life coach four years ago. Since then she's been helping women to build their confidence with classes that combine life coaching techniques with advice on health and beauty.

It was the memory of her own difficult teenage years that persuaded Deborah to set up her latest course which has been running at the King John School in Thundersley.

"In my school library they didn't have one book on beauty so it was hard to know what to do." she says, "I would have loved to have had a confidential place to discuss things I was worried about."

Every session of the six week course focuses on a different beauty issue. After being shown how to use techniques like applying make-up and skin cleansing the girls get the chance to try them out for themselves.

"I think the course really helped to make clear that if you do your make-up properly without slapping it on it looks so much better." Says Georgina Thomas, 14. "I also learned how to accept a compliment, now if someone says I look nice I always say thank you."

One of the sessions focuses on another of those all important topics - fashion. The girls are asked to bring in one top they like and one top they don't and together the group discuss how certain colours work with certain skin tones.

"The last time we did that the girls all realised that the top they didn't like was the wrong colour for them, after that they all started swapping with each other, says Deborah.

Another grateful student, Naomi Eddy, 15, found that the benefits of the course were more than just skin deep.

"I feel a lot more confident after doing the course," she says. "I learned how to do make up and how to dress make-up up and down for different occasions."

As the mother of two teenage boys Deborah is all too aware of the personal hygiene problems they occasionally encounter. She's bravely attempting to combat this problem by offering one-off sessions for groups of boys.

"I teach them how to give themselves a manicure and pedicure, they don't do nail polish, they just learn how to remove rough skin and keep their nails neat."

The boys also get tips on how to properly cleanse and tone their skin and prevent those irritating teenage break outs.

"For the boys it's not about being vain, it's about being comfortable with yourself. It's also important, for things like job interviews, to look presentable."

For Deborah, the main aim of the course is to help her students to believe in themselves in a way that she was never able to do at their age.

Describing herself as a 'chronically shy' teenager Deborah now gone full circle and built up enough confidence to sing a live solo at a London jazz bar as part of its London marathon celebrations.

"The fact that I was singing in public was amazing," she says, "If I hadn't done all this work I would never have been able to do it. What I really want to pass on to people is that you only have one life so you may as well make the most of it."

For more information on the course call 07791 116852.