Questions covered below

• What is Life coaching?
• Is coaching the same as counselling?
• Are you going to tell me what to do to fix my problem?
• What is Deep Coaching?

If you have other questions about coaching, feel free to send them to me.

WHAT IS LIFE COACHING?

This is probably the first question I get asked when I tell people what I do. So here’s what I tell them:

YOU KNOW HOW COACHING WORKS FOR SPORTS, RIGHT?

So here’s this person with experience who knows a lot about the sport that the athlete is working on. They know all the ins and outs of the sport: the strategy, the movements, the drills, the competition level. The athlete trusts this person to guide them, mentor them, point out things they need to work on and then work with them so that the athlete can perform at their best.

The coach makes the athlete go through physical conditioning so that they can be stronger. S/he makes them do drills so that certain movements become like second nature to them. S/he teaches them strategies to help them be more competitive. And perhaps just as importantly, the coach works with the athlete’s mindset, to make sure that the athlete becomes aware of any mental blockages and together they work through them so that the athlete can feel as confident in their own abilities as the coach does.

So, when you think of it this way, it’s easy to take that and apply it to Life in general. If you have areas in your life that you want to improve, a life coach can be that expert who can guide you through the process necessary to help you make positive changes and easily reach your goals.

Just like in sports, the coaching process won’t always be comfortable. A coach will guide you, mentor you, and cheer you on, but they will also push you to go beyond your comfort zone.

BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS.

That’s how you can begin to believe in your own limitless possibilities and create the life you want.

IS COACHING THE SAME AS COUNSELLING?

As a student in a Master of Counselling Psychology program, I can tell you that even I was a little confused at first. There are certainly a few points where the two can interconnect.

HERE’S WHAT I CAN TELL YOU FOR SURE: COACHING IS NOT THERAPY.

People who hold Masters degrees in counselling can be registered psychotherapists. They can’t make full diagnoses like Psychologists (the folks with PhDs) can, but they can work with people who have a diagnosis like depression, addiction, or anxiety disorder to help them cope and live better lives.

So coaches are not therapists. As you can tell by the mention of Master’s and PhD, it takes a lot of training to be able to do therapy (and legally, you can’t be a therapist without one of those two degrees).

What a coach can offer, however, are strategies to help you set goals and objectives, and offer tools so you can achieve them.

A coach can offer a realistic unbiased perspective to get you unstuck from that boring or crappy status quo you’ve been living and see possibilities where you didn’t think any existed.

A coach is an equal, innovative partner who can work with you, to see things differently, and do things differently so you can actually get different results!

A coach is a strategic thinker who can help you come up with the kinds of solutions you’ve been looking for.

Will you build me a step-by-step plan to fix my problems?

Nice try.

Let me make this clear, if you encounter a coach who says to you “let me tell you what you should do”, run. Run far, and run fast.

Listen, I don’t pretend to have all the answers; no one does. When it comes to your life, there’s no better expert than you. My job is not to have all the answers. My job is to ask you the right questions that will focus your mind in the direction of the answers that you likely already know, and then challenge you to go even bigger than you had ever imagined.

Sometimes we’re so caught up in our own heads that we can’t see the way forward. Or sometimes we just need to validate a thought, an idea, or a desire with someone who isn’t going to just shoot us down before we’ve even explored the possibilities. I’m not here to tell you what to do.

Action is YOUR job, and YOU decide what the next step is. I’m here to help you clear the fog so you can see the path more clearly.

What is Deep Coaching?

Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds.

For every coach out there (and there are tons), there’s a different way to coach. I don’t approach my coaching in the same way some business coaches and consultants approach your business. Sure, we’ll develop strategies and have structure to make sure you’re making progress, but I also make sure YOU’re in there and fully supported too.

What I do is called Deep Coaching. During each conversation, I create a safe space where you can feel free to share what’s on your mind, and we can just speak to each other, human to human.

This is a space where we can really dive deep into what really matters to you, and uncover blockages and gems you didn’t even know were there.

I don’t take my clients any deeper than I’ve ever gone myself.

I’ve done the deep inner work, and I continue to seek opportunities to do so because that’s part of my own growth journey. So if I’ve uncovered an insight in my own life that might be helpful to you, I’ll share it.

When I coach, I show up fully committed to supporting you, but I also expect you to do the same and be fully present during our conversations.

I am also willing to get uncomfortable with you, to ask the tough questions, to get vulnerable if our conversation calls for it. That’s part of my job, and my commitment to you as your coach.