Consulting and Life-Coaching From Wherever You Are

In the online MacMillan Dictionary a Life-Coach is defined as "someone who provides advice and support to people who want to improve their lives, helping them to make decisions, solve problems, and achieve their goals". Synonyms for Life-Coaching include consulting, guidance, and non-medical counseling. Therefore non-medical counseling, is a process by which one person, helps another person achieve a higher level of functioning in their personal and professional life. This transformation is brought about by self-discovery, self-awareness, and growth.

The first picture that usually comes to mind, when on thinks of achieving goals, is an athlete with a coach on the sidelines drilling them to perform at their highest level of ability. How can that translate to psychological wellness? Coaching can help you achieve the goals you have set for yourself in your personal and professional life. A good life-guide knows how to guide you from the point where you are to the life goals you have set for yourself. Not all coaches have the same areas of expertise. For example, a coach that specializes in career coaching might not be right for someone who wants to develop skills to control ADHD symptoms. A business coach might help you with developing a business plan,but will not be right in helping you with reaching personal life goals.

Non-medical counseling and consultation services are for people who want to take full advantage of their life experience and maximize what they get out of life. This kind of counseling is not for people who are faint at heart. Life-Consultation questions, challenges, supports, and seeks out your limits. A good counselor will challenge you and not let you off the hook, but will also sense when you need support and encouragement as you progress, and help you gain new insights into your old ways. As your partner, a good consultant will form an honest, trusting, and respectful working relationship with you, helping you find your strengths and weaknesses, help you discover how your strengths and weaknesses benefit your dreams and desires, or perhaps hinder them. With this newly found way-of-being you will employ some of your old habits in newer and more effective ways, develop new habits and leave some behind.

The consultaion process might include assessments to help you identify your goals and for your life-coach to have an idea on how to help you attain your goals and maximize your potential. Many issues or problems can benefit from this kind of consultation: identifying them and working out goals collaboratively is crucial for a successful life-coaching experience.

An important part of life-coaching is goal setting, setting a timeline for changing behaviors, helping you identify the actions you need to take in order to achieve the goals and constructive feedback as to what kinds of things you might need to change in order for you to reach your goals. Goal setting is assisted by your coach, and a good consultant will help you understand the things that have hindered you form attaining your goals. What’s really important is that you get help in exploring the issues that stop you. A good consultatn can help you find out what limits you from moving forward.

I view life-coaching as a sub-specialty of counseling. Counseling and psychotherapy incorporate an assessment phase using a medical model. Counseling is for restoration of wellness. Coaching comes from a wellness perspective, taking an inventory of what you already have and making it better. Some of the time we could enter a gray area of where you are with your goals. At that time we would evaluate together of what kind of services are right for you.

I provide services that help individuals attain their best possible functioning with family, friends, at work, and in their communities.