Life and Health Coaching
Can Help Transform Your Life

by Joyce Dillon

Life coaches help you clear the road to success and stay in touch with a sense of purpose and what really matters.

Would you like to change some aspect of your life? Live a healthier lifestyle, mange your stress better, change your career, get a new vision for your life after retirement, create more balance between work and home, or remove barriers to your success. If the answer is yes, you are among the growing number of people who are tired of the fast-pace, frenzied, high-technology age and are interested in higher-quality lives- lives where they have more time for themselves, their families and friendships.

Whether you’re a corporate executive, a stay home mom or a single career minded person who is tired of working too many hours and feeling stressed out, you can decide to step back and reevaluate your life. How do I start the process? Who can help me improve the quality of my life?

These are just a few of the questions that a profession life coach, like myself, address each day with their clients. So what is a life and wellness coach and how can it help you?

Life and Health Coaching helps you take action toward the realization of yourvision, goals and desires by using a process of inquiry and personal discovery; it builds your level of awareness and responsibility and provides you with structure, support and feedback. It helps you both define and achieve personal and health goals faster and more efficiently than would otherwise be possible.

The following is an example of how a client and coach co-partner to explore what is really important in the client’s life and how to go about creating the reality of her vision and goals.

Jane a thirty-two year old marketing executive from a major corporation was referred by her physician to learn stress reduction skills to help manager her symptoms of chronic abdominal discomfort, headaches and depression. After completing an assessment and exploring with Jane her goals for the future: first to mange her stress level while at work and second, to explore other career options that are less stressful and finally to look at the possibility of adopting a child.

We explored these issues and discussed what was blocking her from creating the life she really wanted. To reinforce each session’s lessons, homework assignments were given. After working together for six months, Jane has make several significant changes: first she has been able to decrease her stress and chronic abdominal pain by learning to meditate, breath and do daily relaxation exercises. Secondly, she is making a career change to a less stressful work environment, and third she has started the paper work for adopting a child. Jane feels a lot more in control of her life and able to mange her stress level better.

Coach’s anchor people to their own internal strengths: they help people to choose authentic personal power to make changes that enhance their life. Coaches work with the whole person and weave together the client’s variety of concerns into an integrated plan that has vitality and purpose. Coaching:

• Facilitates an ongoing co-partnership between the client and coach that assist the client in choosing appropriate and lasting health and lifestyle changes.
• Involves being a resource for learning about measures to improve self-care and natural healing practices.
• Provides expanded openness to new ways of thinking about yourself, others, work and life.
• Encourages the desire to live and work more passionately and authentically.

Who They Are

Most coaches are generalists but they often have a specialty as well as working with specific populations or areas of expertise. Coaches usually have had long and rich careers that have provided them with expert knowledge about areas in which they want to coach. Examples of such areas are health and wellness, fitness and nutrition, executive development, entrepreneurism, and divorce coaching.

Coaching is for people interested in working on life planning, life vision, improving quality of life, health and fitness, career issues, spirituality, creativity, relationships, stress issues, transitions, self-esteem. In general clients should:

• Want to change, to grow, to become more conscious and competent
• Be willing to restructure their lives and schedules
• Want to be the best they can be
• Be willing to think beyond their own assumptions, mind-sets, and preferences
• Value other people and be able to reach decisions through collaboration

How It Works

• · The first meeting for the client and coach is 11/2- 2- hour session.
• · A holistic lifestyle/wellness assessment is completed and the client’s goals are clearly defined.
• · Weekly follow up sessions are 45-60 minute telephone calls.
• · E-mail is used for communicating written homework assignments and feedback
• · A minimum of 3-6 months is recommended for coaching sessions.

Coaching Fees

When the needs are determined, a tailored coaching proposal is developed and presented to the client. Number of sessions will depend on the goals, issues and motivation for change. Generally coaching fees range from $100-200 per hour.

How is Life Coaching Different From Therapy?

Psychotherapy generally deals with emotional or behavior problems and often deals with the past or current disruptive situations. It deals with healing old wounds, trauma and life situations. Coaching is not about exploring your emotional history or making mental health diagnoses. Coaching is focused in the present and on developing the desired future.

Coaching is a sound resource for making a difference in your life. The need for coaching will continue to grow in the future due to the intensity of change, increased levels of stress and the need for balance. Coaching allows a client to receive support on the phone either in an individual session or in a coaching group while they remain in the comfort of their home or office. Get started now! The life you were meant to live is waiting for you!

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© 2006 Joyce Dillon, R.N., M.N. health coach and wellness practitioner works with individuals and groups who want to dramatically improve their health, reduce stress and live a more balanced lifestyle. Learn more at www.healthylivingandbalance.com or contact Joyce directly at 404-881-1322 or jjdillon@mindspring.com