I recommend all coaching clients start with a 90-minute Clarity Session, which is discounted for first-time clients. Alternatively, if you feel strongly that you’d like to commit to longer-term coaching and want to chat, I offer free 20-minute phone consultations for that purpose.
I am asked this question frequently and the answer to will differ depending on the coach you’re asking. Who I am as a coach is largely about my style (see above), but there are a few basic descriptions that can help…
A coach is just like an athletic coach. I am on your team. I am pushing you. I am supporting you. I am helping you to develop your strengths and unique gifts and working with you to overcome weaknesses and struggles. When you make a great play, I am proud of you and celebrate with you. When something goes awry, I’m there to help you see what’s going on, what is at the root of it, and how can we improve for the future.
Many people ask about the difference between a coach and a therapist. There are similarities and some big differences. My teacher, Dr. Martha Beck, describes a life coach as a counselor for people who don’t need therapy. She uses the following analogy: “A life coach is to therapist as a personal trainer is to a doctor. Therapists take mentally unwell people and get them healthy and coaches get mentally healthy people to very high performance.”A few other key distinctions between coaching (at least the way I coach) and therapy are:
Coaches are not experts, and I’m certainly not claiming to be one. I don’t have everything “figured out” or “mastered,” but I may be a few steps ahead of you in my own process and that’s what matters. I can relate to a lot of what you’re going through and I have both the experience and training to help you through it.
Curious about why I can relate so well, or how I got here?
Don’t take my word for it. Here’s what clients have to say…