The Journey to Becoming a Life Coach
I think I was in college the first time I heard about life coaching. “That sounds so cool,” I thought and wondered what it took to become a life coach out of curiosity. Later down the road, during PT school, we learned about motivational interviewing, a way to discover what stage a patient or client is at on their journey to changing behaviors for their health and wellness, so that we, the practitioner, can meet them at that stage and respond appropriately. It was a great introduction to the subject, and I tucked the knowledge away, thinking about how I’d like to further develop the skill later on in my PT practice.
Well, fast forward 2 years of being a PT and online health and wellness coach. I was enjoying what I was doing but felt a key piece of my practice and skill set was missing. Enter my decision to look into life coaching. I first looked into different motivational interviewing courses in order to develop the skill further, to really understand where a person was on their journey and how to best help them. But as I looked into it, I discovered that this technique was under the umbrella of “coaching”. “Life Coaching...hmmm. That sounds fun and may just be what I’m looking for.”
During this past summer, I researched various programs that offered a certificate in life coaching after completing a certain number of hours of coursework. I decided upon one offered by Tony Robbins himself. After watching his documentary “I Am Not Your Guru” for the second time, I felt so inspired by his techniques and how he was able to help people, it felt like a no-brainer to enroll in his course when I found out about it. I still did my research on it, and the more discovered, the more I knew it was the program for me, and enrolled.
So what is life coaching? The way I understand it and like to explain it is as a service that helps you understand what you want, why you want it and assistance in creating actionable steps to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be. This can include feeling a certain way, behaving a certain way, creating or breaking habits, creating a certain environment, or reaching goals you’ve set for yourself in different areas of life. And just like a sports coach, a life coach can help give you the push and accountability you need to get things done and perform to the best of your ability.
When explaining what life coaching is, I also find it helpful in explaining what it is not. There is no medical diagnosing or medical advice given. A life coach is able to refer to a medical professional (i.e. a psychiatrist or psychologists) when necessary, but can also work in tandem with these other professions as an extra resource and source of support for an individual.
I am SO excited that I’ve decided to include life coaching into my practice, and will be rolling out a new 8-week program in January 2018 that will include one-on-one coaching with me! Stay tuned for details! If you’re interested in learning more or saving your spot for coaching, you can add your email address below.
