Health & Fitness
ON THE COVER
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Coaching
For Life
Pros train 'muscles' needed
for goal-setting, time
management, life planning.
Staci Hirsch, life coach
Ronelle Grier
Special to the Jewish News
C
oaching has long been accepted
in the sports and business
worlds. Professional athletes
know that a good coach is a key ingredient
to success, and ambitious executives have
always relied on mentors to guide them up
the corporate ladder.
Now the rest of us have a chance for
that edge with life coaching, a profession
designed to help people improve and
enrich their lives by identifying goals and
developing practical strategies to turn
dreams and ambitions into reality.
Life coaching can take a variety of
forms, depending on the needs of the
client and the degree of structure each
requires. Some coaches provide guidance
with general life planning and goal setting,
while others assist clients with day-to-day
functions such as time management and
organizational skills.
In comparison with traditional psycho-
therapy, which tends to focus on the cli-
ent's past, life coaching is generally more
solution-based and centers on the present.
"Individuals who have stable, secure
lives, but who sense there is something
missing or want to improve their current
functioning are the target candidates for
Stu Silberman, better at getting
things done.
life coaching:' says Staci Hirsch, psycho-
therapist and life coach with Identity •
Solutions of Royal Oak. "People with his-
tories of abuse or neglect, recent problems
with substance abuse, or unmanaged
mental illness, such as schizophrenia or
bipolar disorder, are probably not good
candidates for life coaching as a first-line
treatment.
-
"If you are saying things like this to
yourself — 'I am successful but not ful-
filled•and I need to find out why. I am
wondering what other careers I might
enjoy. I am stuck creatively. I want to move
my professional or personal life to the next
level, I'm not sure if my life has mean-
ing: — then a life coach is probably what
you're looking for,' Hirsch says.
"Life coaching is truly about the here
and now; it's very hands-on:' says Bill
Vanier, also a life coach with Identity
Solutions. "I help clients develop a per-
sonal mission statement, a vision of who
they are and what goals and ambitions
they have, then we work together to come
up with the action steps necessary to get
from where they are now to where they
want to go."
Making Life Manageable
Although several organizations and train-
ing programs exist for life coaches, anyone
can use the title without specific creden-
tials or accreditation. For that reason,
Hirsch and others in the field recommend
choosing a coach with a strong back-
ground in counseling or psychotherapy,
preferably someone with a master's degree
or Ph.D. (See sidebar on "How to ChQose a
Coach.")
Kathy B. of Farmington Hills decided
to try life coaching when she realized her
hectic life was running her instead of the
other way around.
"My life was in total disarray:' Kathy
says. "It seemed like I was always put-
ting out fires, trying to juggle my work
schedule with the needs of my kids and
my husband, rushing from one thing to
the next without any time to breathe in
between."
A friend suggested she see a life coach,
and it made sense.
"I had been through therapy, and I
understood a lot of things about my past,
but that didn't change the fact that my
current life was unmanageable Kathy
says. "I couldn't seem to apply the things I
had learned in a practical way. Life coach-
ing helped me do that."
Kathy's coach worked with her to
identify the things making her feel over-
whelmed, and together they came up with
ways to make life run more smoothly, such
as better time management techniques,
and delegating more tasks to her husband
and children.
With daily life under control, she was
able to develop some long-term plans for
the home-based business she had alWays
dreamed about starting.
"It was •reat to have someone holding
me accountable for the things I said I'd do
each week',' says Kathy, "and when things
didn't work out, we would analyze what
went wrong and come up with new strate-
gies:'
When clients are not meeting their
goals on a regular basis, Hirsch has been
known to confront them, in a supportive
way, about whether or not they are serious
about continuing the work. She encour-
ages them to think about their goals and
decide if this is the right time to pursue
them. If the answer is yes, she will help
them determine why the current plan
hasn't been effective and develop a new
one.
According to Vallier, the frequency of
coaching sessions varies, often changing as
the work progresses. He says that a client
may start out by coming once a week, then
Coaching for Life on page 40
FR1ENTY At= t
Certified instruction can
help you hone your fitness an
competitive edges.