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business SPOTlight
of a crisis management solu-
tion, an end-of-the-line tool,
”
Simmons explained.
In comparison, Simmons said
that Boon has experienced an
average employee utilization of
30% across its customer base.
After six months of working
with Boon, customers have
experienced 50% reductions in
employee turnover and after
just six coaching sessions, 85%
of employees are achieving
higher levels of resilience —
which leads to more productive,
engaged, and overall happier
employees.
WHAT IS COACHING?
Robin Axelrod, Boon co-found-
er and chief clinical officer,
explained the difference
between psychotherapy and
professional coaching like this:
Psychotherapy, based on the
medical model, assumes there
is a problem, and the therapist
works with the
patient to fix what
is broken.
“Coaching
assumes that every
single person is
whole,
” Axelrod
said. “
And a coach
is the guide for
their clients to access all the
resources they have to identify
and reach their goals. Then the
next step is learning how to
remove obstacles getting in the
way or work around them, so
coaching is very goal- and suc-
cess-oriented.
”
Axlelrod, 60, was a Judaic
studies major at the Univeristy
of Michigan and went on to
law school at Wayne State
University before pursing
another degree in social
work. She received a Wexner
Graduate Fellowship to study
social work at U-M and a cer-
tificate in Jewish professional
leadership.
Along the way, she said she
was fortunate enough to find
mentors and coaches to guide
her career path.
For many years she worked
at the Holocaust Center in
Farmington Hills as its found-
ing director of education while
she built her private coaching
practice. She still volunteers
there.
Axelrod explained that Boon
provides 30-minute coaching
sessions for individuals every
other week with certified coach-
es.
At any time during the
coaching process, if the coach
detects the client may be suffer-
ing from anxiety, depression or
other forms of mental illness,
they will recommend a mental
health screening and refer for
additional treatment, such as
arranging mental health care
with a psychiatrist or a thera-
pist.
Axelrod explained that pro-
fessional coaching can range
from developing better execu-
tive presence skills to managing
work-home balance.
For example, if a client asks,
‘How can I improve my execu-
tive presence?’ we work on that.
If a client is going through a
rough patch at home that spills
over into their work, we address
that. Whatever the client’s needs
— and needs are fluid — we
provide personalized coaching
to empower clients to become
more resilient versions of them-
selves to overcome challenges
and reach their goals.
“The data are clear: con-
sistent, goal-oriented and
individualized coaching rela-
tionships are the best way to
support employees’ personal
and professional growth to
build a happy, productive, and
engaged team.”
Learn more at www.boon-health.com.
Robin
Axelrod