40 | APRIL 14 • 2022 

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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

