Life Coaching (sometimes called Life Skill Coaching ) is about getting the very best out of someone and enabling them to make decisions that will improve their life.

Life Coaches are hired for very many different and diverse reasons, for example: to climb the career ladder faster; to feel more fulfilled at work; to improve relationships with family and partners; to learn parenting skills that benefit both the child and parent; to gain a spiritual meaning to life, or a desire to 'get sorted'.

Life Coaching looks for resources that are already present, and helps the client to build and develop these, rather than searching for new ones. It reflects rather than directs. Coaching is reactive, flexible, empowering and enabling, not prescriptive or instructional. Coaching is non-judgemental, as are all Counselling models, not judgemental.

A Life Coach's job is not to go over old ground, to be past-orientated (as some Counselling models can be) or to feed the client information with the expectation that this information will be acted upon, as perhaps an advisor or mentor would do,  but to work with clients to help them find the answers themselves. This is in fact very similar to a model used by Counsellors called  Solution Focused Brief Therapy, whereby aims, goals, and solutions are the key elements to the work; not problem solving.

Counsellors are well equipped to cross the bridge from Counselling to Life Coaching with ease, already having a deeper understating of the human psyche, they offer a powerful, integrative environment in which the client can grow and develop.

Conversely though, Life Coaches cannot cross over to Counselling without specialised Counselling training. If a Life Coach (with no Counselling training) becomes aware that their client has personal or emotional issues that are preventing them from achieving their goals, they must accept their limitations and boundaries as a Coach, and refer their client to a Counsellor or Psychotherapist.

The advantage of using a Personal Life Coach, who is also a Counsellor, is that the combination of these two skills, offers the client the best of both worlds, therefore,  the best possible opportunity to achieve their goals.
 

Just as Life Coaching is not the same as advising or mentoring, neither is Life Coaching the same as Consultancy. Coaching and Consultancy are two very different disciplines, with different methods and aims.

Life Coaching maxims and principles.

Life Coaches will use and follow these principles:

• Listening is more important than talking
• What motivates people must be understood
• Everyone is capable of achieving more
• A person's past is no indication of their future
• People's beliefs about what is possible for themselves, are their only limits
• A coach must always provide full support
• Coaches don't provide the answers
• Coaching does not include criticising people
• All coaching is completely confidential as is Counselling

 If you feel Personal Life Coaching is the way forward for you, rather than actual Counselling, please contact us to see if we are the right people for you.

Life Coaching can be accessed either by face to face session's on the telephone, or over the internet using Windows Live Messenger (msn).

                 How to set up Telephone Life Coaching:

The first thing to do is to ring the Here To Listen Counselling Practice (Manchester) on 0161 7890547 or email me online, to check that I am the right person for you, and that Telephone Life Coaching is the right method of support for you. 

All Life Coaching is confidential.

You can ask any questions you want to about how the Telephone Life Coaching Service works. You can also email me for information. Once we have agreed an initial contract for Telephone Life Coaching, an arrangement will be made for the first Telephone Session to occur, at a pre-arranged date and time, this can be done in person or online. You will be responsible for making the call (we use a standard rate landline number), if you are unable to make the call at the time arranged, and you have not given 24 hours notice of this, you will lose the booked session.

If you need to cancel, or rearrange a call time, 24 hours notice must be given to avoid the loss of the booked session.  If we need to cancel or rearrange the time or date, as much notice as possible will be given to you, and you will be credited if an alternative time cannot be agreed.

Payment for each session must be received one week in advance of the session if paying by cheque,  if paying by credit, debit or switch card, the session can booked at the earliest convenience of both parties.

At the end of the first session you can decide whether or not you wish to continue with further sessions, and arrange the next date if you want to continue, this is also the time to discuss how you feel about this method of counselling, and for us both to reassess if we feel comfortable working together. If I feel that Telephone Life Coaching is not the best form of support for you, I will try and refer you to an alternative form. 

Calls can be booked for daytime or evening sessions, and you can choose a 30 minute session or 60 minute session.

If I feel it is in the best interests of the client or myself, I reserve the right to cease Coaching work with that client, any monies outstanding will of course be refunded.