LIFE COACHING – LIVE BY DESIGN!
Envision. Explore. Empower. Experience!
Do you ever feel like life is happening to you, instead of you purposefully designing and leading your own life? You are not alone! Life coaching has helped millions of people take control of their own lives and experience renewed passion for their life! And, people of all ages and from all walks of life can benefit from life coaching!
CHOOSING THE RIGHT LIFE COACH:
In our opinion, psychologists make the best coaches! Unlike life coaches with little training or a certificate from a few seminars or courses, psychologists have a Doctorate in Psychology, meaning they have spent several years studying and understanding the human experience. Their skills in gaining insight, understanding yourself and your desires, creating a life plan, and developing the skills needed to successfully execute that plan are unparalleled.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT LIFE COACHING PROGRAM:
Life coaching is all about harnessing the power of being purposeful in designing a life you will love, so don’t settle for a coach who doesn’t have a very purposely designed coaching approach and program to help you achieve your goals and vision! At Lepage Associates, you will:
Envision. Your coach will help you create a life vision that is truly inspiring to you.
Explore. Your coach will help you determine what internal and external obstacles exist that are in the way of achieving your vision, and will help you determine what internal strengths and external supports exist that you could harness to achieve your goals and vision.
Empower. Your coach will help you to get past internal obstacles blocking success, harness your existing strengths in a way they can be applied to achieving your vision, develop new skills and strengths needed for your particular goals, and move or manage external obstacles.
Experience! Experience the joy of living a life by design! Your coach will help you reflect on living in your vision, and help you make any tweaks needed.
What Will You Achieve With The Right Motivation?
A life coach can help you:
- Experience less stress and more joy
- Develop more balance between your personal and professional life
- Increase your level of success in personal relationships by enjoying your relationships more, both for friendships or intimate relationships
- Increase your level of success in your career by enjoying your job more, or finding a new career path that fits you better
- Establish what your values are and decide whether or not you are living within that value system and focusing on what is important to you
- Make an action plan to live by those values and your vision
- Make an action plan to discontinue behaviors that do not match your values or your life vision
- Develop the skills needed to achieve your unique life vision
- Get more out of life by living in the moment and being mindful of your experiences
A life coach motivates the client, who is often in the midst of a life-changing decision or time period, and helps the client discover his or her goals and make them a reality. A life coach helps a person of good mental health look to the future and move forward with his or her life. In life coaching, the client takes the action in determining where he or she is in life and where he or she would like to be. The coach assists in this process, making recommendations, but ultimately relying on the client to make the final play, much like an athletic coach. As anyone who has been an athlete or even watched athletes knows, a good coach provides the scaffolding, skill-building, and energy to succeed! Your coach is your biggest fan, spurring you on to success! A coach can “see more talent and ability within you than you see, and help you bring it out” (Bob Proctor), and “allows you to see the hope inside yourself” (Oprah Winfrey).
TYPES OF COACHING & SKILL BUILDING:
There are too many to list, but here are a few: wellness coaching, healthy living coaching, life vision and life path coaching, life decision coaching, life redesign coaching, relationship coaching, social skills coaching, parenting coaching, business coaching, career coaching, executive coaching, and managing attention deficits coaching. For children, teenagers, and college students, in addition to these, coaching can also include managing academic environments socially as well as the academic pressures, study skills, delinquency diversion, and failure to launch. Skill building is also incredibly broad, but may include: improving boundaries, increasing energy and passion, harnessing joy, assertiveness training, emotion regulation and distress tolerance, anger management, communication skills in personal and professional relationships, etc.
WHY COACHING VERSUS THERAPY?
Many people want to make changes and improvements in their life to live a life that fits their vision, and can benefit from the assistance of a motivator and guide and helper to reach their goals. But these people are often not experiencing any mental health problems or diagnosis! Life coaching allows an individual to focus broadly on a whole new life vision, or on a specific growth area or problem. It is a convenient and very private way to work on your goals. Life coaching can occur in the coach’s office or online, eliminating the need to travel to an office or take time off from work. It also does not require the client to delve into personal issues that he or she does not feel directly impacts their particular goals.
THE MERITS OF HAVING A PSYCHOLOGIST OR THERAPIST AS A LIFE COACH:
- Psychologists and therapists are already trained in skillful listening. They have had professional experience honing their listening skills and have the professional ability to detect nuances of expression, voice, and energy to comprehensively evaluate what a client is saying with verbal and non-verbal cues. This helps a client clarify feelings and notice when verbal statements do not match their own non-verbal cues. This can be very important when learning to successfully communicate with others.
- Psychologists and therapists suspend judgment. Since they have heard everything, they can listen to clients’ “truth telling” without being shocked (or judgmental). This creates a safe place for the client to discuss all aspects of life that may be affecting the problem he or she is looking to solve.
- Psychologists and therapists have the gift of reframing. They can skillfully put a positive spin on a statement or belief expressed by a client, which helps the client turn problems into opportunities and positive thinking.
- Psychologists and therapists are trained in the practice of seeking solutions and thinking of possibilities. Professional training and experience have enhanced these skills, especially for those specializing in solution-focused therapy.
- Psychologists and therapists are trained to look at situations holistically. This means being able to consider the psychological, environmental, biological, and social factors involved in your situation. This allows the client to be aware of all aspects of life which she may utilize to solve her problem.
- Psychologists and therapists are trained to respect confidentiality and have strong ethical guidelines. The two create a feeling of safety which allows for adequate disclosure of life events, allowing for all pertinent information to be shared and utilized in problem solving.
- Psychologists and therapists can assess whether coaching is a good fit for you or whether more intense or long-term therapy appears to be warranted. This allows the client to utilize the best approach for working on their problem.
HOW DOES COACHING WORK?
The coaching process begins with an intake meeting that includes reviewing your goals and reasons for entering life coaching. In each meeting thereafter, the client chooses the focus of the conversation, while the coach listens and contributes observations, questions, motivation, and skill-building. The coaching process accelerates the client’s progress by providing greater focus (Envision), deepening the client’s learning (Explore), and building skills as needed (Empower). The client is expected to come to meetings prepared and ready to work toward change.
WHAT IS THE COST?
Our per-session fee is the same as for therapy; please see our list of fees on this website for our current costs.