Can a Life Coach unlock your potential? — Martha English

You might be wondering how a Life Coach differs from a Counsellor. A Counsellor helps you talk about your present thoughts and feelings, often with a focus on the past, but a Life Coach starts with where you are now and helps you to get to where you want to be. The focus in sessions is to get someone from their present state to their future state. The past may come up but only because it plays a significant role in who we are and where we are now.

What is a Life Coach?
Life Coaching is about guidance and support: Life Coaches give guidance to people to help them work out what they want their future state to be, and then provide support to help people work out how to get there. Zoe Thompson, a Life Coach at www.phoenixlifecoach.co.uk likes to use the term ‘Guide and Explorer’. She emphasises that Life Coaches don’t make decisions; they are not there to set the pace or tell people what decisions they need to make. They give them that ‘safe space’ to work out what that looks like for themselves, to decide what they feel is the best route to take them forward to get to that place.

Is it for me?
Zoe works with a psychographic not a demographic. That’s to say her clients come from all walks of life, from the young, men and women to older people in their 60s or 70s, proving that you’re never too young or old to have the support to work out what you want your life to look like. She works with people who are in a particular headspace, and for whom words and phrases like ‘stuck’, ‘frustrated’, lack of self-confidence’, ‘loss of self-worth’ are commonly used when they think or speak.

What does a Life Coach do?
A Life Coach can offer a programme of support that is different for everyone they work with. For Zoe, this can sometimes be just one call or the occasional call with someone on an irregular basis. Where people have something more challenging to work through, Zoe provides more holistic support — she creates a programme of sessions with contact support in between. In addition, there can be other products or services that sit within that support. Zoe feels that the ability to be flexible is really important for her clients and this is why she offers a range of services from ‘pay as you go’ sessions to 12-week or 12-month packages of support depending on how long a person anticipates the journey to be and what they are working through.

You are not alone!
Life Coaching supports people so they don’t have to go through a change or challenge on their own. Much of what Zoe does is about helping people to see that they can get to where they want to be and be who they want to be because they already have the tools and skills they need to achieve this. And this works well if that person has support from family and friends too. For some, however, that network isn’t in place and this is when Zoe can offer services and support over a longer period.

Are you still unsure about seeing a Life Coach?
Change is a scary concept for a lot of people. Too often we stay too long in our comfort zone, even when we know it’s not comfortable or it’s not where we want to be because we fear change, or we are unsure about what to do — it can be an intimidating process to wrap our heads around. For some people, they know that change is within their control, but they need a Life Coach to give accountability or that extra ‘nudge’, to provide that voice in your ear that says ‘you’ve got this!’.

Help to unlock your potential and move on from trauma
Zoe explains that most sessions are helping people to see that they can achieve their goals, that the potential is there but has simply lain dormant for a while. This is particularly true of people who have experienced a traumatic event or gone through adversity. When this happens it can be particularly hard to have the confidence to work through something, but actually, it’s about recognising the skills that have helped them in difficult times can be used by turning them into positive energy to help them move forward. It’s not about forcing them to make changes they’re not ready to make but helping them to see what is already there and recognising that it’s already within them to take those first steps.

Finding the right Life Coach
There are many Life Coaches available who can help, but they are all different in approach and style; some are more nurturing, others are more challenging. Zoe places a strong emphasis on the ability to build a trusting relationship and to have a good rapport with her clients. She recommends talking to other coaches. This way you can work out whether you have found a coach who will be fully supportive of your needs and, it is important to get it right!

Are you ready to move forward?
If you are ready to take those first steps your first move might be to get in touch with Zoe. This initially takes place with a FREE, no-obligation 45-minute phone call; she calls this a ‘clarity session’. This is especially important because it helps the Life Coach understand what that person is going through, where they are, what’s got them to this place, what’s held them back from making changes before, and to understand where they want to get to. This also allows you to ask questions and to get a feel for whether Zoe is a good ‘match’. At the end of this session, Zoe always asks a potential client to go away and have a think before making any decisions and talking about next steps.

If you are ready to find more, head to Zoe’s website or take a look at this short video when I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions — you’ll find it very informative!

Originally published at https://marthaenglish.com and www.phoenixlifecoach.co.uk on July 16, 2020.