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Supplementing Your Income Through Life Coaching
“You Do WHAT?” “Life Coaching! It’s similar to counseling in terms of the skills used, but my clients are not in crisis or in need of healing. They’re stable and functioning but they want to move from ‘okay’ to ‘exceptional’. They have a basic foundation established and they want to build a new vision on that toward greater fulfillment in life.” This is the response I give nearly every day when people ask about my work as a Life Coach. I help people pursue the desires of their hearts, to embrace more of this “Abundant Life” Christ purchased for us. And people are fascinated to hear that I do all of my work by telephone, fax and the Internet. My clients are high functioning, non-diagnosable, and are not confined to my geographic location. In fact, I don’t even have any clients who live in my state! A New Field Life Coaching is a relatively new field, becoming established in the early 1990's as an outgrowth of the work of corporate consultants, psychotherapists, and personal success workshops. Counselors were noticing that many clients, while technically finished with their therapy work, were desirous of continuing sessions to move into more of the fullness they wanted for their lives. Their presenting issues were resolved, and managed care companies were insisting on discharge, but the clients wanted to build upon their newfound stability to gain a greater vision for their future. Having healed, they wanted to grow. Others had never reached the point of needing to see a therapist or counselor, but were feeling "stuck" in their lives. They were not seeing their marriages deepening in intimacy, or were longing to have more quality time with their families, switch careers, improve their parenting skills, get more balance in their lives, start a home business, or pursue a million other life dreams that weren’t being realized. There seemed to be no profession designed to adequately address these desires. In response, the field of Life Coaching arose. Low Risk, Low Stress, High Returns Because Life Coaching clients are not in crisis and don’t meet criteria for diagnosable disorders, the liability risk for the practitioner is much less than in traditional counseling. This is why the work can be done so comfortably over the telephone. And since clients are highly motivated and not in pain, the work is also far less stressful. Add to this that clients are paying out-of-pocket at the time services are rendered, and that fees typically range from $75 to more than $200 an hour, and it is no wonder that many counselors are beginning to supplement their practices with this service. Adding Coaching To Your Practice I transitioned into Life Coaching simply by hiring my own Coach to teach me to do what he was doing, although I subsequently took a training course as well. There are no special degrees required and no licensure. Anyone can offer their services as a Life Coach, just as anyone can offer their services as a consultant. The catch, of course, is finding people willing to pay for those services, and that is where some degree of training is tremendously helpful. There are roughly 30 Coach Training Programs throughout the world and nearly all of them do their teaching through “virtual classrooms” – classes taught over the telephone on bridge lines that allow several people to dial in simultaneously and “attend” without leaving their offices. The teaching is supplemented with various texts, assignments, and practice with other students in the class. Most of these programs take several months to two years to complete. For therapists and counselors, however, a program called the Institute for Life Coach Training teaches only those who already have a people-helping background. This allows them to greatly condense their training to only four months, since students already have a solid foundation in people skills. The training focuses on the distinctions between coaching and therapy, establishing a coaching business, and marketing coaching services. A Distinctly Christian Approach Like psychology, the field of Life Coaching has arisen from a humanistic foundation and draws upon some assumptions that are directly contrary to Christianity. In addition, there are often New Age and Eastern influences. I have partnered with the Institute for Life Coach Training to establish the only distinctly Christian Coach Training program in the world. My co-facilitator is Judy Santos, founder and president of the Christian Coaches Network. To Learn More... For more information on Life Coaching, visit the International Coach Federation (ICF) at www.coachfederation.org. This non-profit entity is the largest professional organization for practicing coaches and has chapters in most major cities throughout the world. They have established a Code of Ethics and host international conferences annually. Information on the Christian Track at the Institute for Life Coach Training is available at www.lifecoachtraining.com. The Christian Coaches Network can be found at www.christiancoaches.com. My website is at www.christian-living.com and I will be happy to respond to any questions by email at chris@christian-living.com. ~Christopher McCluskey, MSW, LCSW, Certified Life Coach About Us | Living Water Blog | Get Life Coaching at Home | Get E-Help at Home | Family Life Skills & Groups Copyright © Presbyterian Church of Plantation, Florida / Living Water Life Coaching |
