Life coaching

what is Life coaching?

Coaches encourage personal growth, guide us through challenges, and hold us accountable to our own promises, goals, and expectations. They’re also there to guide us through hurdles and failures and remind us to keep getting back up.

A life coach applies these tenets to the challenges and difficulties of life itself, rather than a single aspect of it, such as work, sports, or parenting. Life coaching usually consists of a one-on-one relationship between a coach and their client, with individual face-to-face sessions, online support (through video call or messaging), and weekly or monthly updates. Life coaches do not require certification, although there are accreditation programs for individuals who want to become wellness professionals.

A senior man and a male trainer are indoors in a fitness center. They are wearing casual athletic clothing. The man is lifting weights with the guidance of the trainer.

Modern life coaching stems from leadership programs and self-actualization ideas dating back to the 1960s. Life coaching depends on a client’s wishes. It is not in a life coach’s interest to dictate what kind of person their client should become or aspire to.

Key Principles of Life Coaching

There are unifying qualities between life coaching programs. These are:

Goal Setting: Life coaches work with clients to identify an idealized version of the future or themselves, and work towards that goal one step at a time. The focus here is on actionable goals with step-by-step, often measurable metrics, such as improving your performance at work, spending more hours in the week with your loved ones, prioritizing your health through a balanced diet and a realistic, convenient, and manageable exercise plan.
Accountability: Aside from their scheduled appointments, life coaches regularly check in on their clients through calls and messages and hold them accountable to the goals they’ve set for themselves. If a client is feeling overwhelmed, they can work with their life coach to re-examine their goals and set more realistic and healthy expectations for themselves.
Self-Actualization: The core of a life coaching program is the belief that we all have the potential to be better, and we must draw this potential out. Doing so alone is difficult. A life coach helps us stick to the path we set for ourselves.

Benefits of Life Coaching for Mental Health

Life coaches sometimes work with mental health professionals, such as therapists or psychologists, to integrate their services into a larger mental health treatment framework.

Clients coming out of a residential or intensive outpatient treatment program might need more support readjusting to life or might feel a little lost after treatment. Life coaches can help provide guidance in the transition period. Life coaching aims to:

Improve self-esteem, including body image, not just through diet and exercise but through self-acceptance and skills building.
Improve happiness levels, through self-actualization, self-acceptance, and gratitude exercises.
Improve sociability, through setting goals related to social life improvements, such as spending more time among people.
Improve creativity and work-related satisfaction, through career coaching and career development.

Getting Started with Life Coaching at Resolutions

A life coach at Resolutions can help clients who feel overwhelmed by their combined responsibilities and mental health challenges.

By identifying goals and their respective obstacles, life coaches can create an actionable road map, taking anxiety out of the future, and helping clients feel hopeful and motivated for tomorrow.