[Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com]

At first, nobody quite knew how to address him.

"I have a little kid," Melvin said. "When all the little kids play sports, [I'll be] 'Coach Brian'. I kept calling him 'Coach Dan'...in an offseason meeting, he's like 'I'm tired of people calling me Dan.'"During a later meeting, Chief made it clear: 'You can call me Chief."

So, Chief it was.

"[Chief] is my sounding board," Melvin said. "Whenever everybody is kind of going crazy and I just need some calm in the storm, I actually go to him...he's just consistent. He's always there. He's always there for all of us coaches, and of course, the kids."

Chief takes it to heart.

"I try to impress upon these kids [that] I'll do anything coach Melvin asks me for," Chief said. "In everything you're doing, if that's your boss, then that's your boss, and you put everything into it.""Nothing is beneath you if you're doing it for the guy on your left and right," Chief continued.

"Nothing is beneath you to serve your brother to your left and your right. If these guys can get into enough rhythm of doing that, the outcomes of the games won't matter."

View post:
After 26 years in the military, 'Chief' gives back again as Burlington Central coach - Friday Night Drive

The Leaf-Chronicle Published 5:00 a.m. CT Sept. 11, 2019

More than 400 Austin Peay State University freshmen will soon have access to "near-peer" mentors to help them navigate university life all the way to completion.

College Possible, a national nonprofit that connects high school and college students with mentors, on Wednesday announced thepartnership with APSU.

Members of APSU's largest freshman class take a tour of campus in August.(Photo: Contributed/Denzil Wyatt, APSU)

Austin Peay State University prides itself on bridging gaps in not just access, but also completion, for students from a wide variety of backgrounds, APSU President Alisa White said in a news release. This partnership taps the potential of one of our most powerful assets, recent graduates, who are uniquely equipped to mentor students following in their footsteps.

The program, called Catalyze, builds on College Possible's 20-year history of training AmeriCorps service members to help low-income high school juniors and seniors enroll in and complete college, according to the news release.

College Possible intends to scale similar near-peer coaching programs to institutions nationwide. Recent results show that 92 percent of program participants who were enrolled in college in fall 2018 returned for the spring 2019 term.

This initiative reflects a spirit of innovation and commitment to equity that has enabled Austin Peay to boost graduation rates for low-income students in recent years, Loretta Griffy, APSU associate vice president for student success and strategic initiatives, said in the release. Its about helping students to build relationships that create stronger connections to our campus community. It is about supporting students as they navigate the transition to university life.

College Possibles Catalyze coaches are recent college graduates. Many have navigated challenges that could have ended their own educational journeys. Each coach is located at the university, maintains a full-time presence on campus, and engages in the university environment alongside their students, the release said.

The College Possible success coaches will join college-focused student success teams under the guidance of Nancy King Sanders, APSU executive director for the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Read or Share this story: https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/local/clarksville/2019/09/11/austin-peay-state-university-freshmen-get-americorps-mentoring/2278483001/

See original here:
Freshmen at Austin Peay State University to get mentoring from AmeriCorps coaches - Clarksville Leaf Chronicle

We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed.

{* backButton *}{* forgotPassword_sendButton *}

Subscribe to Sportsnet.ca newsletters

I understand that I can withdraw my consent at any time

Loading newsletters

{* mergeAccounts *}

{* public_profileBlurb *}

{* public_displayName *}

Updating your profile data...

You have activated your account, please feel free to browse our exclusive contests, videos and content.

You have activated your account, please feel free to browse our exclusive contests, videos and content.

An error has occurred while trying to update your details. Please contact us.

Or

{* traditionalSignIn_signInButton *}

Or

{* backButton *}{* traditionalSignIn_signInButton *}

Please confirm the information below before signing up.

Subscribe to Sportsnet.ca newsletters

I understand that I can withdraw my consent at any time

By checking this box, I agree to the terms of service and privacy policy of Rogers Media.

{* backButton *}{* createAccountButton *}

We didn't recognize that password reset code. Enter your email address to get a new one.

Sorry we could not verify that email address. Enter your email below and we'll send you another email.

Or

{* loginWidget *}

Read more here:
What a hockey lifer needs to say about the game before he dies - Sportsnet.ca

He had spent 17 of his 46 years behind bars, locked in a pattern of addiction and crime that led to 16 prison terms. Now, Meko Lincoln pushesa cart of cleaning supplies at the re-entry house to which he had been paroled in December, determined to provide for his grandchildren in a way he failed to do as a father.

Keep on movin, dont stop, Lincoln sings, grooving to the R&B group Soul II Soul on his headphones as he emptiestrash cans and scrubstoilets at Amos House. He passesa bulletin board plastered with hiring notices a line cook, a warehouse worker, a landscaper, all good jobs for someone with a felony record, but not enough for him.

Lincoln, who is training to be a drug and alcohol counsellor, wants those lost years to count for something more.

From 15p 0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

I lived it, he says. I understand it. My past is not a liability. Its an asset. I can help another person save their life.

Yet because regulations in Rhode Island and most other states exclude people with criminal backgrounds from many jobs, Lincolns record, which includes sentences for robbery and assault, may well be held against him.

Across the country, more than 10,000 regulations restrict people with criminal records from obtaining occupational licences, according to a database developed by the American Bar Association. The restrictions are defended as a way to protect the public. But Lincoln and others point out that the rules are often arbitrary and ambiguous.

Licensing boards in Rhode Island can withhold licences for crimes committed decades ago, by citing a requirement that people display good moral character without taking into account individual circumstances or efforts towardsrehabilitation.

Such restrictions make it challenging for the formerly incarcerated to enter or move up in fast-growing industries such as healthcare, human services and some mechanical trades, according to civil liberties lawyers and economists. These include the very jobs theyve trained for in prison or in re-entry programmes like Lincolns. And without jobs, many of those released could end up back in jail, experts say.

Lincolns hope of getting licensed as a chemical dependency clinician will be a test of how much the system is willing to forgive. His 16 prison terms resulted from charges including narcotics possession, resisting arrest, obtaining money under false pretences, malicious destruction of property and assaulting police officers as well as repeated parole violations for returning to drugs, according to the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

Lincoln says his crimes were committed while he was intoxicated or high, or trying to obtain heroin and crack cocaine. He would buy drugs, dilute them and resell them to other people with addictions, actions that resulted in robbery charges. He sold fake drugs to undercover police and hit a drug dealers car with a crowbar.

Only the best news in your inbox

Only the best news in your inbox

Licensing restrictions are among the many obstacles to establishing a stable economic footing after prison. Incarceration carries a stigma, and many employers are wary of hiring people who have spent time in prison.

But states with the strictest licensing barriers tend to have higher rates of recidivism, according to research by Stephen Slivinski, an economist at the Centre for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University.

In many states, a criminal record is a stain that you cant wash off, Slivinski says. There is no amount of studying that can take away this mark in your past if a licensing board wants to use it against you.

Meko Lincoln, 46, wants to be a licensed chemical dependency clinician, but his years in prison could work against him

Even Rhode Island, a state on the forefront of sentencing reform, has some of the nations most restrictive licensing regulations, according to separate analyses by the liberal National Employment Law Project and the libertarian Institute for Justice.

For Lincoln, obtaining a licence could mean the difference between the $25,000-a-year (21,000) job as a peer recovery coach hes being trained for at his re-entry programme at Amos House and the $50,000 he could earn a year as a chemical dependency clinician a licensed drug and alcohol counsellor who can treat people with addictions, not just mentor them.

Licensing legitimises us as somebody, he says. Its recognition.

And there is a need for more black counsellors like Lincoln as the share of minorities dying of opioid overdoserises in Rhode Island and across the country.

He has the life experience that would allow somebody else to say, Well, if Meko can do it, I can possibly do it, too, says Amos House chief executive Eileen Hayes, who offered Lincoln the chance to train as a recovery coach after witnessing his progress

Lincoln conducts security checks during his overnight house manager shift at Amos House

In May, as instructors passed out certificates during a ceremony on the last day of his recovery coaching class, Lincoln tried to focus on all that he hadaccomplished in the six months since his release from prison.

He had stayed clean through a 90-day rehab programme. Moved from the bottom bunk in the rooming house he shared with 19 other guys into his own basement apartment nearby. Got a job, making $11 an hour as a custodian.

Soon he would start a paid internship as the weekend night manager of the mens residency at Amos House, where he had lived until February.

Amid his classmates cheers and applause, anxiety crept in: what if this is as good as it gets?

Now Lincoln amblesthrough the crowded Amos House cafeteria dispensing hugs, elbow bumps and compliments in Spanish and English. Bald, clean shaven except for a short goatee, with 18inbiceps bulging beneath his shirt sleeves, Lincoln is unrecognisable from the skeleton he used to be in the depths of his addiction.

I see something nice! You blinging! he shoutsto a woman with a new set of teeth.

He wrapshis arms around a man in his sixties who is recently back from detox and snagsa piece of his cinnamon roll. A guy in line for chilli and Spanish rice who knew Lincoln from prison callsout to him: I just got out. I got no ID. No transportation. No nothing.

The people seeking food, job training, counselling and shelter here are a constant reminder to Lincoln of how quickly sobriety can unravel. This was his second pass through Amos House, a social service agency whose clientele include the homeless, people seeking help with addiction and the formerly incarcerated.

The first time, Lincoln relapsed soon after completing the 90-day programme, availing himself of the drugs being sold just blocks away. He returned to prison for three years for heroin possession, stealing drugs and beating up a drug dealer.

Instead of facing life on its terms, I kind of folded like a lawn chair, he says.

Lincoln plays with his seven-year-old grandson, Jahvon. He wants to provide for his three grandchildren in a way he failed to do as a father

Rhode Island Superior Court justice Kristin Rodgers told Lincoln during his 2016 sentencing hearing that he could not blame his relapse on the pressures of sobriety or his difficult childhood.

The problem with you, Mr. Lincoln, is that when you go to the dark side, you go big, Rodgers said, according to the court transcript. And you have victims that are out there. There are robberies, theres drug dealing. These are not victimless crimes, sir.

Lincoln responded that his crimes were driven by the disease of addiction, committed largely against others in similar situations.

I never take anything from anybody that aint taken something from me, he told the judge. And when Im on drugs, its the people thats using drugs.

Lincoln grew up in a south Providence neighbourhood surrounded by poverty, drugs and violence. His father was in prison for murder and struggled with his own addiction. His mother raised four boys largely on her own.

He says he began drinking and smoking marijuana with older teens at age 12 then started using crack cocaine and selling it, picking up his first possession charge at 14.

He sayshe was talented enough at football that he was approached by college scouts, but that dream evaporated in a string of arrests and stints in juvenile detention. He dropped out of high school his junior year.

He was homeless, high and just 19 when his first daughter, Janelle Hazard, was born. At 21, Lincoln served his first term in prison 14 months for robbing a drunk man of a bottle of liquor in 1994.

Hazard ended up in foster care, begrudgingly getting to know her father in weekly prison visits during a 10-year sentence Lincolns longest for a 2002 robbery conviction. While serving that sentence, he learned he had a second daughter:the two remain estranged.

Lincoln saysthe 2002 conviction resulted from a false accusation by a Providence narcotics detective. Public records show the detective pleaded guilty to charges related to drug dealing in 2010 as part of a larger cocaine operation.

Over his years in prison, an older inmate taught him to read and write. He read the Quran and embraced Islam, a religion he says taught him how to forgive himself and others.

During his last stint, Hazard brought her own two boys for Saturday visits. Her sons developed a bond with their grandfather, throwing mini footballs in the visiting room decorated with Disney characters. Her third child, a girl, was born while Lincoln was imprisoned.

Lincoln and Heath (right)spend time with Lincolns daughter Janelle Hazard and her children at a playground in Hazards housing complex

Lincoln would mail his grandchildren CD recordings of his voice reading them books. He wants to be a model for them, in the way he was not for their mother.

When she was being raised and needed me, I wasnt there, Lincoln says. I wanted to present them with proof that they could one day become something they want to be.

He participated in behavioural therapy and entered a chemical dependency program, which inspired him to consider counselling as a career.

Lincoln met his fiancee, Andrea Heath, shortly after his release from prison:Ive never met someone whos been so motivated and makes me want so much more in life,she says

In his last six months of incarceration, he recallspropping a folded paper name tag on a table in the day room. As guys around him played cards and chess, Lincoln played therapist. I was trying a shoe on to see how it would fit, he says, acting as if I had an office.

Other inmates made fun of him. But some sat down to talk, venting about their cellmates or corrections officers.

In October, two months before he was paroled, Lincoln wrote a letter on a piece of notebook paper to the coordinator of the mens programme at Amos House. If given the opportunity to be released back there, I will not repeat the cycle, he wrote.

When he got out, Lincoln had been sober for three years the longest hed been clean in decades.

Hazard, now 27, picked him up, driving him to his grandsons school. He jumped out of the SUV in his blue prison-issued sweatsuit, yelling, Surprise! Then Hazard and the boys, now eighrand seven, dropped him off at Amos House, hopeful it would be the last time.

Lincoln committed to daily 12-step meetings, workingthrough childhood feelings of abandonment during group therapy, and copingwith feeling insecure, powerless anduseless. Through it all, his urine tests remained clean.

In July, Lincoln embarked on accumulating the 500 internship hours he needs to be certified as a peer recovery coach his first step towards his goal of becoming a licensed drug and alcohol counsellor while holding onto his afternoon cleaning shift.

As Lincoln headsto an afternoon prayer service at his mosque, an unshaven man with matted hair stoppshim on the steps of Amos House.

Ive missed you, man, slursLincolns childhood friend, his face drawn and pupils constricted, as he pullsLincoln in for an embrace. You know how sometimes you feel like youre walking around and youve got no soul?

Lincoln asksif he wantsto get clean. His friend doesnot answer. Instead, he asks:You dont got no five dollars? No bud on you? Lincoln shakes his head no. I love you.

The entirety of Rhode Islands state prison population is confined to one square mile in Cranston, where 2,640 inmates are divided among six facilities surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

Rhode Island reduced its prison population by 23 per centbetween 2008 and 2016, in part by giving inmates time off their sentences for participating in academic classes, rehabilitative programmes, paid work or job training.

Lincoln drives past the corner in Providences West End neighbourhood where he was last arrested

Jorge Henriquez shaved more than one year off his five-year sentence for dealing cocaine by taking classes and working in the prison car body shop.

The 32-year-old father of two is halfway through a course in heating and air conditioning, a fast-growing field, and is excited about the prospects of a lucrative and legal career.

When you have a record, theres not a lot of good-paying jobs out there, saysHenriquez, who is scheduled for parole in February.

Rhode Island does not officially bar people with criminal histories from being licensed in HVAC, but under state law, licences in HVAC and other mechanical trades can be revoked or suspended for felony convictions.

Bill Okerholm, the HVAC instructor, says that the union of plumbers, pipe fitters and refrigeration technicians accepts people with records as apprentices on a case-by-case basis. But of the 250 men hes trained at the prison in the past five years, Okerholm cant recall anyone who has been licensed after their release.

Lincoln cleans a bathroom at Amos House, where he works as a custodian for $11 an hour while training to be a peer recovery coach

Guys like Jorge deserve a second chance, saysOkerholm, noting Henriquezs enthusiasm and attention in the course. Theres a great need in these trade jobs for someone like him.

With a quarter of the USworkforce in a licensed occupation, compared with just 5 per centin the 1950s, more than two dozen states have begun to loosen licensing restrictions but Rhode Island is lagging behind.

While opponents say current licensing regulations are ambiguous and inconsistent, supporters of the licensing regime say undoing the restrictions would usurp the authority of state boards and create additional burdens for agencies. More important, supporters say that the regulations are aimed at protecting public health and safety, and that it would be irresponsible to let people with criminal records, especially those involving violent offences, enter certain professions.

An attempt at change with a bill that would have limited licensing denials to people whose crimes directly relate to an occupation died in the Rhode Island General Assembly in June when the house introduced an amendment excluding those convicted of a violent crime. The broad definition, which included robbery, larceny and burglary, would have excluded people like Lincoln.

Some state agencies expressed concerns that were valid and cant be disregarded, Rhode Island house speaker Nicholas Mattiello, a Democrat, says. He adds that the house would revisit the issue when a new legislative session begins in January.

of the US workforce is in a licensed occupation

Criminal justice policy analysts say the licensing barriers discourage people with records from applying in the first place because they are routinely told their convictions make them ineligible.

Few states collect this type of data, but in Texas, 15 per centof prospective applicants to the state Department of Licensing and Regulation in the past four years were deemed ineligible through a criminal history evaluation letter an optional preliminary review of their convictions, the agency says.

In many of those cases, determinations were based on decades-old convictions or crimes irrelevant to the licences being sought, according to letters obtained by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. The department says those who wish to be reevaluated may now do so under new criteria established by lawmakers that only crimes directly related to the job can be grounds for denial.

About a dozen states have enacted more modest reforms, according to the Institute for Justice. Californias 2018 bill requires convictions be substantially related to an occupation for licences to be denied. Florida, New York and Iowa recently eased licensing restrictions for a limited number of occupations. Meanwhile, bills introduced this year in South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri and other states failed to advance.

Partaja Spann-Taylor, one of Lincolns classmates in his recovery coaching course, is a reminder to Lincoln of the barriers to developing a career post-incarceration. The 34-year-old whose criminal record is far slighter than his pursued jobs in health care and social services when she got out of prison a decade ago only to be met by rejection after rejection because of her criminal background.

Partaja Spann-Taylor hugs a client at Amos House. Getting homeless, drug-addicted women off the streets inspired her to pursue a masters in social work

Spann-Taylor was charged with delivering cocaine and reckless driving in 2006 when her then-boyfriend made a drug delivery. She was released on bail after two weeks in jail and got five years of probation and a suspended sentence.

In 2008, when she was four months pregnant, she was incarcerated for 30 days after her friends got into a fight at a nightclub. She was charged with assault, even though she said she did not participate, because her presence violated the terms of her probation.

After her release, Spann-Taylor tried to enrol in a free training programme to become a certified nursing assistant.

She was rejected. Her felony record disqualified her, she was told shutting her out not only from future licensing but from training as well.

A lot of people would say, Well, stick with the retail and the food service industries. Theyre the most forgiving in terms of your background, Spann-Taylor says. But I needed to make a living for me and my daughter.

Inmates at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections in Cranston can shave time off their sentences by participating in job training, but some may encounter licensing barriers upon release

She considered a career in physical therapy. But thattoohas licensing barriers. She saysan admissions officer at New England Institute of Technology told her that she would need to pass a criminal-background check for clinical placement or employment.

So Spann-Taylor waitressed at a steak house while getting her associate degree in human services and then a bachelors degree in social work.

After graduating from college in 2013, she got a job as a court advocate for domestic violence victims, but the offer was rescinded before she could even start when her felony conviction showed up in a background check. A second job offer, a teaching position at a prison, was also rescinded because of her criminal record.

It took five more years of waitressing before Amos House offered her a job getting homeless, drug-addicted women off the streets of Providence.

In May, Spann-Taylor, now a married mother of two, enrolled part time in a masters programme to become a clinical social worker even though her felony record could end up disqualifying her from licensing.

Under Rhode Island law, licensed clinical social workers must be free of felony convictions unless the professional board determines those previous convictions arent a risk to public safety. The state health department says it has no record of anyone with a felony conviction applying for a licence in social work or chemical dependency counselling in the past five years.

Spann-Taylor knows she will struggle to persuade the licensing board to overlook her record. Even if she obtains her licence, some major health insurers will not contract with providers with felony backgrounds. At times, she wonders whether the $40,000 shes accumulated in student loan debt will be worth it. Still, she feels she has little choice.

People lose hope when the door keeps closing in your face, she says. I got frustrated thinking I was just going to be a waitress for the rest of my life. Ill keep trying to bust through these doors until they open.

Lincoln, a convert to Islam, prays in his basement apartment. He says the religion taught him how to forgive himself and others

Lincoln knows that with his lengthier prison sentences, he faces even higher career hurdles. So he focuses on what he can control learning as much as he can about counselling, piecing together as many internship hours as possible, staying clean and making things right with his family.

His training ground as Lincoln calls it was the red three-storey house where he spent the first three months after his release, learning how to abide by rules and routine outside prison walls and how to feel the emotions he buried while he was incarcerated or high.

Once you put the drugs down, all those feelings you were trying to numb come rushing back you sold yourself short, neglected your family, the guilt, Lincoln says. I didnt know how to be a dad. I didnt even know how to be a human. I just existed. I breathed. I ate.

View post:
'A stain you can't wash off': Legal hurdles make normal life impossible for former convicts - The Independent

The start of the Mystics' first playoff series won't be marred by the semi-regular travel woes that plague the league's playersduring the regular season.

WNBA commissionerCathy Engelbert announced on Sunday that the league will cover the cost of charter flights for Connecticut and Washington's opponents in both Game Onesinthe semifinals round of the WNBA playoffs.

With both second-roundWNBAplayoff games taking place in the Pacific Time Zone on Sunday and WNBA semifinals set to tip-off on Tuesday in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., the league has arranged and will cover costs for charter flights for the winners of Sundays games," she said in a statement released by the league."We believe it is in the best interest of the players to provide them with an opportunity to arrive expeditiously in the city of the first game of the WNBA semifinals and have a full day on-site to practice, rest and prepare.

WNBA players, who fly commercial flights, have often voiced concern about their travel arrangements.

Earlier this season, Elena Delle Donne wrote on Instagram that she was "sick of" taking commercial flights cross-country, citing a fellow passenger's derogatory remarks made while the Mystics were on a flight to Las Vegas.In 2018, the Mystics game against the Aces was canceled after the Las Vegas-based team's travel woes resulted in them traveling for reportedly 24 hours and arriving only a few hours before game time.

The issue alsowas one of the central points in WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike's essay on The Player's Tribune in 2018 after players opted out of their CBA. Players have to renegotiate a deal before the 2020 season.

"This is not purely about salaries. This is about small changes the league can make that will impact the players," she said in the essay."This is about a six-foot-nine superstar taking a red-eye cross-country and having to sit in an economy seat instead of an exit row. Often with delays. Imagine the last time you took a red-eye business trip and you sat in the middle seat with your knees all cramped up, and how shook you were for that entire rest of the day."

The top-seeded Mystics, who clinched a double-bye to the semifinals, start their postseason on Tuesday at home.

MORE MYSTICS NEWS:

Originally posted here:
Mystics semifinals opponents to get travel help from league - NBCSports.com

Five Steps to Becoming a Life Coach Step 1 Choose a niche

Coaching is a vast field, so professionals have a myriad of niches to choose from. This helps coaches market their services to a specific type of clientele and gives potential customers confidence that the coach has expertise helping people with their unique challenges. Some of the possible areas of specialization for life coaches include:

Helping people improve different areas of their life is a big responsibilityand requires specialized training to be effective. During training, prospective coaches learn the psychological principles of coaching, how to conduct a coaching assessment to determine clients needs, ethics in coaching, and communication skills. In order to get the best results from their training, students should find a program that has been accredited by industry associations like the International Coach Federation.

Earning a certification in addition to a degree can go a long way toward gaining the trust of potential clients. Credentials, which are provided by professional associations like the International Coach Federation and the International Association of Coaching, requires expertise and demonstration of high work standards.

For example, the International Coach Federation offers a Professional Certified Coach certification that requires professionals to have 500 hours of coaching experience450 of which must be paidas well as at least 25 clients. In addition, people who apply for this certification must successfully complete the Coach Knowledge Assessment, which tests on their understanding of coaching agreements, ethical guidelines, active listening skills, goal setting, and accountability.

Similarly, those who want to earn the Master Masteries Coach designation from the International Association of Coaching must complete a series of tests to demonstrate their knowledge of coaching principles. In addition, candidates for this certification must submit recordings of their coaching sessions with clients in order to be evaluated for the associations coaching masteriessuch as the ability to actively listen and help clients set clear intentionsinto their sessions.

In order to get certain legal protections as a business owner, life coaches can get a business classification, such as a Limited Liability Company or Corporation designation.

Although life coaches are not required to carry insurance, getting coverage can help protect their business and give clients peace of mind.

Yes. One way to attract customers is to take advantage of opportunities to connect with them. Attending networking events geared toward people in their niche allows life coaches to meet the kinds of clients they want to work with.

Getting the word out is important for any business, especially one that is in its early stages. Placing ads in targeted publications can help life coaches get the exposure they need to boost their business.

Websites, blogs, and social media pages can act as the online face of a life coachs business. Also, this can be an affordable alternative for those who cant pay for other forms of advertising.

Sharing positive feedback from clients can help life coaches gain the trust of prospective customers. Life coaches should ask their regular clients to write a testimonial they can use on their website and in promotional materials.

According to PayScale, the median salary for life coaches is $46,678. However, there is a wide range of what people can earn, with the lowest earners making about $28,000 and the highest earning $92,000. However, coaches are not necessarily locked into these salary figures: Since many coaches are self-employed, theyre able to determine their own hourly rates. As a result, life coaches may charge hourly fees of over $300, depending on their training and level of experience, according to a report by the International Coach Federation. Also, coaches who work with executives can make up to $500 per hour, according to Forbes.

Alabama Mean wage annual: $37,780

Currently Employed: 970

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 9.20%

Alaska Mean wage annual: $60,840

Currently Employed: 330

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 8.20%

Arizona Mean wage annual: $31,750

Currently Employed: 1,530

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 17.80%

Arkansas Mean wage annual: $37,100

Currently Employed: 430

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 12.40%

California Mean wage annual: $35,650

Currently Employed: 13,710

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 16.30%

Colorado Mean wage annual: $50,040

Currently Employed: 1,660

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 29.90%

Connecticut Mean wage annual: $47,950

Currently Employed: 2,050

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 17.00%

Delaware Mean wage annual: $36,440

Currently Employed: 370

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 12.20%

Florida Mean wage annual: $39,790

Currently Employed: 2,340

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 14.30%

Georgia Mean wage annual: $38,960

Currently Employed: 1,090

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 11.70%

Hawaii Mean wage annual: $42,690

Currently Employed: 200

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 12.10%

Idaho Mean wage annual: $38,590

Currently Employed: 1,760

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 24.40%

Illinois Mean wage annual: $36,480

Currently Employed: 3,210

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 9.90%

Indiana Mean wage annual: $39,170

Currently Employed: 1,170

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 16.80%

Iowa Mean wage annual: $36,740

Currently Employed: 2,020

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 13.80%

Kansas Mean wage annual: $31,310

Currently Employed: 700

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 11.80%

Kentucky Mean wage annual: $37,840

Currently Employed: 700

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 12.90%

Louisiana Mean wage annual: $44,360

Currently Employed: 620

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 8.90%

Maine Mean wage annual: N/A

Currently Employed: N/A

Change in Employment (2016-2026): N/A

Maryland Mean wage annual: $42,250

Currently Employed: 2,030

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 32.10%

Massachusetts Mean wage annual: $41,470

Currently Employed: 5,780

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 8.60%

Michigan Mean wage annual: $39,010

Currently Employed: 3,560

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 6.80%

Minnesota Mean wage annual: $40,940

Currently Employed: 3,640

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 9.00%

Mississippi Mean wage annual: $33,020

Currently Employed: 530

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 5.30%

Missouri Mean wage annual: $35,580

Currently Employed: 2,290

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 6.70%

Montana Mean wage annual: $36,120

Currently Employed: 420

Change in Employment (2016-2026): N/A

Nebraska Mean wage annual: $38,910

Currently Employed: 460

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 13.80%

Nevada Mean wage annual: $37,330

Currently Employed: 560

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 25.30%

New Hampshire Mean wage annual: $44,650

Currently Employed: 280

Change in Employment (2016-2026): 12.60%

Read more here:
How to Become a Life Coach: Steps and Advice

Find My Coach

The definition of a life coach is a professional who helps you reach a goal or make a change in your life. They help you to get out of your head and start taking action in the areas of your life that you wish to change. Your online life coach guides you through the process by asking questions that help you evaluate and decide which steps to take in order to reach your goal or make an important change. Then they play the important roles of motivator, strategist and accountability partner. Their goal is to help you reach your goal in the most efficient, effective and rewarding way possible. When you find a life coach, youll learn that they are more than just a counselor or consultant, they step you through the achievement process from the beginning to the end, from the planning stage all the way through the execution stages.

A life coach is a source of motivation and inspiration that gives you the push you need to reach your full potential. You might hire a life coach for similar reasons that you would hire a personal trainer for. You may already be fit, but have specific goals that need more guidance and pushing to in order to accomplish them, or maybe you are overweight or feeling sluggish and know you need motivation and encouragement from outside of yourself to make a significant change.

Life coaches are like personal trainers for your life goals. They have the professional training and mindset that is needed to coach you towards your dream life. They are with you every step of the way, helping you find ways to stay on track and motivated to accomplish those goals and so much more.

Effective strategizing is something a life coach is really good at helping you with. One of the first things they do when they meet with you is to ask specific questions about what you want to accomplish and help re-focus your thinking to make sure youre going about it in an effective and meaningful way.

Part of what a life coach does is help you reach your goals quicker and with less effort. Efficiency is key to keeping momentum up and creating lasting changes. If youre feeling lost in life and want to know how to find yourself again, a life coach can help you get clarity and certainty to find yourself again.

A life coach is someone who will keep you accountable for reaching your goals and making positive changes. They maintain contact and make sure to check in with you throughout the process to make sure you are progressing and keeping your momentum up.

You may tend to rely on friends and family to keep you accountable for what youre trying to do but this can often be a strain on those relationships, or people simply let you down because they just dont know how to be an accountability partner. A life coach will not just let your dream fizzle without saying anything about it. They will hold you accountable to what you said you will do, and because of that you will be more motivated to keep progressing toward your goal in order to show them what you have accomplished.

Ultimately, a life coach will hold you accountable to reaching your personal and professional life goals. They will be there with you every step of the way to help you with strategy as well as encourage and motivate you.A life coach will help you through the road blocks along the way, give you the push you need when youre stuck in a rut, cheer for you when you meet your goals and then challenge you to get out there and conquer even more goals.

Identifying your goals is one of the hardest things you do when youre trying to make a change and get started on something new. A life coach is great at helping you interpret your dreams and ideas, and organize them into tangible goals. In a way, they help you to connect what your head is saying and what your heart is saying to find some agreement between the two that points toward your passions.

Identifying, redirecting and managing goals to make them more realistic are what life coaches do best. You may have an idea of what you want but are having a hard time making it into a solid goal that you can work toward. Or you may think you have a solid goal but then you begin to realize that it isnt what you want or it is less doable than you thought. This is where a life coach comes in and helps you reevaluate those ideas and goals in order to turn them into smart goals that encourage real lifestyle change and forward motion.

A life coach helps you to accomplish your goals, make new changes, and live your dreams. A coach helps you get from where you are in your life now, to where you want to go. In other words, their job is to help you get from Point A to Point B in your life, whatever that may be for you.Your coach is someone who supports you, motivates you, and holds you accountable for achieving your vision for yourself. Whatever it is that you want in your life, they will help you get there.

A life coach helps you to move your life forward and to find meaning, fulfillment, success, well-being and happiness. They can help you to pinpoint the blocks or obstacles that are making you feel stuck and help you to move through them.

They may also guide you through a life transition, such as finding a new career, or looking to start a new relationship. You might call them a change facilitator or a courage catalyst.

You may be searching for validation and approval before you truly feel justified in taking that big first step towards following your dreams or reaching your goals. The advice and feedback from family and friends can be helpful but it isnt professional, and rarely is it unbiased. A life coach is someone who is separate from your personal life and can truly look at your ideas and goals objectively, and therefore they are much more capable of giving you the right validation that you need to get started on making your big move.

When you seek out a life coach, it usually means you need help making a decision. The decision might be which goal to prioritize, what step to take first, or to find out if you should even pursue that goal in the first place.

One of the best things that life coaches do is to equip you with methods and tactics that will help you make the right decisions for yourself and your future. They walk you through these processes regarding whatever you are working towards, and eventually you will start developing that problem solving mindset that they are working on with you. This mindset will start to work its way into your everyday life and change how you make decisions on a daily basis because it simply makes sense.

What Does a Life Coach NotDo?

Coaches usually dont give advice or tell you what to do.They try to help you find what feels right for you by helping you reveal the answers to yourself through discussion, suggestions, brainstorming and reflection.

It is understandable that you may be wondering what the difference is between a life coach and a therapist, but there are quite a few key distinctions that separate the two. Mainly, life coaches do not treat issues like depression, anxiety, or mental illnesses. Its really important to realize that when you sign up for life coaching, you will not be getting a therapist.

A life coach will focus mostly on looking toward your future, rather than dealing primarily with your past.While they may offer you suggestions, new ideas or action steps, they are not advice-givers. Instead, they listen to you and ask you the right questions to help you find your path, your truth, and your answers. Then they help you to align your life with who you are and what you want.

If you come into a life coaching session without having resolved, or at least started to deal with a past issue, it is likely that the life coach will refer you to a therapist or request that you look into this issue more. Life coaches can help you deal with mental blocks but many past issues are beyond their realm of expertise.

Another key difference between life coaches and therapists is their focus. A therapist tends to be more focused on a certain problem you are dealing with and what got you there in the first place. This is why many people go to therapy: to solve a problem or work through an issue.

A life coach on the other hand, is going to be more focused on solutions that get you from point A to point B. You should sign up for life coaching if you want to figure out how to get to where you want to be in life. Although your coach will help you deal with problems along the way, the focus of the coaching sessions will be on finding new ways of acting and thinking that will help you reach your goal.

In fact, the effectiveness of solution-focused approaches to accomplishing goals has been proven to get you closer to those goals, faster.

Among other things, you cannot expect a life coach to be a consultant, athletic coach or best friend. Although life coaches are someone you consult about strategies and goals, they are life specialists not specific specialists like a business consultant or an athletic trainer. They may specialize in certain areas that benefit your performance in these areas, but they are helping you reach your goals, not giving you data on how to grow your business, or how often you need to eat to reach your weight goals.

Life coaches may also seem like a friend at times because they are encouraging, inspiring and fully invested in helping you reach your goals, but this does not make them a friend nor does it replace the importance of having friends.Your life coach may be demanding and hard on you sometimes because it is a goal focused relationship and when you succeed, they succeed.

Simply put, the people who hire life coaches are people that want more. They are people that desire growth in their personal or professional lives (possibly both), and they want that growth to come faster or easier. Anyone in any walk of life can hire a life coach for almost anything they want to improve upon in their lives.

You will find that many businesses have begun giving their employees access to life coaching to help them excel in their professional lives and careers. There are also many very successful business owners, CEOs, and professionals that hire a life coach to help them set goals and stay accountable so that they are able to reach that next level of productivity, efficiency or success.

Many people have begun turning to life coaches to assist them in their personal lives as well. These people can be anyone from students professionals to stay at home moms. Almost everyone has personal goals they want to meet and often, they just need the push that comes with the wisdom and encouragement from a life coach.

In general, people who hire a life coach tend to be people that want the following:

There has been quite a big surge in the popularity of life coaching both in the professional world and in peoples personal lives as well. A simple reason for this is the mere fact that as humans we tend to get stuck in certain places in our lives whether it is due to comfort, fear, ignorance or something else. We all tend to need a push and some guidance to get us moving and heading in the right direction again, and this is exactly what life coaching does.

Life coaching is a very versatile field because there are coaches that can help people and businesses with a wide variety of things. Many coaches specialize in certain areas which can be helpful when youre trying to reach certain goals, but most coaches are trained to help you help yourself by using methods and tactics that work in all kinds of situations, and toward many different purposes.

Where there is a lack of focus and direction in the workplace or in your personal life, a life coach is really good at tackling that problem and helping you re-think and re-evaluate where you are heading. This is a major asset to companies that need motivated and skilled workers because it helps to encourage employees to reach their goals within the company which benefits everybody.

Many companies and individuals have to face a lack of motivation in the workplace which translates into low productivity. Life coaching has been proven to improve work performance by 70%. It is also shown to improve other important factors such as: self-confidence, relationships, communication skills, life/work balance, team effectiveness, time management and more.

You can definitely learn how to reach your goals on your own and maybe you already know how. There are many top performers in the workplace and in life that still hire life coaches. Why is that? Because they want to be more efficient in how they tackle their life goals. Motivated and unmotivated people alike can benefit from the efficiency and expert direction that a life coach can bring to their lives.

Studies have been done on how effective life coaching is and some are based on ROI, some are based on the satisfaction of the client and their willingness to return. Both types of studies have proven the effectiveness of life coaching. Approximately 86% of the companies studied said that they at least made back what they invested in using life and professional coaches. 99% of the companies and individuals who used life coaching were at least satisfied with the experience and 96% said that they would use a life coach again.

Initially and throughout the coaching process, coaches will use an exploratory approach to help you uncover what it is that you want, what it is that is blocking you, as well as why and how youre going about achieving your goals. To help you find your purpose or path in life, as well as your ideal career, coaches may use personality tests or assessments to help you uncover your personality traits, strengths, and alignments.

Offering new perspectives and different ways of looking at a situation to reinterpret the current situation in a new way allows you to make dramatic discoveries in where and why you feel stuck. By exploring how you got stuck and whats behind your frustration, coaches help you to first identify the deeper causes beneath your situation. By guiding you with new approaches and powerful exercises, coaches are able to offer new tools and techniques to help you achieve your goals and find solutions.

By having a life coach echo back what you are saying, you become more mindful of your current belief system and perspective on a situation. Mindful awareness of your current way of thinking sets the stage for adopting new ways of understanding, and new ways of conquering your goals.

By listening without judgment and bringing this awareness to your current life issues, you can see those issues in a whole new light. As a fish doesnt recognize the water that its swimming in, sometimes we too dont recognize the deeper beliefs and assumptions were living under. By offering new ways to look at your situation and revealing new meanings behind it, your coach will often help you find relief and new beginnings in where you currently stand in life, and in relation to your goals.

A big part of the life coaching process is finding out where you are now, where you want to go in life, and finding the best process of getting you there.

A coach helps you to take action in places where youre feeling frozen or stuck. It can be fear or anxiety, uncertainty or stress. Sometimes you just feel lost, and a coach will help you get re-oriented with your goals by helping you to find the right direction to take.

By asking you deep and meaningful questions, a life coach can help you find a vision for yourself and turn it into reality. By doing this and guiding you through the necessary changes and hurdles, they help you reach your potential and find your purpose.

Some people confuse their coach for a friend who is just there to cheer them on, but its best to look at a coach as more of an advocate than a friend. Yes, they are there to encourage and support you, but more importantly, they are there to keep you moving in the right direction. Dont expect them to start applauding when you dont do what youre supposed to do. They are there to push you, challenge you and make sure you extend yourself beyond where you are now.

You can expect a life coach to hold you accountable for doing whats necessary in order for you to make the changes you desire. By having someone make sure you take responsibility, you have to face the excuses that you keep telling yourself and thereby realize that you really do have the ability to make the changes that you need to make.

During the time that you are investing in life coaching, you should be consistently taking action steps in your life toward reaching your goals. Your life coach will keep you motivated by making sure you have a clear purpose, direction, and more importantly that you keep making steady progress. The different techniques and methods they use that help you find the right goal as well as to stay on track will help create the rewards of achievement that you need to keep going. The life coach is directly invested in your success so you can expect to be motivated and mentally fueled up to take on lifes challenges.

Coaches use a variety of different techniques, methods, and processes to help you reach your goals. There are countless different training and educational programs that coaches learn from, so there are many ways they can use to help you succeed.

The first meeting with a life coach usually lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. It is often used as a discovery session where they learn more about you and your aspirations. This may be an initial consultation to see if life coaching is right for you, or it could be a time to figure out what you want to focus on, or it could be both.

In this initial session, the life coach will be asking a lot of questions and probably having you take various tests and going through certain exercises to find out what the best method is to go about conquering your goals. Some of the questions they may ask might include: What are you passionate about?, what do you avoid?, what is holding you back?, where will this get you?, whats another way to look at this situation?, etc.. You should walk away from the first meeting with an initial game plan and an idea of what you will do next or something to explore that will start getting you on track.

Some of the common processes that coaches employ include: visualization, affirmations, hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, meditation, relaxation, emotional freedom technique, finding limiting beliefs, and many others. Sometimes discovering your ultimate intention and clarifying how you want to feel helps to kick-start a new process of realignment.

A coaching session will look slightly different depending on what methods your life coach uses and what stage of coaching youre in. This relationship is dynamic and it will change over time because you will start getting used to how you work best with them, and they will accommodate their methods to fit your strengths as time goes on.

Life coaching sessions will gradually reveal whats holding you back and what exactly you get stuck on so that you can identify and break down the mental and emotional blocks or limiting beliefs that stand in the way of your success and progress. A life coach is great at helping you see whats in your blind spots and getting you to look at things from a different perspective. The importance of this is that you can only truly get this through the help of another person like a life coach who is helping you examine your life and goals. This isnt something you can simply learn from a book and thats why life coaching sessions are extremely valuable.

The outcome of a life coaching session is a feeling of direction and purpose. Instead of those feelings of being lost or constantly frustrated by either not being able to reach your goals, or just disappointment in failing to try, you will feel energized and mobilized. When you are finally able to crack the code on setting doable goals and taking the correct steps to follow through, it is an incredible feeling. Your life coach is there to get you moving as soon as possible so that you begin to feel more confident and productive right away and carry that energy into the rest of your life. The happiness that comes with having a clear vision and actually witnessing yourself achieve your goals is validating, and the best thing that comes out of life coaching sessions.

A life coaching session will generally include a discovery time near the beginning to figure out where you are, what youre doing and what you should do. After that, the sessions will be more about holding you accountable to the steps you should be taking to get where you need to go, and tackling problems that may pop up along the way. A coach is focused on three main things: taking action, staying accountable and following through. These three things guarantee success and will be an integral part of how your coaching sessions are handled.

You may initially be unsure about what your relationship with your coach should look like. The relationship should be based on trust and be something that is constantly challenging you. The ultimate goal for a life coach is not to tell you what to do but to ask you the right questions so that you tell yourself what to do. Then they are responsible for holding you accountable for the decisions you make, and goals you set.

A life coach can be similar to a lot of things like a consultant, advocate, friend, facilitator, navigator, and more but ultimately they are there to get you to take action. The relationship is bound to fail if you expect them to be just a friend who cheers you on, or just a consultant who gives you all of the answers and data you need. They are there to help you succeed so they will push you and challenge you to look at things differently and stay on the right track. This is a relationship that is a partnership. You can trust them to be a non-judgmental party who is looking out for your best interest with no ulterior motive except to see you succeed.

Life coaches can help you inany area of your life including, but not limited to:

The list of things life coaches can help you with is pretty much endless. Since there are so many aspects of life, any area can be worked on. You should ask yourself, What do I want to do with my life? Where do I want to improve myself? Its up to you to decide what you most need help with, or you can find out exactly what it is that has been bothering you, together with the help of a good coach.

You may think youre alone in wanting to improve upon a certain area in your life or reach a certain goal when in reality there are thousands of others who are pursuing change in those exact same areas with the help of a life coach. You might be surprised at how many people are seeking help in some of the same areas you are.

When clientsrequest a coach through Life Coach Spotter, according to our proprietary data, the top reasons they provide are:

Simply put, no. Life coaching in and of itself is not spiritual unless the life coaches themselves are specifically using a spiritual basis for all of their clients. You may have been given the false impression that life coaching involves meditation, prayer and other various spiritual practices, but unless you seek out a professional who specifically uses these practices, you will find that life coaching is more about your thought process than about your spiritual leanings.

There are some incredible spiritual life coaches who you can link up with if you desire a more spiritual approach to reaching your goals. The most important part here is finding the right coach whose beliefs line up with or coexist with your own spiritual beliefs. This way, finding solutions and overcoming obstacles will be much more of a rewarding and effective process. Learn more about spiritual life coaching here.

Want to make a big change in your life? Want to reach a goal? Feeling stuck? Going through a life transition? There are an infinite amount of reasons why people hire a life coach to get them on the right track toward success. You simply have to ask yourself a few questions to evaluate where you are, where you want to be and how you feel about it. This will ultimately help you reveal those burning desires that are truly worth going after and finally doing something about.

For example, you might decide to hire a life coach forANYof the following reasons:

If you feel like youre stuck in the same place and want to start moving in the right direction to accomplish your goals, a life coach would be very helpful. Also, if you feel some kind of mental or emotional block that you cant seem to get past on your own, a life coach will help guide you out of that mental state and into one where you can finally make progress.

If you have a feeling of uncertainty or like youre lost and dont know where to go or what to do to get what you want in life, this is a great opportunity to recruit a life coach to help you find purpose and direction in any area of your life.

If you want to grow, build your confidence, find your happiness or just start making some positive changes in your life, life coaching is a great solution. Feeling like something is missing in your life is a great opportunity to start making changes by transforming your life and your mindset.

Life coaching isNOTright for you if

There are some situations where life coaching is not going to be the right thing for you. If youre in need of therapy or serious counseling for a mental illness or issue in your life, you may want to consider resolving this or at least starting the resolution process with a counselor or therapist before seeking out a life coach.

Also, if you just want to be told what to do, this may not be the solution for you. A life coach is going to guide you and help you make your own decisions rather than get out a step by step play book and tell you exactly what to do.

Finally, you have to be willing to actually carry out the change. Life coaching isnt right for you if you are not able to commit to working on yourself, stretching your thinking and taking action in your life. A life coach expects you to be involved in your solution and you will not gain anything from the experience if you do not want to change.

If you have begun asking the right questions and evaluating what areas in your life need improvement, the decision to hire a life coach will be much easier. Going through the lists above will also help highlight those areas of your life that could use some extra work and a little extra accountability.

If youre ready to make an action plan rather than just explore your various issues, a life coach is definitely a great option for you. If you still have some past issues that you need to deal with or you arent sure that youre quite ready to start making serious changes, you could consult with a life coach to see if you should seek out help with a therapist or counselor first. It is extremely important to be in the right place mentally and emotionally to get the most out of the coaching experience.

Ultimately, life coaching will be worth your time if you are determined to be open to new ideas, tactics and are willing to put in work to implement changes. You dont even need to have a specific goal in mind before you go to a life coach, as long as you know you want more from life they can help you pinpoint whats next for you. A coach will improve your self-awareness, widen your thinking and help you become more focused. They are great people to go to when you want help accessing the talent and motivation you already carry within yourself.

Most life coaches will specialize in certain areas. For instance, some coaches might be more skilled at helping you find or make a career transition, while others might specialize in helping you find a life partner, or finding your true purpose. While there are no limits to what area a life coach can help you in, most of them are more skilled in some areas than others. If possible, it is best to find a life coach who specializes in one of your priority or goal areas.

Many life coaches can help you in multiple areas of your life but many coaches are great for your goals because of their specializations. Here are some of the most common types of life coach specializations that youll have access to:

If you have one clear goal in mind that you need help with, you can find a life coach that has a specialization that is closest to that goal. If you arent so clear on what you want to focus on, you could try a few different methods to finding a life coach. Ultimately, you want to focus on choosing a life coach who feels right for you and that you connect well with. Confidentiality is also key. Whatever coach you choose should keep your sessions private and strictly between the two of you. It will be hard to have a positive coaching relationship if you dont trust them or have good synergy.

One method you could use is to consult with a life coach that either doesnt have a specialization or one that has a specialization that is among your top interests. Make sure to mention to them that you have multiple goals youre going after and they will be able to help you narrow them down or pick one to work on first. They may even be able to refer you to another coach who works more with whatever specialty area you end up choosing.

Another method is to work with multiple life coaches. This could look different depending on how you go about it. If you have two strong goals, you could work with one life coach on one and another life coach on the other one. You can do this at the same time or one after the other depending on what you want to focus on and your time restrictions. You could also find one main coach who helps you with your more general goals and another coach who helps you with a more specific goal that needs their expertise.

Make sure to find the right fit for you. Go with your gut and use your intuition during the selection process. Dont be afraid to consult with a few different coaches because not all of them are going to be what you need.Coaches have different techniques they employ and you will need to feel motivated and inspired by them in order to succeed, so take your time to make this decision.

Life coaching costs will differ depending on quite a few different factors. You may be able to find coaches offering rates as low as $50 per hour and many coaches understand that finances are a struggle and are willing to work with their clients by offering low rates or packages that make payment less of a financial burden.Ultimately it will depend on the length and frequency of your sessions as well as the variety of types of coaching and the pricing differences in certain areas and regions.

If someone could help you make a very significant change in your life, how much would you pay for that? How much is it worth to you to be relieved of feeling unfulfilled, unhappy, and lost? Whats attaining your dreams worth to you?

Some people have been struggling with one issue their whole life. Others still dont know what they really want, but they feel that their current life isnt right. So is that worth a million bucks? Well probably, but most of us dont have that kind of cash laying around. Others would say this is too much or that is too much. $2,500?$5,000?$10,000?

It all depends.

Coaching is no more expensive than good, quality therapy. You can get low-end therapy, low-end dental services, and low-end coaching services. Or you can go for quality. And is it going to deliver something youve always wanted? Then probably a million dollars if you had it would be inexpensive.

A healthy relationship? Love in your life? Healthy balance? Living an incredible, dream life? Financial well-being? The accomplishment of a dream almost forsaken?

Try to put a price on any of those things. Its challenging, perhaps impossible. Thisis the best dollar youll ever spend. This is an investment in yourself; in your life which youll only live once. Putting your money consciously into your own growth and education to me is some of the best ways you can allocate your resources.

Based on a study, the amount of coaching sessions needed will vary greatly based on your specific goals and current situation. It will be up to you and your coach to determine the length of the engagement. You may want to initially sign up for a certain amount of time and then choose to extend later on. Coaches tend to be flexible and willing to work with your schedule and whatever plan works best with your goals.

Coaching sessions will be determined based on a number of different variables such as your schedule, the coachs schedule, the contract length and the needs of your specific goals. The average amount of coaching sessions ends up being around 2-3 per month. Most coaching sessions last around an hour and many coaches offer support and follow up between sessions as well.

Finding a life coach is probably simpler than you think. There are tons of resources available that will help you search for and find life coaches that specialize in your interest areas and are available when you are.

The convenience of finding a life coach is incredible through Life Coach Spotter if you are looking for life coaches that are online and easily accessible. Or you can use search engines and local directories to find life coaches who you can meet with in person. Another way to find the best life coach is through a referral. If you have a friend who has used one and wants to refer you to that person, that is a great way to go. Learn more about finding your life coach here.

Yes! Coaching online is probably one of the easiest ways to find a life coach that is perfect for your needs. You may be unsure of the effectiveness of an online coach but has proven to be just as effective as other methods of coaching. Whats important is the rapport between coach and client, and online simply give you more options for finding the best fit. Although the personal experience may be best for some people, the benefits of hiring an online life coach actually tend to outweigh the benefits of meeting in person.

The convenience of hiring a coach online is apparent because you can meet almost any time and not have to worry about the commute time and scheduling it around other things. You can meet for 30 minutes on your lunch break or take an hour on the weekend no matter where you are to sit down and consult with your life coach.

The options are endless when it comes to online life coaches. Since you dont have to worry about where they are located, you can choose a life coach whose experience and methods work best with you rather than being forced to settle on a coach who is closer in proximity.

You will also find that life coaching online can be significantly more affordable because of the reduced overhead costs. If the life coach doesnt have to have an office or commute, their overhead goes down, and so does the cost that you have to pay to meet with them.

Get Matched

Easy as 1-2-3

Read the original post:
The Complete Guide to Life Coaching - lifecoachspotter.com

A life coach is someone who helps you reach a goal or make a change in your life.

How Will a Life Coach Help Me?

How Will a Life Coach Change My Life?

Find Your True Path & Reach Your Goals

Learn More, Improve Your Life

Quiz: Do You Need a Life Coach?Get Your Results in Under a Minute

Get Matched From Over 300+ Certified Life Coaches

Our coaches are certified professionals who have been screened and tested. We personally hand-pick each of our coaches to make sure they have the proper training, education, and experience.

Happiness Coach

Career Coach

Relationship Coach

Achievement Coach

Motivation Coach

Confidence Coach

Purpose Coach

Fulfillment Coach

Get Matched

Easy as 1-2-3

Get your Free Consultations

Transform your Life

Free Consultation Totally Confidential Easy to Get Started

-CJ Lemky, CEO at ProfitPilot, Calgary, CA

-Debbie Green, Operations Manager at Fedex, Los Angeles, CA

-Aric Jackson, Award-Winning Speaker and 5-Time Published Author, Atlanta, GA

-Charlotte Keys, Accountant at Herrs Foods, Clemmons, NC

-David McEwen, student at Alvernia University, PA

-Sara Hampson, Senior Business Analyst, Toronto, CA

-Joe Kinder, Alarm System Salesman, University Heights, CA

-Maddie Wise, Student at the University of Kansas, Mulvane, KS

Our Coaches Have Been Certified By

See the rest here:
Life Coach Spotter

Private Life Coaching Sessions

Life coaches assist anyone in achieving life-improving goals such as balancing work, personal and family lives, turning your creativity into a positive lifestyle, or discovering and following the path to making a real difference with your life.

Individual, Couples, and Family Life Coaching

$89.00 per session

*Packages Available

What is life coaching?

The life coaching process is the only human improvement process that focuses completely on YOU! Life coaches are equal partners who assist you to improve and grow as a person who achieves their goals. Life coaches turn you into a World Leading Expert on YOU! Coaches also assist you in executing the actions necessary in achieving your goals. You have virtual control over the results you achieve through coaching, because you set the coaching goals, and the coaching process assures you achieve them.

Why see a life coach?

By making an appointment with a coach, youre committing to achieving your personal, spiritual, family, and business goals much more effectively, more efficiently, and more completely. Life coaches assist you in: overcoming obstacles and fears, focusing on solutions, bouncing off ideas, and discovering truths about yourself. In addition, they facilitate helping you accomplish more than you thought possible and achieve balance in your personal, work, and family lives. Your coach will help you tap into your greatest potential, becoming the person you always wanted to be and are capable of becoming.

How does life coaching work for you?

Your coach will focus his or her full energy and attention on you achieving your goals. Your coach serves as the totally objective, nonjudgmental, supportive mirror into whom you really are and what you really want to do. Your coach will provide life options, new perspectives, encouragement, and concentrated attention giving you the insight, and confidence, to take life-improving actions towards your goals. They assist in identifying your self-imposed obstacles and further guide you towards overcoming them to reaching your goals.

How to maximize the rewards you receive through life coaching.

The life coaching process works exceptionally well at improving your life, business, relationships, and work. But like anything else, life coaching works best under the right conditions.

How will you know when it is time to stop coaching?

You can stop coaching after achieving your coaching goals. However, many people continue the coaching process to achieve new, loftier goals or as maintenance.

Why is life coaching valuable?

The value of the goals you achieve greatly exceeds the cost of coaching. You set your coaching goals most valuable and important to you.

There are also other, hidden benefits of coaching frequently worth more than the value of the goals achieved. The benefits from improving as a person are priceless such as reducing or eliminating your life stresses, improving your attitude about life, improving your relationships with others, etc.

How will you know if you have coachable goals?

A coachable goal is a future you envision for yourself which requires personal growth or improvement to reach. Coachable goals always involve moving forward in your life and refrain from reviewing past events.

Some examples of coachable goals are:

Discover and obtain your Ideal Income Position,

Transform your relationships; let go of anger issues

Overcome living your life with chronic stress,

Become a more Productive and Successful Business Owner,

and much, much more!

You have total control over your degree of readiness to reap full rewards from coaching. You determine the degree of your readiness when you positively answer the following questions:

1. How committed are you to achieving your goal(s)?

2. How willingly do you accept new perspectives?

3. Are you willing to invest something of value in yourself?

4. How committed are you to follow the actions you and your coach uncover to achieve your goal(s)

What is the Gift of Coaching?

Coaches have the Gift of Coaching when they naturally care more about others than themselves. Coaches with the gift place the success of their clients first and completely, because their ego, their intuition, their passions, and their personal values revolve around assisting others.

How long do coaching sessions last?

Your coaching sessions lastapproximately 45-60 minutes.

What are the different types of life coaching?

The life coaching profession encompasses a whole array of different types of specialized coaching. The specific titles signify the different fields of life in which coaches concentrate. However, the coaching done under each label can and does frequently crossover from one field to another. Some of the more recognizable specialties of life coaching are shown below.

Original post:
Life Coaching | Serenity Health & Wellness Center

Last Updated on February 14, 2019

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of being. John Wooden

What good is life coaching? Why do I need someone to tell me how to live my life? How would listening to someone else talk about what they think I should do really help me? Am I not capable of being my best self on my own?

These are some of the questions that many people have been asking themselves and has contributed to a misunderstanding of what life coaching is, how it works, and how it can help people find out what drives them and apply it to create a better and more fulfilling life.

If this description of life coaching sounds like it could benefit just about anybody, its because it can. Life coaching is not therapy or counseling, which pairs a mental health professional with a client who may be struggling with an illness or disability.

Its not mentorship, in which a professional is paired with a more experienced professional. Life coaching is also distinct from a training relationship, where a teacher or trainer agrees to share their knowledge or skills with a client for a short period of time.

Life coaching can help fill in the gaps in our master plans and clarify the path from where we are to where we want to be. It is a partnership between the life coach and the client designed to help the client explore their options, focus on their goals, and create a personalized action plan.

Life coaches do not give their clients a list of boxes to tick or a strict set of steps to follow, rather they aim to help their clients discover their own motives and goals, and aid them in finding the best path towards them.

The Positive Psychology Toolkit

Become a Science-Based Practitioner!

The Positive Psychology toolkit is a science-based, online platform containing 135+ exercises, activities, interventions, questionnaires, assessments and scales.

Life coaching is not for the faint-hearted.

Its a career path that allows you to put your skills to use helping others, facilitating their personal and professional growth. The range of problems, challenges, and goals that clients bring to coaches is so vast, it would take an entire article just to list them all.

With such a broad range of practice, there are many skills and tools that a life coach must have in order to be successful. In this piece, we provide 40 exercises, tools, and tips for effective life coaching, plus links to other resources that may prove useful.

Read on to see if there are any exercises or tools that you can apply to your practice!

Coaching is unlocking a persons potential to maximize their own performance. Its helping them to learn rather than teaching them. Timothy Gallwey

There are numerous tools in the life coachs toolbox, and each life coach will likely have their own tools, exercises, and methods. However, there are some tools that have so much potential, they would be at home in almost any coachs practice.

One of the life coachs most valuable and versatile tools is the Wheel of Life. Its a simple and easy-to-use exercise that can help clients find out which areas of their lives are most satisfying and where they would like to focus attention on improving their quality of life (The Coaching Tools Company, 2012).

There are only two steps to this exercise:

1) Review the 8 categories on the wheel and think about what would represent a satisfying life in each area:

2) Draw a line across each segment that best represents the current level of satisfaction, with the center of the wheel equal to 0 and the edge of the wheel equal to 10, the maximum level of satisfaction.

The end result looks a bit like a spider web and can give your client a general idea of their overall life satisfaction in relation to their desired life satisfaction.

You can find the Wheel of Life exercise and download a copy for yourself here. For more information on how you can use the Wheel of Life, check out this article.

One of the many ways that we tend to get off track or bogged down while striving towards our goals relates to our spheres of influence. The idea behind the spheres of influence tool is that there are three distinct areas we can sort the comings and goings of life into:

While we may feel like there is nothing under our control at times, there is always at least one thing we have direct control over ourselves. Even when we are under enormous pressure or when we feel trapped, we always have at least some level of control over our attitude and our behavior.

The second area is that of factors we can influence. We do not have direct control over these factors, but we can put our effort into pushing them in the right direction. For instance, while we cannot control others attitudes or behavior, we can offer them advice, guidance, or provide evidence to help them make good decisions.

The final area is things that we have no control or influence over. This is the largest area since the majority of what happens around us is not under our direct control. A good life coach will help his or her clients to recognize and accept that there is much we cannot control, but will also help them to find opportunities to effect change through taking control or influencing that which is within their reach.

Life coaches can walk their clients through the spheres, helping them identify what is within their control, what is in their sphere of influence, and what cannot be controlled. To read more about this tool, plus learn how clients can apply the lessons learned to their work, click here.

Keeping a journal can be useful for many different reasons, including as a life coaching exercise. Daily journaling facilitates reflection and can spark useful brainstorming about how to better strive toward your goals. Coaches can help ensure that their clients journaling is helpful by providing some guidance.

To guide your client in effective journaling, use can use the handy JOURNAL acronym (Coach Federation, 2013):

To learn more about the JOURNAL acronym, check out this blog.

The action brainstorming worksheet can help clients get out of a rut or a sticky situation.

This easy to use tool is only one page long, with a table that is split into five columns. The instructions are to think of actions or behaviors that you frequently engage in or would like to engage in, and direct them into the appropriate column.

This easy-to-use, one-page tool can be viewed and downloaded here.

The Understanding Our Goals worksheet is intended to help clients figure out whether their goals are worth their time and energy, or to help them prioritize their goals in terms of utility.

This worksheet invites readers to identify their top three current goals and asks a series of questions to help them learn about why each goal is important to them and what they are hoping to gain. These questions begin with the simple Why do you want this goal? What does it give you? and essentially repeat several times to help the reader drill down into what they are really hoping to achieve.

After answering these questions four times, the final question for each goal is What will this goal help you feel? Once the reader has reached the heart of the goal, answering this question should be easy.

As an example, take the goal of losing 20 pounds.

An answer to the first question may be To look and feel better.

The answer to the second repetition could be something like Achieving this goal will allow me to take pride in my body.

The third iteration may elicit a response like Taking pride in my body will help me feel better about myself overall.

The fourth question may then be answered with Feeling better about myself overall will help me to tackle my other goals and improve my quality of life.

Finally, the answer to the ultimate question, What will this goal help you feel? might be something like Confident, proud of myself, and motivated to pursue all of my other goals.

To see the worksheet for yourself or to download a copy for your clients, follow this link.

The coaching website from Kristin Houser (www.mshouser.com) is an excellent resource for instructional coaches, but the tools and tips are not limited to one kind of coach they can be adapted or modified to apply to all forms of coaching.

Here are some of her tools and processes for coaching, from beginning to end (Houser, Instructional Coaching Tools):

This is a great way to begin a coaching relationship, as it gets both parties up to speed on what the coach can offer and what the client is hoping to work on.

Questions to be answered at the kick-off meeting include Whats going well? and What are they struggling with? This is also where the coach and client can set up a schedule and agree on a way to keep in touch and track progress on goals.

The coaching work plan tool includes space for identifying the client, the coaching goal, brainstorming ways to support the goal(s), how you will track progress, and any other notes. As you work through the coaching process, you can also note the progress that has been made and how you can support the client moving forward.

This tool is an excellent way for coaches to stay organized and devote as much time as possible to working with their clients.

This tool is geared towards teacher coaches, but it can be used with any client who a coach has the opportunity to observe in action. It provides space to take notes on what the coach observes when sitting in on a class or other client-led activity.

After the observation has ended, there are prompts to review the next steps and ask any clarifying questions, as well as discussion prompts for the coach and client to go over together. Finally, it ends with space for identifying the next steps.

These tools can help many coaches with many different kinds of clients, ensuring that the coach stays organized and on top of their coaching duties.

For more instructional coaching tools, there is an excellent resource page from http://www.instructionalcoaching.com that you can access here. You will find teaching tools, forms, and exercises that can take coaching from effective to highly impactful.

Coaches know that to make a change, you need to first assess your current state. Assessment tools are a great way to do this, and there are dozens if not hundreds of different assessments in disparate areas that can help.

No matter the area of life that a client is committed to improving, there is probably an assessment that can help them get started!

Here, we go over four essential areas that coaches often help their clients understand, improve, or maximize (Stinnett, 2011):

These areas are identified in the context of leadership coaching, but we find that they are extremely relevant for life coaching as well. What is the intention of life coaching, if not to help the client take leadership of their own life?

Leadership is a common area that coaches are called in to assess and improve. Whether its leadership in the boardroom, in a work team, or in ones own personal life, leadership skills are an excellent resource to have in your toolbox.

These are some of the most popular leadership assessment tools.

The Leadership Competency Inventory measures leadership skills as a function of four leadership dimensions:

This assessment is composed of 46 items gauging the degree to which the user has demonstrated certain behaviors. If the client is interested in getting a more holistic view of their leadership skills and abilities, they can have their colleagues, subordinates, or even friends respond to these items as well.

To learn more about the Leadership Competency Inventory, click here.

This assessment from developers Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard helps the client figure out their leadership style and generates scores in four leadership areas:

The quadrant in which the client has the highest score is considered their dominant style, while the next highest score or scores represent their fallback style or the style they can use when their dominant style is not appropriate or effective.

This assessment is most useful for those who must practice active leadership in their work, but it can help those who may someday take on a more leading role to learn and prepare for that future.

You can download the assessment and try it for yourself or your clients here.

This questionnaire is similar to the previous assessment, in that it divides leadership style into four quadrants. However, this assessment replaces the Supports quadrant with Facilitating.

The different styles can be briefly described as follows:

Directing

A leader high in the Directing style likely provides detailed instructions, specific goals, and works closely with staff.

Coaching

A coaching leader likes to motivate and encourage staff, both praising their success and providing feedback for them to improve.

Facilitating

A facilitating leader involves staff in the decision-making process, listens to their comments and concerns, and is likely to have an open-door policy.

Delegating

A leader high in Delegating provides less detail than a directing leader, and expects staff to find their own way in navigating their goals and objectives.

Like the LEAD, this assessment can be a useful tool for leaders and future leaders to think about their own personal style. This questionnaire can be accessed by anyone through SurveyMonkey at this link.

Personality assessments are very common in all types of coaching, as well as the classroom, a therapists office, and in guidance counseling.

While there is no personality assessment that can tell you exactly who you are and what is most important to you, the results from these assessments can be an excellent guide to learning more about yourself and making sure your goals line up with your priorities.

A few of the most popular personality assessments are described below.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator , or MBTI , is perhaps the most well-known personality inventory. It narrows down the test takers personality based on four bipolar dimensions:

Individuals can fall anywhere along the spectrum between the two poles, but they will always be a bit closer to one than the other. This results in 16 possible personality types, all with their own unique characteristics.

This tool has been put to good use in the corporate world as well as in schools and universities. The idea is that when you know more about your distinct preferences, you can learn how to put them to best use. Your results are not a crystal ball in which you can see your life plan, but they can be a useful resource when building an outline of your future goals.

You can learn more about the MBTI or complete the assessment here.

The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths, or VIA-IS, is another popular assessment tool. This is slightly different from the MBTI in that it focuses on values instead of traits or preferences. It still provides a window into understanding your personality, but it focuses on your strengths instead of neutral factors.

There are 24 character strengths, divided into 6 categories:

Continue reading here:
Your Ultimate Life Coaching Tools Library 2019 (+PDF ...