Brian Duggan, author of Coaching From the Inside Out: A Personal Approach to Coaching For Change, poses for a photo at his Halifax home on Thursday, February 6, 2020. - Ryan Taplin

In one form or another, Brian Duggan has been coaching all his working life whether as a priest, a counselling therapist, an educator or now, a certified coach.

Coaching is about unconditionally helping the client understand themselves better. It is helping the person understand the expertise about themselves, he said during a recent interview, adding: If coaching is about helping people move forward and make a difference in the world that has to come from within.

Working from within is what led Duggan, a Halifax-based executive coach, to write his first book, Coaching From the Inside Out: A Personal Approach to Coaching For Change. He calls on coaches, like himself, and anyone else who reads the book - to go on an inner journey of self-discovery. This process, he believes, pushes people to figure out what is holding them back in their lives and find ways to live more fully in the present moment so they can better help others.

I find that when I become free enough to risk letting things happen rather than controlling to make things happen means that real change happens. With clients, I like to believe that I am there to set the stage and then get out of the way, he writes in his book.

In his private practice, Duggan starts from the premise that his clients are the experts in their lives, and his job as a professional coach is to act as their guide. By listening and asking the right questions, he wants people to answer their own questions. Often, they come to him seeking a promotion at work. They want advice on how to make that happen. Instead of looking at the external factors that might affect a career move, Duggan starts by asking: What do you have within yourself that will make you a good leader? He guides the discussion inward and asks the person sitting in front of him to identify their own strengths. He then helps to initiate the work that can be done to build on those strengths.

Dont aspire to something outside yourself, he said.

Duggan draws a clear distinction between mentoring, teaching, counselling and coaching. Coaching is based on the expertise of the client, while the others are based on the expertise of the professional, he said.

Coaching is about a person engaging with another person (coach and client) to make change possible for the client and their world, he writes in his book. Coaching is a way to link the personal with the social and is a process of moving from question to action. It starts with the coach growing in self-awareness and becoming free to support the client to grow in their self-awareness.

A self-described, life-long learner, who earned his master of theology degree from the Atlantic School of Theology, Duggan hoped that by writing his book and sharing his journey of self-discovery he could help other coaches or those wanting to enter the profession. In the Halifax area alone, there are upwards of 50 coaches who are accredited, like him, through the International Coach Federation, the professions self-regulating body, he said.

After self-publishing his book, through Tellwell Talent, and getting feedback from readers, he learned that not only coaches could benefit from it. Managers, church leaders and anyone else playing a coaching role in their job or life might find it useful, he said.

One of the essential tools he talks about is self-care. Being a good coach requires being able to care for yourself, he said. For Duggan, one his most valuable daily practices: a three-minute morning contemplation. During that quiet time, he contemplates the upcoming day and centres himself for his clients.

Duggan didnt set out to become a coach, but his life choices naturally led him there. After being ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church in 1983, he worked in several Halifax churches and with Saint Marys University and Dalhousie University before deciding to leave the ministry in 1995.

I couldnt see a future for myself there, he said. It was about me.

As a priest he received training in counselling, therapy and pastoral care and developed strong listening skills, as well as empathy. Formal coaching seemed like a natural fit.

I had to forge my own way. There was no job for me at that time, he said.

He went into private practice and since then has received training in executive and advanced coaching practices from Royal Roads University and the International Coach Federation.

Seeking the help of a coach typically isnt a one-shot deal. Duggans clients usually see him bi-weekly for an hour appointment for between three and six months enough time to explore the areas where they feel they need to change, he said.

Coaching provides an opportunity for people to get unstuck, he said. Its just about where we are at; getting from where we find ourselves - that we might not like - to another place that we might feel better about and feeling good about the contribution we are making.

Duggans book is available through Indigo, Amazon and his website: http://www.brianduggancoach.com

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THE BOOK SHELF: Expert urges coaches to start with an inner journey - The Journal Pioneer