My Journey to Coaching Certification

This is a good question and one that I am working to define in a clear and concise manner. See if this explains it for you.

Coaching is a client focused support service.

Coaching is a partnership.

Coaching is an action oriented process of active listening and asking leading open ended questions to help the client to discover what they are seeking support in.

A coach does not solve problems for the client but instead creates a supportive, safe, confidential haven without judgment that allows the client the freedom to seek their own solutions.

Do you think you need a coach? Not sure? Allow me to ask you a few questions.

Do you need a sounding board just to allow you to hear yourself? A coach will listen and repeat what it is you are saying so that you can hear what it sounds like.

Do you have a goal you are trying to reach but not sure how to reach it? A coach can help you set priorities and provide an action plan to get you there.

Do you feel isolated and think no one else is going through the same situation? A coach will reassure you and help you to find your way all while supporting you confidentially.

Do you think your ideas are to BIG? A coach doesn't and will allow you to explore those ideas.

Are you at a fork in the road and don't know which way to go? A coach will ask you the right questions to help you decide which path to take.

Are you trying to put the puzzle pieces together to make it all work but you're too overwhelmed to see the big picture? A coach will walk with you, help you break the task down into baby steps and encourage you through the process all while supporting your effort allowing you to explore your options and keeping you on the right track.

Now do you think you need a coach? If any of these scenarios describe you then you may want to consider checking into hiring a coach.

A good coach will lead you in the right direction. Coaches have a servant's heart and want to help their clients move forward.

You can begin exploring more about coaches by visiting Coaching Cognition, a true community of givers to begin your search for the right coach on your journey of finding the answers you seek.

picture credit: fotosearch

So why did I decide to become a coach? Wasn't a coach someone who trains you to perform better in sports?

Well that's what I thought.

Isn't a coach a counselor?

I had no idea what coaching was.

I had friends that would seek me out to talk about their situations and I'm always glad to help others, but it's hard to admit when you need help yourself and even harder to open up if you don't think you are going to be listened to.

I was feeling burnt out and needed to transition to something new. I was feeling isolated and in a rut with myself.

I have had a vision of a life's ministry for sometime but wasn't quite clear what it looked like. Up to now my main ministry, passion and focus has been raising my children. That was my life's work and I feel I am living my life's dream as a work from home mom.

But when my son began high school, it hit me that my kids are growing older and my life was in the early stages of a new season.

I began feeling the tug of them becoming more independent and needing mom less, which is what a parent wants for their children. So I do feel the bittersweet success of accomplishing this goal.

But I didn't want to be blind that I would be hitting a stage of empty nesting, there will be a void and that realization hit me hard.

I knew I had to do something to begin substituting these voids that would be creeping in and I didn't want to be caught off guard. So I set a path for myself to begin slowly working to transition into my next phase of life.

Life is full of writing new pages to your story. One chapter is coming to a close in mine, not tomorrow and not next week but with as fast as time flies it will be here in a blink of an eye and I needed to begin finding what the next chapter will hold.

When I read a book series, I am not very patient to wait for the next sequel to come out, and I wanted a head start on mine next sequel.

Self evaluation has been my process for taking stock in what I am about.

My core values of my faith and my family. I have a servant's heart, a teacher's heart and a compassion for people. But how was I going to collaborate all of this? I wasn't completely clear.

So fast forward to Jan 2011, I had been taking on-line marketing classes from Marketing Merge to help keep me home and this community was expanding into other areas of teaching.

A new coaching session was beginning and I was impressed with this group of educators and leaders. This community sends a Christian theme of giving to other's first. So I was intrigued with what they had to say about these coaching classes.

I'm looking for something new and when an opportunity presents itself I listen to see if it fits me. I try to keep an open mind, forming my own judgments.

As the course was shared, I heard them explaining that this new growing profession of coaching was an action oriented process of learning how to listen and ask the right questions.

By learning these skills it would allow the coach to effectively help others (their clients) find solutions through what was within the client. The coach does not solve their problems but instead allows the client freedom to seek their own solutions within a supportive, safe, confidential haven without judgment.

This resonated with my approach of helping others. Now hopefully without sounding greedy here, the prospect of being paid to use my skills and gifts while helping others intrigued me.

When the light bulb went off what this course was and what it could mean for me, it connected the dots back to the seed planted in me in 2009. The ministry of listening is what bubbled to the surface.

Feeling I had reached a point that I desperately needed a support group and the sense that this skill was the next step to improve my own communication, I decided to move forward. The support from my husband made it unanimous and I registered for class.

The first level of certification has been completed and with it came an overwhelming wave of growth, support, clarity and direction in my life and this coaching community has become the 'family' of support I needed.

I can now officially place the "open" sign in my window.

I am currently working to set up my plan and profile to begin accepting clients.

I will be continuing my coaching studies to reach higher levels of certification in coaching but for now I feel a need to exercise what I have learned, begin establishing my new skills and allow this profession to pay for the rest of my education.

All while incorporating my coaching in my other pursuits of interest to help substitute the void once my children are full grown and off on their own.

This is just the first stop to getting me there.

I invite you to contact me if you would like to find out more information as to how I can help you. I offer a free 15 minute session to see if we are a good match to helping you. There is never any obligation. Click the 'ladybug' in upper right hand corner and then click the 'contact' button. I'll be glad to chat.