As a personal trainer and weight loss coach, Kate Fairbairn has always felt there was a missing piece that continually gets in the way of her clients' success.
"I just felt like I didn't have the whole package," says the Fitness Pointe trainer. "I knew from my own experience that you need more than just the physical activity. You need stress reduction. You need healthy eating. You need a healthy lifestyle. You need to have fulfillment in your life with purpose."
All these components of wellness, she says, are like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. If one of the spokes is bent or broken, your travels will always be a bit rocky.
To better serve her clients, Fairbairn obtained a certification in wellness coaching from The Spencer Institute and intends to create a structured program around it. In the mean time, she incorporates it with her fitness clients, helping them achieve permanent lifestyle change by guiding them through a process of self-discovery.
Athletic coaches bring out the best in their team members, weight loss coaches and personal trainers push clients to achieve better health, but what about someone who has a dream they're not realizing; someone who is immersed in breakdown, confusion or indecision and can't seem to find the clarity to get out of the rut they are in; someone who needs to take it to next level or switch domains career-wise and can't seem to get a handle on how to go about it?
These are some examples of individuals who might benefit from life coaching, a roughly 15-year-old profession dedicated to "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential," as defined by The International Coach Federation (ICF), the leading global organization dedicated to the coaching profession. ICF has more than 15,700 members in more than 90 countries and provides three levels of coaching expertise. The global credential is held by more than 5,700 coaches worldwide.
Janet Harvey, a master certified coach and board member of the ICF, is partner and CEO of Invite Change, a coach training and certification company based in Washington. She says coaching is much different than counseling or therapy. In coaching, the client holds the answers and is responsible for their own learning and results, being driven by the coach who facilitates an eye-opening process of self-discovery.
Seeing ourselves as "whole, resourceful, creative and capable" individuals, she says coaching helps us discover ourselves, revealing a new set of beliefs, assumptions and expectations on which to forge a new path.
"In coaching, we are in a partnership with clients to help them discover what might be invisible because it's such an ingrained reactive habit, sort of like the goldfish in water doesn't know it swims in water," she says.
Equating our struggles to a fire alarm ringing, drowning out our ability to think clearly and causing a frenzied reaction, Harvey says coaching can help us be less reactionary.
"We can't even hear ourselves because we are so caught up in the emotionality of the situation," she says, "and we can have a mirror held up so we an see our strength again and where our resources might be and have a place we can experiment with ideas and possibilities for how we might approach the situation differently."
She describes a life coach as a partner in a creative process.
"We know all the things we've done in the past and we're really trying to create something else but it's brand new to us so we don't really know where to begin," she says. "The coach can help us take inventory of who we are and look at new possibilities."
Invite Change reports that clients hire coaches for the following reasons: self-esteem/self-confidence, work/life balance, career opportunities, business management, relationships, work performance, interpersonal skills, communication skills, wellness and team effectiveness.
How to find a good coach
Life coaching, though gaining recognition as a valuable service, remains an unregulated profession, meaning, there is no regulatory body providing oversight and rules for those calling themselves coaches.
That said, Harvey says it's important to ask some important questions when searching for the right life coach, such as where the coach was trained and whether they've been accredited by a reputable organization such as ICF which abides by a code of ethics and standard of conduct.
She also advises asking the prospective coach some tough questions to ensure the two of you have good chemistry as the process can be an emotional one.
What can I expect? What will happen in the sessions?
Coaching is not for the faint of heart, as Harvey says. Before coaching begins, you'll be asked to do some serious thinking. Some activities to get the ball rolling might include some homework like looking into your values and describing in detail how you feel about a lot of things.
Her typical coaching contract, similar to that of other ICF coaches, involves a three-month commitment of eight hours, mostly phone conversations in which coach and client review the client's self analysis, formulate goals, determine obstacles to be overcome and create measures of success. Harvey says 85 percent of her coaching is done via phone.
Invite Change says ICF credentialed coaches' fees can vary from between about $144 and $279 per hour.
Don't take our word for it
Nancy Feldman, a clinical therapist who practices in Munster and Merrillville, sees the value of life coaching. Also a successful business co-owner, she has learned much about the craft through the many seminars she's attended while earning her master of social work degree.
She describes these seminars as some of the most motivating, energizing and inspiring talks she's witnessed, helping her to take her career to hew heights.
"It channels you in a direction that is different than where you are today," she says.
In fact, the direction she now envisions for herself, a road she plans to take this year, is to become a life coach herself, certified and educated only through the most established and reputable life coaching organizations.
"I want to help people get to their vision. I think that's basically what life coaching is all about -- opening up opportunity and helping you walk through the door. That's' what I hope that I can do when I'm done."
Sharon Ruane, an artist from Dyer, has been going to the health club for 10 years with minimal results. Finally, at age 60, she says she is just getting started on a permanent path to wellness thanks in large part to Fairbairn. She credits her Fitness Pointe personal trainer and wellness coach for acting much like a tow truck, assisting her in finally getting out of the rut she's been stuck in.
The key, she explains, is that Fairbairn does more than just escort her from machine to machine while she goes through her fitness routine, Rather, she acts as a mentor, motivator, cheerleader and guide.
For instance, by asking some specific probing questions, Fairbairn has helped Ruane uncover some obstacles that have been standing in her way, such as stress and emotional eating, and helped her discover ways to cope.
"The biggest thing that has happened for me is that she is absolutely sure that I am on the way to health and fitness," Ruane says. "She believes that I can do this and I believe it too for the first time in my life. I've never believed it."
For more information on becoming a life coach or hiring one:
