While all clients are unique, there are certain types of clients you will come across in terms of what they want from life coaching. Some think they know exactly what their problem is while others just want to get better. Neither is better than the other.

In this session, I'll be talking about the typical problems that are presented to life coaches. There are a variety of issues you can help clients with. Remember they might describe it in a way that’s different to what you are used to so be ready to interpret their experience.

Your client’s goal will determine what the rest of your sessions together involve. Actually working towards a goal can be hard from some clients as change is scary but most clients can be helped through these kinds of defence mechanisms.

Life coaching sessions are not a political battleground. Clients should be able to speak freely with you. You can point out if something makes you uncomfortable. Clients could be experiencing discrimination themselves that they need to talk through.

To protect your clients, you need to be aware of your prejudices so you can actively challenge them. You could also not work with clients who you think you would treat differently.

These exercises cover a couple of things. You should be thinking about how you could help people with physical conditions and how you would approach potentially discriminatory situations.

There are different types of life coaching to suit the needs and preferences of the client. Rapid intervention is what life coaching is well known for. It does have its benefits but it won’t work for everyone.

Often rapid intervention works best when the client is in a time of crisis. They will be motivated to change and be having realisations about what they want from life. Some kind of support network for the future does need to be built though.

The holistic approach to life coaching takes things slower. Clients are given time to adapt to change and talk through any underlying issues. The aim is to create a change that is long lasting.

During the life coaching journey clients will go through different stages that can be compared to the seasons changing. Change takes time particularly if the state of crisis has been hiding underlying issues.

There is no right answer to whether holistic or rapid intervention is better. It depends on the client’s preferences and needs. You might find that a client wants rapid intervention over holistic which can cause problems.

This exercise will show you whether you prefer holistic or rapid intervention. You need to provide your clients with what is best for them but you could advertise your services to focus on one or the other.

This second exercise is about the ethics around using rapid intervention with a client when you can tell they have deeper issues. There is no right answer with ethics.

People often see Life Coaching in an inaccurate way which leads to coaches and students that don’t hit the mark. We need to uphold standards and not use Life Coaching as an ego boost or quick way to be a therapist.

Life Coaching can seem like an appealing change in career for many professionals. However, they often make the mistake of thinking that they can just use their skills from their last job. This is not the case.

Some skills transfer well between other professions and Life Coaching but this is not the case for all skills. People should become life coaches for the right reasons, not because they think it's easy or so they can work through their own problems.

We are discussing more of the harmful mindsets some people have about becoming a Life Coach. They see it as a way to help themselves instead of focusing on helping other people.

There are lots of misconceptions around about what Life Coaching involves. You need to be aware of them so you don’t have them yourself and are prepared to deal with clients who might have them.

You are not an expert in everything. Your clients might need specific advice and you can direct them towards an appropriate professional. It makes it much easier to have a variety of contacts easy to access for these situations.

Our exercise for this section allows you to think about what makes a good life coach. This depends on the person answering so we are going to look at different perspectives.

Lots of elements contribute to our overall happiness. That is what the levels of life model explains. Clients need to find satisfaction and fulfillment in multiple areas to be content.

Sometimes we need to put ourselves first. That is what positive selfishness is all about. Going to extremes to please other people and not look after yourself is unhealthy.

Positive selfishness allows for much healthier relationships. Feeling obligated to do something builds resentment and seeps into other areas of the relationships. Anything done for others should be done willingly.

Another way unhealthy relationships can form is through the transactional model of people relating to each other. A parent-adult dynamic between two adults is not appropriate.

The reason we need to experience various areas of life is because they all offer different benefits. We need to experience more than one good thing to be happy. Putting all our effort into one tends to build resentment.

It is easy for the areas of life to get out of balance. This could be through focusing on one too much or an area not being as enjoyable anymore. You should also consider the amount of people clients are having these experiences with.

You can usually tell if a client is experiencing an imbalance in their areas of life through what they say. This can be solved depending on whether the client didn’t realise the imbalance was happening or whether it was caused by some kind of pain.

Our life experience has taught us to believe certain things including what we think we should want. But that isn’t always what we really want so we can’t be happy with it. Imposed beliefs need to be left behind.

Now you might be wondering how you identify imposed judgments if clients don’t always know they have them. There are two specific techniques for spotting imposed judgments.

Some imposed judgements are still useful to clients but others need to be questioned because they are holding the client back. Identifying the source of judgements that have been internalised can be really useful.

Our end of section exercise this time is all about imposed judgements in the form of should statements. This is one way you can help clients identify and challenge imposed judgements that are no longer helpful.

Thought forms are structured ways to work through problems and the client’s feelings around them. Then they can come up with better solutions compared to the way they were dealing with it before.

Using Thought Forms will benefit your clients in various ways. It empowers them to change their life but you need to be alongside them to support them. They might face defence mechanisms that they need help with.

It’s defence mechanisms that stop clients from changing and making progress. These can be overcome by looking at the facts of what is logical and beneficial. That’s what clients should focus on.

The mind will continue to try to stunt progress even when short term fears are dealt with. Long-term consequences are harder to predict so harder to disprove but it can be done through logical thinking.

One way clients can find evidence is through surveys. It is a great way to show clients that they are not alone with their problems and they can learn to cope with it. Do take precautions though.

Sometimes we need to use autopilot to get on with our day. Other times autopilot becomes a nuisance because it is leading to defence mechanism behaviours. Clients need to be more aware of their responses.

It's really easy to get into the habit of only focusing on the bad. Clients should try to refocus what they are concentrating on so their feelings are more positive. Negative emotions can pass them by.

Clients have to learn how to refocus. It's not something they can perfect overnight. Keeping a record as the exercise in this lesson suggests helps them to keep progressing.

This section is all about counselling so we are first going to explore what that means in terms of coaching. There are some politics about the definitions of different approaches so you need to be careful how you present yourself.

To understand counselling, we need to understand the different modalities that are used in therapy. Each of them uses counselling in some way. Basic counselling skills are used for various different reasons.

Start as you mean to go on with a clear contract of the helping relationship. Informed consent is necessary for counselling to take place. Clients need to feel respected as well. Otherwise, they aren’t going to open up to you.

Concreteness allows clients to be clear about the emotions they are experiencing and why. Immediacy helps clients to focus on the present instead of constantly worrying about the past.

Questioning keeps sessions moving but some questions are more effective than others. Don’t impose your own judgement through the way you phrase questions. Clients need to feel free to answer honestly.

Empathy is really valuable. We feel more comfortable sharing personal information when we feel like we are being understood. Your sessions should also have some kind of structure that allows you to focus on issues.

When you have a good relationship with your client, you need to point out contradictions to help them work through them. You must maintain an unconditional positive regard for them though. Reflection is also a chance for clients to review what they are saying.

Summarising is another way for clients to hear what they are saying from a different perspective and really think about it. Both giving and receiving feedback is important as a counsellor. Clients need to see how they are progressing and you need to know if something isn’t working for them.

Sometimes clients need to look at things differently to make the right decisions. This change of perspective can happen through reframing or through clarifying. Both help with clients’ understanding.

The counselling skills we have discussed throughout this section and in this lesson will help you make progress with clients. If you are struggling, go back to these techniques and work through the issue.

Clients should have something specific to work towards but before they set their goal you need to check that it is not harmful. Clients might set goals because they think they have to be a certain way instead of doing what they want.

Once you have found a harmful goal, you can make it more appropriate. Explore the goal and the motivation behind it. The three minute seminar technique can help with this.

The first step of the three minute seminar technique is to explore the outcome of the goal. This will flag up any issues before they happen and give clients a chance to improve the specifics of their goal.

For the second stage, help clients break their goal into chunks so the journey to achieving their goal is clear. Progress can be checked off along the way, keeping clients motivated.

With every plan we make, we need to be flexible because we just can’t predict what will happen in the future. What clients might find most surprising is how they change through the process of achieving their goal.

Negative thoughts cannot be overcome by just ignoring them. They need to be acknowledged and dealt with at some point. It doesn’t have to be straight away when a client is already struggling.

Irrational and rational thoughts are better terms to use with clients. Seeing some thoughts as negative can cause them to be suppressed which isn’t helpful to progress. All thoughts should be dealt with not ignored.

When talking about irrational thoughts, we need to consider how clients are talking to themselves. This can worsen The client's thoughts or challenge them so they feel better. Self-talk has the power to change negativity in positivity.

Laughing about it does have some roots in psychological theory. We can’t experience humour and negativity at the same time. Giving thoughts a funny character makes them easier to challenge.

Negativity can manifest in less obvious ways however it is just as damaging. Help clients reword thoughts so they empower clients to take action instead of just criticising themselves.

We all have to handle problems sometimes. Having the right attitude about overcoming obstacles will make implementing solutions much easier. Clients should feel confident in their own abilities.

When working with clients, you want to ask powerful questions. These help clients gain insight into themselves and the situation they are struggling with so they can come up with The client's own solutions.

There is a relationship between the mind and the body. Clients can use this to the client's advantage. Looking after the client's physical wellbeing will improve the client's mental wellbeing. Quick changes like posture can help on bad days.

Clients cannot improve their lives without putting the work in. They can’t rely on you to do everything. That would be disempowering. They have the ability to get to where they want to be if they put the effort in.

Clients might come across blocks in the road to progress. Other people or even themselves could be holding them back. Usually this kind of conflict can be dealt with but it's not always easy.

We are going to look at a model from a self-help book to see how it could aid your clients. You will probably have to build on it for it to be effective but it is a starting point your clients might enjoy.

The image clients put out into the world matters. If it reflects them, it will make them feel better about themselves. They shouldn’t have to hold back the client's self-expression.

We would all like the simple life. It is possible to achieve that if clients step back and work through overcomplications. Various areas of life could need simplifying to be successful.