Life Coaching | Local Services | Classifieds.co.uk :

Choosing a life coach is dependant upon a number of factors. It depends firstly on why the services of a life coach might be useful, where you are located might also be a consideration and finally which particular services are required. Many people hire life coaches in today's busy world to help get some perspective and organise their lives for the better in a given area. As a result, life coaching has grown increasingly popular over the last few years and there are now many from which to choose. However the term 'life coach' is a somewhat general term so we have offered a brief explanation as many have wondered dubiously if it isn't some American fad trying to crack the market here and force people to find their inner child, drink from their fountain of self-actualisation and lose all inhibition after finding something in the forest of truth. Fortunately these perceptions are quite wrong about the aims of Life Coaching.

What is a Life Coach?
A life coach is a person that enables or facilitates a positive change or changes to someone's life. Many people hire a life coach when their life balances have become -- imbalanced -- and they feel things are missing or need to change in their lives. Sometimes, there are numerous problems to be solved, or issues to work through for which a life coach can offer support. There are a number of areas in which life coaching offers support. The main disciplines include health, relationships (love, partners and friendships), dreams or aspirations and work. They also offer help with related areas such as personal qualities including time management and self esteem, setting targets and goals and achieving them and providing focus for the future. Life coaches offer an ongoing service which is usually through some type of consultancy in the form of telephone conversations, email and face to face visits. While some coaches contact their clients via telephone it is best to contact a local coach for face to face sessions. Some coaches also offer specific services as part of their support such as alternative healing where a face to face consultation is necessary. Most life coaches offer a degree of general support for all aspects of life but many will have an area of particular focus or interest which may make them more or less appropriate to your needs.

Business and Work Life Coach
Most life coaches are able to help in aspects of business. They often have a business like approach and personal experience of business, thus understanding theories, models and common business practice. Often business models and ideas are applied in the practice of life coaching itself including ideas on goal setting, targets, raising achievement and self- actualisation. The focus is very clear and direct and enables a subject who needs help in business to take a step back and realise why things are not going to plan and to look at and try different approaches. Sometimes business models and ideas can be applied to other aspects of life if helpful such as freeing up more time by effective time management to create a balance between work and leisure. Life coaches also help people with work problems. Working life today can be very stressful, competitive and difficult with long hours and high expectations. It is estimated that around 60% of people are dissatisfied with their work for one reason or another and many dread going to work on a Monday morning. A number of problems can be encountered at work from being undervalued and un-recognised to having an interpersonal problem with a work colleague. A life coach will help with these problems and other common issues such as not getting on with the Boss, not fitting in with work colleagues, doing a job that is too dull -- or one that is far too challenging -- and simply wishing you were working in an entirely different field. A life coach can help with all of these common problems which most people experience at one time or another. They usually have experience in dealing with work issues and many list on their websites, either examples of work problems where they have helped to facilitate an effective solution or dramatic improvement, or a list of specific areas in which they are qualified to help.

Relationship Life Coaching
Life Coaching that centres on relationships is concerned with social skills and self-development of individuals and facilitates confidence, builds self esteem and looks at building positive relationships with others. Most life coaches are qualified in sociology and psychology which study human behaviour and relationships. This is where the theoretical aspect of development comes into practice. Life coaches help people to build successful relationships with existing partners but also coach people to enable them to build new relationships with others. A life coach can also help with social skills such as listening, conversational skills, body language and presentation. They can identify specific areas (of which the subject is often unaware) that are having a negative impact on their relationships and affecting the way in which others perceive them. For example, people with low self-esteem often apologise for themselves which projects a poor image of themselves. Here, eventually, what might be initially perceived as modesty will become fact, with others buying into and believing in the negative image of that person. Relationship coaches cover all aspects of relationships in life and frequently list on websites their speciality in terms of relationships or give examples of where and how they have engendered positive change. In choosing a life coach for relationship coaching it may be an idea to look at what they specialise in, without necessarily seeing this as a direct alternative to counselling or couples therapy.

Specialising
Some life coaches have specific areas in which they focus, including work and relationships. In other areas such as health, further support such as hypnotherapy might be used to support smoking cessation or weight loss. However most life coaches can help with a significant range of life's aspects - it is always worth reading about the coach, finding out about their approach, experience and qualifications, before making a selection.

Qualifications
Unfortunately the life coaching industry has attracted its share of charlatans. There is no formal qualification although a number of reputable life coaching training firms are now emerging, some offering NLP (Neural Linguistic Programming) skills development as part of their portfolio. Ultimately, you need to decide whether you can trust this person with your secrets (there is no duty of confidentiality as there is with your GP) and whether you feel that they have sufficient skills in the field or discipline in which you need help. Most decent life coaches will have some level of qualification in psychology / psychotherapy and counselling.