Volume 9 Issue 1 – January, 2010

In This Issue:

Tomorrow's Life Coach (TLC) is a monthly online journal from the Institute for Life Coach Training (ILCT) that nourishes the intellect, intuition and inspiration of the personal and business coaching community.



Pat's Ponderings - Recharging for a New Year

Coaching is a profession that demands coaches keep up with their education to keep their "saw sharpened" as Stephen Covey says. . .but why? Haven't you learned enough? If you answer YES to that question, you are missing the point of professional development. Continuing education in coaching is for new skills, refining old skills, and personal development of you the coach. The coaching relationship is most effective when you keep your life running smoothly, or at least be in process and conscious awareness of any "rough spots." After all, we are human too, but we cannot offer our full presence to our clients if we are not aware of our learning edges and personal development needs.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or Continuing Professional Education (CPE) is the means by which members of professional associations maintain, improve and broaden their knowledge and skills and develop the personal qualities required in their professional lives.

CPD is defined as the holistic commitment to structured skills enhancement and personal or professional competence. CPD can also be defined as the conscious updating of professional knowledge and the improvement of professional competence throughout a person's working life. It is a commitment to being professional, keeping up to date and continuously seeking to improve. It is the key to optimizing a person's career opportunities, both today and for the future (Chartered Institute of Professional Development (2000)).

So…what are your commitments for 2010? What new coaching skills /classes might be beneficial? What personal development goals might you need to be purposeful about? Are you working with a coach? Part of a coaching group?

You are more attractive to potential clients if you exhibit the energy and life force of a well balanced professional. Get out your calendar and look at classes that you want to take (click here to see a comprehensive list of ILCT classes that might interest you) and also include personal development classes, get-aways, retreats, or just soul reviving vacations where you are unplugged from your professional life so you can charge your batteries of your personal life.

Looking forward to a vital, energetic, fully charged new decade!

Dr. Pat

Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC
Chief Energizing Officer, ILCT
Executive Vice President, Life Options
Department Chair, Professional Coaching, International University of Professional Studies
Author: Becoming a Professional Life Coach. Therapist as Life Coach, Total Life Coaching,
Law and Ethics in Coaching
Recipient of Global Visionary Fellowship for Non Profit www.CoachingTheGlobalVillage.org
Biography


Monthly


ILCT - CPH Teleconference: Marketing and the Ethics of Advertising - Part 2

Join Dr. Patrick Williams, President and CEO of the Institute for Life Coach Training, author of Law and Ethics in Coaching, and Sara Oberg, Marketing Manager of CPH & Associates on ???? for a discussion on Marketing and the Ethics of Advertising - Part 2. This turned into another hot topic requiring another call to complete. We hope you will join them! (In case you missed Part One, you may listen to it now).

During the call Pat and Sara will further discuss:

  • Ethical ways to increase awareness of your counseling and/or coaching business.
  • What is the fuss about social media? How to use social networks to your advantage and avoid risks that may increase your liability.

Date: January 27, 2010
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Eastern

Fee: No charge (some long distance charges may apply).

REGISTER


Pat's Coaching Forum: Wellness Coaching opportunities in 2010!

Join Dr. Patrick Williams and Jim Strohecker, CEO and Co-founder of HealthWorld Online (www.healthy.net) for an exciting forum on Wellness Coaching Opportunities in 2010!

Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2009
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Eastern

Fee: No charge (some long distance charges may apply).

REGISTER NOW



Introduction to Coaching Calls:

Join us for a one-hour call that will introduce you to the wonderful career of Life Coaching and the ILCT program. We want to share our excitement with you and give you information to help you decide if life coaching is for you! This class will also offer you the opportunity to experience a "‘teleclass," the training format used in our program.

Topics to be discussed include:

  • What coaching is.
  • What is unique about the ILCT program.
  • The journey to becoming a coach.
  • ILCT’s Foundational Coach Training Program.
  • Avenues to certification.

You will have the opportunity to have your questions about life coach training answered.

Fee: No charge. (Long distance charges may apply).


Wednesday, January 6th, 12:00 Noon Eastern: REGISTER

Wednesday, January 6th, 7:00 p.m. Eastern: REGISTER

Wednesday, February 3rd, 3:00 p.m. Eastern: REGISTER



Free Coach Referral Service for CLCs
ILCT provides a listing of Certified Life Coaches and graduates of our Accredited Coach Training Program. These are coaches who have completed at least 60 to 130 hours of coach training. This is a value-added service for those ILCT students who have reached this high level of excellence!

This list is being offered as a free service to assist individuals in identifying and selecting coaches best suited for their particular need.

If you have your Certified Life Coach credential, and have not registered — Sign up now



News & Features

Online Coaching - The Next Step in Technology and Client Service
by Patrick Williams, EdD MCC
Reprinted with permission from Choice Magazine, December 2009 Issue

Do you tweet? Do you use Google Talk? Do you have a profile on Facebook? LinkedIn? Do you instant message? Do you Skype?

Each of these social media platforms offers coaches new ways to communicate with our clients in the rapidly evolving online world. As the ways in which we can communicate online become more common and available, so do the ways in which we can offer our services to and connect with our clients. The new technology might also give coaches access to younger clients, for whom online life is a given. Without this new technology, we might not otherwise be able to connect with client populations who can benefit from our services.

Back in 1996, I became excited about the prospect of coaching by phone, which allowed me to live where and how I wanted, and to have paying clients who lived somewhere else. I had been coaching executives since 1990 in their offices as part of my psychology/consulting business. But the convenience of telephone coaching was exciting and was a service I could not ethically provide to therapy clients in my psychology practice (at least that is what I thought). Since then, the various ethical bodies (American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association, and so on) have recognized phone-based therapy and online therapy as new service methods for many therapists and clients. However, there are still some debates occurring as to how to do it and remain ethical. Read the full article (Adobe .PDF) .



Merger May Create More Jobs as Life Coaching Combines with High Tech Platform
by Mark Joyella of TheCoachingCommons.org

The fledgling field of web-based coaching can now boast a high profile merger. "This is a partnership that will move the industry forward," said Pat Williams, founder of the Institute for Life Coach Training. His company has been acquired by LifeOptions, a company that provides web-based products to managed care companies, health plans, and major corporations.

"The good news for coaches is there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for coaches as this grows," said Williams. "They spent five million dollars creating this platform–it’s web based enabled coaching and counseling, right now sold to private companies like United Healthcare and Nike."

ILCT, founded in 1998, carved out a unique niche: training psychotherapists, psychologists and counselors in creating life coaching practices. Williams, a psychologist and MCC, said giving up "his baby" was not easy, but the merger represents an exciting opportunity for coaches.

"This is a change I chose," said Williams. "I am transitioning my vision of ILCT back in 1998, crafted with the help of my great faculty and supporters. Yet, I am not going away. My legacy creation is now in the hands of a larger company that fits my values."

For LifeOptions, which provides counseling and other services via a network of web platforms, the acquisition of ILCT offers a powerful addition to grow its business.

"With the addition of the ILCT network and their training based in sound coaching psychology principles, our continuum of support now incorporates live interaction with credentialed professionals into LifeOptions online multimedia programs," said John Koontz, LifeOptions CEO. Koontz says ILCT brings an international network of healthcare practitioners to LifeOptions online programs. "Their 24/7, worldwide availability will be a key element in meeting our clients where they are, at their point of need. And, I couldn’t be more excited about working with Pat Williams to continue to expand our offerings." Read the full article at TheCoachingCommons.org



Interview: Patrick Williams, author of "Therapist as Life Coach"
from Where the Client Is - Building a better private practice

Pat Williams built the Institute for Life Coach Training and is author of multiple books and articles about coaching, including Therapist as Life Coach. He talked to WTCI via email about some life coaching basics.

What’s your background?
I was a clinical psychologist for 15 years but was trained in Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology (Masters in Humanistic, Doctorate in Transpersonal) so obviously I was more interested in Human potential than pathology.

What do you do now?
I started doing executive coaching part time in 1990, and in 1996 I closed my psychotherapy practice and moved full time into coaching, I started the Institute for Life Coaching in 1998, training helping professionals to add coaching to their business. November 1, 2009, I sold ILCT to Life Options and am now Executive Vice President of Life Options, an online coaching and counseling company with web based consumer and professional platforms.

You’ve written books on the subject, so obviously there’s a lot to say. But, briefly: Why should people trained as therapists consider becoming life coaches?
Therapists already have many of the requisite skills for good coaching: the ability to listen, rapport building, confidentiality and ethics, and possibilities thinking. But they will have to learn to use these skills in a new context of coaching.

What are the essential differences between therapy and life coaching?
Coaching is a co-creative partnership with the client that takes the coach away from an expert role and into the role of a curious coach, who asks questions of the client to assist in developing their desired future. This future can be next week, next year or five years away. The coaching is done in regular sessions to get the client from where they are to where they want to be, using much of what they already have (but may not know it).

How might a therapist/coach best determine which client gets which service?
Good question. I teach my coaches that it is always smart to grant a “sample session.” You are not only giving the potential client a taste of coaching, but you are screening them to see if they are coachable, and if so, do you want to coach them?

Which clients are not coachable?
I assume all are coachable until proven otherwise. Anyone who can show a willingness to make change and be part of the process is coachable. If they come to several calls and are not “moving forward,” then the coach should suggest they are not ready for coaching and refer to other appropriate professional services whatever that may be.

Obviously non-coachable clients will never make it to the relationship. Coaching is a bit of a self-selected audience who sees how coaching might be able to help them in creating their desired future. Read the full article at WhereTheClientIs.com.



In Case You Missed It - Emerging Opportunities in Wellness Coaching - Exploring New Niches

On December 8th Dr. Patrick Williams, Founder of the Institute for Life Coach Training, and Jim Strohecker, CEO and Co-founder of HealthWorld Online (www.healthy.net) discussed Emerging Opportunities in Wellness Coaching - Exploring New Niches.

During this call they discussed emerging opportunities in the wellness coaching area, such as:

  • High stress professions (nurses, teachers, attorneys - is there a low stress profession these days?)
  • Integrative Medicine Centers
  • Spas
  • Fitness Centers
  • Employers with HSAs
  • Self-Insured Employers

LISTEN NOW



Expand Your Business! Deepen Your Coaching Skills! Register For Upcoming Classes at ILCT
NOTE: Flexible payment plans are available. For details call 972-861-1915.

REVIEW OUR FULL CURRENT CLASS LIST

Some schedules may change; check listing or contact Edwina Adams, Administration/Registration, at edwina@lifecoachtraining.com.


What Pat Recommends

Online Counseling

Online Counselling: A Handbook for Practitioners
by Gill Jones and Anne Stokes

Therapy via the internet is a developing field for counselors. This accessible guide focuses on technological and therapeutic aspects of online work, relevant across all counselling approaches. With practical step-by-step exercises and jargon-free advice, this is an indispensable tool for all practitioners and trainees planning to work online.
Therapist As Life Coach - Click to order

Therapist as Life Coach: An Introduction for Counselors and Other Helping Professionals, Revised and Expanded Edition by Dr. Patrick Williams MCC, Deborah C. Davis

A book for mental health professionals considering a transition into the new and dynamic field of life coaching! Therapist as Life Coach explores life coaching as a profession, examines the relationship between life coaching and therapy, and details the variety of options for professionals considering either a transition into coaching or expanding their practices to include coaching.

This book is one-stop-shopping for the therapist wishing to explore the coaching field. Every chapter in this second edition has been revised, reflecting the growth of the coaching field and its increasing appeal to therapists and all helping professionals. New material includes an overview of recent coaching developments, updated liability concerns, new business opportunities, and a new section on the research about coaching.

Tomorrow's Life Coach™

Patrick Williams, Ed.D., MCC, Publisher
© 2010 Institute for Life Coach Training
www.lifecoachtraining.com
Phone: 888-267-1206
info@lifecoachtraining.com

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