How Does a Life Skills Coach Spend a Workday?

Job Description

A life coach is a nonjudgmental ally during times of stress or personal transition. Life coaches assess your relationships, your health, your spiritual well-being and your work to ascertain where they can offer the best guidance to help you find more peace. Trained as therapists or specially certified as life coaches, these professionals focus on the entire picture of a person's life and try to determine a balance that works best. Life skills coaches work with you to identify your personal and professional goals through career coaching and relationship coaching. They help you identify any health issues and develop a plan to resolve those issues. They may also incorporate the power of meditation and yoga through spiritual mentoring. Life skills coaches help you close the gap between what you say you want from life and what you actually have.

A Typical Workday

The day may begin by consulting with a new client. The consultation may be free or for a fee, but all new clients must first discuss their reasons for contacting a life skills coach. This is the only way the coach will know whether the prospective client has reasonable expectations, a willing attitude and the commitment necessary for a successful coaching experience. Depending on the outcome of the consultation, the life skills coach may set up subsequent appointments for the client.

The next part of coach's day will likely include meeting with a current client to continue working on one or more of his issues. Case work may include having the client perform a task that takes him out of his comfort zone, potentially teaching him an important life lesson. Life skills coaches also set up consultations with other specialists as their client's needs demand. For example, someone who is on the brink of bankruptcy may need a consultation with a financial planner. Part of a life skills coach's job is to identify how to best help her client develop the appropriate skills he is missing. Another important aspect of her day will likely include a one-on-one therapy session with a client to help identify the reasons behind his issues and to identify the strategies and successes of his treatment. Helping the client develop self-realization tools and techniques through meditation, yoga or other mental and physical exercises is another part of a typical workday for a life skills coach.

The Goal

Creating real-life scenarios for role play, presenting skills training with other professionals, having in-depth discussions and working on an exercise regime for her client's mind and body are all part of a life skills coach's day. The overall goal for the life skills coach is a healthy, well-adjusted client who has the necessary skills to navigate through life successfully.

Resources

• Life Skills Coaching Information