Telephone Coaching and Tele-classes

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Since publishing my first book in 2003 I have had many requests to talk to men and women for individual and couples therapy over the phone. I have declined as the telephone is not a great medium for psychotherapy. Missing are the visual cues necessary to make psychotherapy deepen and meaningful. Therefore I do not do telephone therapy.

Coaching, on the other hand, is very effective over the telephone and in person. Coaching is based on helping individuals in the present and future and does not focus on one's past. It is less emotionally based than psychotherapy and more result oriented. While psychotherapy can be described this way, coaching is always this way.

Coaching can be for yourself individually and/or for you and your partner. My training in Imago Relationship Therapy lends itself well to the telephone coaching given the effective communication exercises that are part of the Imago work.

What you can expect from coaching:

• Creating a vision and goal which you wish to achieve
• Brainstorming and assistance in new ways of thinking and doing things differently to achieve your goals.
• Develop a plan with results that are attainable, measurable and specific with target dates
• Identify your level of commitment to your goal
• Staying on track of your intended goal being flexible for adjustments as warranted to the situation

If you want to hire me as your coach first answer these questions:

• What results are you looking for specifically for a coach to help you with?
• Where are you out of integrity with what you say and what you do toward trying to achieve my goal?
• What do you want to be held accountable for to achieve this goal?
• How will you know when this goal is achieved?

The following is adapted from Lynn Grodzki's coaching practice with permission:

Purpose

I provide individual coaching to develop and implement strategies to help my clients reach personally identified goals and reach personal satisfaction.

Coaching is proven to work when there are two factors present:

• You are willing to make changes in your professional or personal life, and
• There is a gap between where you are now and where you want to be.

That is all that is necessary for the coach and client to solve professional or personal challenges and/or design and implement a plan of action. Through an interactive and developmental process, I will help you pursue strategies and solutions designed to move you towards the rapid and satisfying attainment of your personal goals. As a coach I respect, acknowledge, and protect the vulnerability and confidentiality of each client, while constructively holding clients to high standards of self-responsibility and self-accountability.

Feedback

If, at any time, you feel that your needs are not being met or you are not getting what you want out of the individual coaching, please tell me, so we can discuss your needs and adjust your coaching program, as needed.

Sessions

Coaching is scheduled at the mutual convenience of myself and the client. The day and time for the next call will be confirmed at the close of each coaching session. Coaching by phone is paid in advance of each series of coaching calls. Services requested by the client, in addition to coaching calls, will be billed at a prorated hourly rate agreed in advance.

The client will call the coach at the pre-arranged time and telephone number as scheduled, and pays the telephone charges for the call. Please remember that you must give 48 hours prior notice if you need to cancel or change the time of an appointment, otherwise you will be charged for the session in full. The coach will make reasonable efforts to reschedule sessions, which are cancelled in a timely manner. Either party may end the coaching relationship at any time, by giving written, email, or verbal communication of their desire to end the coaching sessions.

Confidentiality

As a licensed therapist who is also coaches, I adhere to the letter of our licensure in regard to confidentiality with our coaching clients. I will only release information about our work to others with your written permission, or if I am required to do so by a court order.

There are some situations in which I am legally obligated to breach your confidentiality in order to protect others from harm, including (1) if I have information that indicates that a child or elderly or disabled person is being abused, we must report that to the appropriate state agency and (2) if a client is an imminent risk to him/herself or makes threats of imminent violence against another person, I am required to take protective actions. These situations rarely occur in coaching practices, but if such a situation does occur, I will make every effort to discuss it with you before taking any action.

Although, during the course of our coaching, we may discuss your future plans, business affairs, customer lists, financial information, job information, goals, personal information, and other private information, as a coach I will not voluntarily communicate the client's information to a third party.

Coaching versus Psychotherapy

There are some similarities between coaching and psychotherapy, but we do not conduct psychotherapy with our coaching clients. Although both coaching and psychotherapy use knowledge of human behavior, motivation, behavioral change, and interactive counseling techniques, there are major differences in the goals, focus, and level of professional responsibility. Because of these differences, the roles of coach and psychotherapist are often in potential conflict, so we believe that it is ethically inappropriate, under most circumstances, for us to play both roles with a client. In some situations, we may recommend that you enter psychotherapy as a condition of continuing coaching.

Professional Boundaries

Coaching is a professional relationship and we will make sure to maintain our professional boundaries during and after our work together. Considerable experience shows that when boundaries blur, the hard-won benefits gained from the coaching relationship are endangered.

Intellectual Property

In order to honor and protect the coach's intellectual property, the client agrees not to disclose or communicate information about the coach's materials, written articles, or methods to any third parties without express permission.

Coaching Fees and Procedures for individual coaching sessions in person

Procedures

I work primarily by phone with my clients from across the country and several continents.

Getting started for individual phone coaching is a three-step process.

The first step

Email me to schedule an introductory session by phone.

At the intro session, I will want to hear all about you, including your current personal challenges and where you want to go from here. You will have time to understand how you might be able to help you get there. This is a mini-coaching session so you can see how it works. Everything you talk about is confidential in all coaching sessions.

The second step

At the end of the intro session I will give you information about how to go further and start individual coaching. If you have a sense of your readiness to go forward, you and I can talk logistics — and decide on the times to meet each month. Individual coaching by phone consists of a total of 90 minutes every month, broken into several sessions with additional email support.

Coaching goes month to month, although most of my clients like to arrange for a minimum of 3 months to be able to define, set, and meet their initial goals.

The third step

Make arrangements for credit card billing prior to your first session each month. This monthly retainer will confirm your sessions.

Fees

Coaching Fees and Procedures for individual coaching sessions in person

In person coaching sessions are $150 for a 45-minute session, scheduled on an as-needed basis. Send me an email to inquire about the availability of in-person sessions.

There is no introductory session offered for in-person sessions.

If you are ready to take the first step, send me an email and request an introductory session by phone or schedule an in-person session.