Who needs a professional coach?
We seem to be everywhere: parenting coaches, relationship coaches, career coaching professionals, leadership coaching experts, money coaches, and the catch-all life coaching practitioners. Some of us help you get clear on what's next in your professional life or how to handle a promotion to a senior role; others assist in changing how you think about something as a way to get unstuck from it. By and large, we are all in the business of helping you transition from where you are now to where you wish or want to be.
How do you know if coaching is right for you?
Given all this variety, it's useful to consider what you want coaching for, and what kind of coach will guide you there. Coaching, whether it's focused on career coaching, leadership coaching, or life coaching, works better than most learning modalities because it is tailored to you and your unique circumstances.
Why work with a professional coach?
Many individuals become coaches, often building on careers in business or consulting, without specific coach training or certification. Unlike being a psychologist or therapist, there are currently no licensing prerequisites for coaching, and no requirement to join the ICF (International Coaching Federation), so just about anyone can set up a practice and charge for conversations about your goals.
I chose to undergo the lengthy training and certification process to become a professional certified coach because I believe in an ethical and regulated coaching profession. Along with my fellow certified peers, we are committed to meeting strict credentialing criteria and adhering to a robust set of ethical standards, all in service of our clients' needs.
You should expect no less.
WHY WORK WITH ME
I’ve been a bookseller, a journalist, a speechwriter—and one summer, a seamstress of “trick” costumes for magicians. All this before my leadership roles as an Executive Coach, Organizational Development Director and Public Speaker.
I thought I had pretty much mastered personal and professional change and transition.
Then I turned 60, cut my workload in half and moved to Montreal to care for my aging father. Shortly after his death, I was diagnosed with (and successfully treated for) breast cancer. All these lifequakes left me wondering who I was and what was next. I was far from ready for a life of leisure, and wanted to build on my change and transition expertise, but was not clear how.
After some travel, home repairs and various projects, I slowly found my way back to fulfillment, meaning and purpose, and did this by creating my own blueprint for what transition to retirement means—and specifically, how it’s different for women. Many of us want purpose, engagement and vitality, but without taking on the stress and organizational politics we endured throughout our careers.
Cue my own Next Chapter Reinvention: leveraging my coaching expertise to help accomplished women successfully navigate one of the most mentally, physically and emotionally challenging times of life.
BENEFITS OF WORKING TOGETHER ONE-ON-ONE
YOU GRIEVE AND RELEASE THE PAST
Nobody tells you that retirement is also a goodbye. We celebrate the freedom, the possibilities, the new adventures — but rarely talk about the grief that comes with leaving a professional life behind.
When you retire, you are letting go of a version of yourself, the person who was trusted, relied upon, consulted, and known for what they contributed. There can be sadness in closing a chapter that shaped you for decades, and as you prepare for what's next, processing the loss prepares the ground for imagining what comes next.
YOU GAIN CLARITY
Delve into the person you are today and sift through what contributes to your joy (and you want to nourish), teasing out the habits, patterns of thinking and energy drainers you are ready to jettison. Develop clarity on what really brings out the best and engages you, and what doesn’t.
YOU DEFINE AND TEST YOUR VISION
This is the time for play, for imagination and excavating old interests—holding your interests and passions to the light and evaluating how important they are to you now. It's a time to be bold in your intentions, and to feel the mix of excitement and trepidation as you contemplate the life you now most want to live. From there, you get to road test your vision, one we've worked together to build from the foundation of your strengths and talents—and desires long harboured and cherished. You will have the support to experiment, and try on new approaches, routines and identities.
YOU SURFACE AND DISSOLVE ROADBLOCKS
Now that you've put a toe in the water of the life you imagined, you're bound to have a range of experiences and feelings coming up. Here we acknowledge and work through the obstacles and fears that hold you back from living into the life and the identity you are now ready to claim.
YOU BUILD MOMENTUM, CONFIDENCE AND PEACE OF MIND
You have a growing sense of who are you today and what you want going forward. Here, we get specific and practical, putting together a flexible road map that that takes you to the places, the experiences and the fulfillment that will enrich the quality of each day of your life.