A110 Coaching: The Art of Action-Oriented Change

Increasingly, therapists are choosing to add flexibility and variety to their practices by incorporating personal or business coaching into the services they offer. Yet many questions remain about what coaching is and isn't, and how to integrate our therapy skills and knowledge with the skill-sets of coaching. This course will examine the challenges and benefits awaiting therapists who become coaches. We'll discuss how therapists can distinguish between therapy and coaching and the specific steps that are required to shift your identity from that of a first-rate therapist to that of a first-rate coach. We'll also explore ethical concerns, setting up the framework for coaching, how to have a coaching conversation, and the many ways to build a successful coaching business. The instructor will offer a 3-point model to determine whether a client needs coaching or therapy.

Meet The Instructor

Lynn Grodzki, L.C.S.W., is a psychotherapist, Professional Certified Coach, and internationally-known business coach. Through her writing and workshops, she's helped thousands of therapists build successful, viable private practices. She's the author of two bestselling books for therapists on practice building and the editor of The New Private Practice: Therapist-Coaches Share Stories, Strategies, and Advice, a look into the world of coaching through the eyes of therapists who have become coaches.

Course Contents

Session 1: The Distinctions of Between Coaching and Therapy • How therapists define the difference between therapy and coaching • A continuum approach to personal growth • Action-oriented coaching and readiness for change • Who is "coachable" and who isn't • A 3-point model of client assessment for coaching

Session 2: Shifting Your Identity to Become a Coach • The challenges and benefits of coaching for the therapist • When coaching matters most to your clients • Which therapy skills transfer and which don't • The role of intention and the importance of language • Achieving a partnership position

Session 3: Making the Transition • Setting up a coaching framework, Part 1 • Basic coaching methods and skill-sets • Empowerment versus neutrality • A coaching conversation demonstration • "Wanting for" your clients

Session 4: Coaching Conversations • Setting up a coaching framework, Part 2 • Basic coaching methods and skill sets • Strategizing versus insight • A coaching conversation demonstration • Call to action

Session 5: Risk Management • The problem areas of coaching • Boundaries • Diffusing transference/countertransference • Dual relationships and shifting hierarchies • Confidentiality and insurance issues

Session 6: Building Your Ideal Coaching Practice • Positioning your business for success • How coaches market, network, and bill for services • To niche or not • The role of training and accreditation • Becoming part of the larger coaching community

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the differences and similarities between coaching and therapy
2. Describe a 3-point model for determining whether a client is "coachable"
3. List the stages of readiness for change and how to begin a coaching conversation
4. Assess the concerns regarding dual relationships in coaching
5. Identify how to diffuse transference to create a partnership model of relating