Life Skills Coaching - Advanced Diploma

The Advanced Life Skills Coaching Diploma course is designed as a complete professional training package, incorporating a full range of therapeutic models in a complete holistic Life Skills Coaching programme.

The student will gain competence in a range of topics including; Basic Counselling, Psychoanalysis, CBT, Coaching, Advanced Coaching, Basic NLP and Self Hypnosis. These are all combined with the knowledge of how to work with support networks and other professionals, a well as how to set up in professional practice.

Extensive use of case studies is combined with examination of specific application topics (such as stress, anger, smoking and emotional issues) so that the student will gain knowledge of how to apply skills to a range of typical client presentations and issues. The course is designed to enable the student to adhere to the existing National Occupational Standards for Counselling.

What is Life Coaching

• What to expect from the course
• What is coaching
• What are lifeskills
• What elements of therapy are contained within life coaching

What do clients usually want from Life Coaching?

• Typical presenting clients
• Typical presented problems
• Typical presented goals
• Dealing with personal prejudices and opinions

Surface life coaching versus holistic life coaching?

• Behavioural therapy approach and rapid intervention
• Holistic theory and cycles of change
• Clients with deeper issues wanting only surface change
• Ethics of eliciting deeper change

Common misconceptions and errors

• Errors made by practitioners
• Mistaken beliefs about coaching
• Examining the role of the life coach

Areas and levels of change

• The different levels of life (looking at different models)
• Expectations from areas of life
• Imbalances in levels of life
• Dissonance between surface needs and driving needs

Counselling Skills

• What is counselling
• National Occupational Standards for Counselling

Counselling Skills continued

• Open questioning
• Basic methods (reflection, reframing, summary, challenge)
• Common errors
• Balancing listening and assessment
• Common models of counselling (Egan, Nelson etc.)

Basic Coaching Skills

• Determining validity of goals
• Determining ecology of goals
• Three stages of goal setting
• Working through the process
• Case study

Advanced Coaching Skills

• Specialised Coaching techniques

Coaching the client in relaxation techniques

• Teaching basic relaxation methods, introduction
• Is it meditation or self hypnosis?
• Models of visualisation
• Models of personal affirmations
• Safety Precautions with teaching aids e.g. tapes

Coaching the client in altered states

• Is it self hypnosis or NLP?
• Eliciting different states of relaxation, concentration, elation
• Choosing emotional states and ensuring ecology
• Anchoring emotional and physical states at will
• Performing exercises with the client
• Ensuring the client can continue to adapt and expand
• Training aids: Log book, handouts, tapes etc.
• Recommended books and topics to read

Coaching the client in Behavioural change

• Safety, fears, ecology and good practice
• Image manipulation
• Advanced use of anchoring
• Affirmations in relaxed state
• Affirmations in waking state)

Coaching the Client in advanced behavioural changes

• Using principles of CBT
• CBT principles with the client
• CBT as homework
• Self analysis using CBT

CBT continued (Part II: Toxic thoughts)

Basic Psychoanalysis theory and useful techniques

• Analysis in coaching
• Topic association method

Referral and working with other practitioners

• Knowing when the case is too complex
• Referral to other practitioners
• Protecting yourself
• Professional clients “the heart sick”
• Cooperating with other practitioners
• Cooperating with Medical Doctors

Emotional issues and case studies

• Confidence
• Self Esteem
• Self Image
• Behavioural versus holistic
• Case study

Deeper emotional issues and case studies

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Phobias and Fears
• Ensuring appropriate advertising, referral and practice
• Case study

Weight Loss and Control

• Lifestyle issues
• Assisting the client in choosing a diet plan
• Assisting the client in choosing an exercise plan
• Boundaries of the life coach in weight loss advice
• Ensuring appropriate advertising and practice
• Case study

Stop Smoking Coaching

• Lifestyle issues
• Positive versus negative methods
• Visualisation methods
• Motivational counselling methods
• Self help techniques
• Learning aids e.g. tapes and handouts
• Case study

Performance Coaching

• Common types of performance coaching
• Sports performance coaching
• Business performance coaching
• Public speaking coaching
• Boundaries of the life coach in performance coaching
• Case study

Faith and Spiritual issues

• Common types
• What is spiritual and what is faith?
• Grief and bereavement
• Abuse
• Religious imposition
• Fear of the future
• Supporting without converting
• Working within existing faith models
• Case study

Anger and Stress Management Coaching

• Safety concerns, confidentiality and referral
• Addressing lifestyle issues
• Relaxation therapy
• Nutrition issues
• Relationship issues
• Underlying causes
• Behavioural change
• Working with other professionals
• Case study

Working with couples or groups

• Typical presented issues
• Initial meeting and planning response
• Facilitating discussions
• Homework and agreements
• When to refer and working alongside other professionals

Non-Specific Issues

• Common presentations
• Feeling lost
• Not happy despite having everything
• The survivor with no time to live
• The person in imbalance
• Tracking the feelings and memories
• Using advanced anchoring for changing remembered emotions
• Combining anchoring with inner child methods
• Working with service users (clients) of state agencies
• Case study

Professional Practice and Responsibilities

• Preparing for practice, what you need
• Principles of informed consent and contracts / agreement
• Providing information in appropriate formats for the learner
• Dissemination of information from sources of authority
• Creating your own learning materials
• Advertising
• Registration and Insurance
• NOS National Occupational Standards
• Confidentiality and ethics
• What you may or may not call yourself
• Importance of Ongoing Professional Development and supervision
• Other topics of training to support your career
• Looking after yourself and your loved ones