"This is the real secret of life - to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play."
- Alan Watts
TLDR - The Bottom Line
Not everyone needs clinical services, but many could still use a little help in discovering, setting, and/or achieving certain goals in life. That’s where a qualified life coach can help - the key word being qualified.
With my extensive background and training as a neuroscientist, physician, and psychotherapist, I have developed a much broader range of perspectives, tools, and skill sets that I can leverage to be a more effective coach for you, all with the highest degree of professionalism and ethics.
Such qualities can be increasingly hard to find in an ever-expanding coaching industry that remains highly unregulated and littered with all sorts of self-proclaimed “life coaches” who have little to no qualifications and can actually do more harm than good.
If you want more details about how my life coaching services could be the right fit for you, please read on below.
With my extensive background and training as a neuroscientist, physician, and psychotherapist, I have developed a much broader range of perspectives, tools, and skill sets that I can leverage to be a more effective coach for you, all with the highest degree of professionalism and ethics.
Such qualities can be increasingly hard to find in an ever-expanding coaching industry that remains highly unregulated and littered with all sorts of self-proclaimed “life coaches” who have little to no qualifications and can actually do more harm than good.
If you want more details about how my life coaching services could be the right fit for you, please read on below.
Why Coaching?
Perhaps you’re looking to accomplish certain goals in your life, but don’t feel that your situation requires a clinical treatment such as therapy. You’re not really dealing with unresolved health symptoms, but would rather just like some help in optimizing your approach and expanding the paths toward success in certain life pursuits. Perhaps you aren’t even sure what you want and are just looking to find some clarity or direction.
Under these circumstances, what you’re better suited for is a qualified life coach. As your coach, I can offer you the perspective, structure, and tools you seek to help improve the likelihood you’ll achieve such goals and move further along your unique path of personal and/or professional growth.
Under these circumstances, what you’re better suited for is a qualified life coach. As your coach, I can offer you the perspective, structure, and tools you seek to help improve the likelihood you’ll achieve such goals and move further along your unique path of personal and/or professional growth.
My Approach
My role as a coach is to work with you one-on-one as a partner, guide, and/or mentor in helping you engage in a process of self exploration and discovery that will help illuminate the best path forward that’s right for you. We will work together to explore your unique personal values, interests, apprehensions/fears, desires, strengths, and weaknesses toward that end.
Sometimes you will have a clear idea of the goals we must develop a plan to achieve. Other times, we may want to start by exploring what it is exactly that you’re looking to accomplish through coaching. Either way, once we have a better idea of the issue at hand, we will work to formulate a plan that is structured to cater toward these unique personal characteristics in a step-wise fashion that will improve the chances of overall success.
You can think of it this way:
We are going on a road trip - you will be in the driver’s seat and I will be hopping on as a passenger. In addition to asking where you want to go, I’ll be checking to see if your tools and methods are right for the journey:
- Do you have a compass and is it working properly?
- How about a map? Does it accurately represent the current landscape you’re in or do we need to update it?
- What about obstacles on the road? How can we find a way to circumvent them?
And last but not least:
- Is your vehicle up to the task? Can you drive it through to the destination or will we need to make some pit stops along the way to address any maintenance issues?
Sometimes you will have a clear idea of the goals we must develop a plan to achieve. Other times, we may want to start by exploring what it is exactly that you’re looking to accomplish through coaching. Either way, once we have a better idea of the issue at hand, we will work to formulate a plan that is structured to cater toward these unique personal characteristics in a step-wise fashion that will improve the chances of overall success.
You can think of it this way:
We are going on a road trip - you will be in the driver’s seat and I will be hopping on as a passenger. In addition to asking where you want to go, I’ll be checking to see if your tools and methods are right for the journey:
- Do you have a compass and is it working properly?
- How about a map? Does it accurately represent the current landscape you’re in or do we need to update it?
- What about obstacles on the road? How can we find a way to circumvent them?
And last but not least:
- Is your vehicle up to the task? Can you drive it through to the destination or will we need to make some pit stops along the way to address any maintenance issues?
Why choose a coach who happens to be an extensively trained psychotherapist and physician?
On your road trip, which kind of passenger would you rather be picking up:
Someone who most likely has read just a few books and/or taken an online course before self proclaiming he or she is a travel guide?
Or, someone who’s a seasoned expedition leader, with years of formalized training under supervision to develop navigational skills, has been on a wide variety of travel expeditions to learn firsthand how different landscapes impact different journeys that inform those skills, and also happens to be trained in mechanics to better recognize when your vehicle starts having problems and may need a pitstop to address maintenance issues before it breaks down?
As a newer field of practice, life coaching is an industry that is growing in popularity over the past several decades yet lacks the professionalization and evidence-based effectiveness research that governs other fields such as psychotherapy and medicine. It is largely unregulated with no state licensing requirements and there are no mandated education or training requirements to become a coach.
While some coaches are certified through online training programs that have created some education and licensing standards, there is no law that mandates adherence to any of these standards. Therefore, anyone can be a self-proclaimed life coach regardless of his or her qualifications.
While my work with you is different from clinical practice in that I am not providing a diagnosis and treatment, life coaching has its roots in humanistic psychology and cognitive behavioral psychology. As a result, my extensive education and training in neuroscience, medicine, evolutionary biology, as well as behavioral and analytic psychologies provides me with a much broader set of perspectives, tools, and skills that I can leverage to be a more effective coach for you.
Because there may be overlap in life circumstances and situations that may lead someone to misinterpret mental health needs as coaching needs, there is a substantial concern for the presence of many life coaches within the industry who have inadequate or no mental health training and therefore miss an underlying mental health condition, sometimes even unknowingly engaging in coaching practices that may worsen client symptoms. With my experience in mental healthcare, I am better able to recognize any underlying pathology that may be of concern and refer my clients to clinical services such as therapy when appropriate.
Finally, because of my background and training in medicine, which is highly regulated, I uphold the highest levels of confidentiality and professionalism that I can bring into my work with coaching clients.
I have spent tens of thousands of hours in supervised and clinical settings (compared to the average coaching program which only requires between 40-160 hours of work to be certified) interacting with people from all different walks of life, learning by glimpsing into their daily lives, and gaining the wisdom from their shared stories. All of these experiences have revealed to me greater truths and secrets behind the human condition/experience, what life is about, and how I may be able to help you maximize your potential to develop a life of happiness and fulfillment.
Someone who most likely has read just a few books and/or taken an online course before self proclaiming he or she is a travel guide?
Or, someone who’s a seasoned expedition leader, with years of formalized training under supervision to develop navigational skills, has been on a wide variety of travel expeditions to learn firsthand how different landscapes impact different journeys that inform those skills, and also happens to be trained in mechanics to better recognize when your vehicle starts having problems and may need a pitstop to address maintenance issues before it breaks down?
As a newer field of practice, life coaching is an industry that is growing in popularity over the past several decades yet lacks the professionalization and evidence-based effectiveness research that governs other fields such as psychotherapy and medicine. It is largely unregulated with no state licensing requirements and there are no mandated education or training requirements to become a coach.
While some coaches are certified through online training programs that have created some education and licensing standards, there is no law that mandates adherence to any of these standards. Therefore, anyone can be a self-proclaimed life coach regardless of his or her qualifications.
While my work with you is different from clinical practice in that I am not providing a diagnosis and treatment, life coaching has its roots in humanistic psychology and cognitive behavioral psychology. As a result, my extensive education and training in neuroscience, medicine, evolutionary biology, as well as behavioral and analytic psychologies provides me with a much broader set of perspectives, tools, and skills that I can leverage to be a more effective coach for you.
Because there may be overlap in life circumstances and situations that may lead someone to misinterpret mental health needs as coaching needs, there is a substantial concern for the presence of many life coaches within the industry who have inadequate or no mental health training and therefore miss an underlying mental health condition, sometimes even unknowingly engaging in coaching practices that may worsen client symptoms. With my experience in mental healthcare, I am better able to recognize any underlying pathology that may be of concern and refer my clients to clinical services such as therapy when appropriate.
Finally, because of my background and training in medicine, which is highly regulated, I uphold the highest levels of confidentiality and professionalism that I can bring into my work with coaching clients.
I have spent tens of thousands of hours in supervised and clinical settings (compared to the average coaching program which only requires between 40-160 hours of work to be certified) interacting with people from all different walks of life, learning by glimpsing into their daily lives, and gaining the wisdom from their shared stories. All of these experiences have revealed to me greater truths and secrets behind the human condition/experience, what life is about, and how I may be able to help you maximize your potential to develop a life of happiness and fulfillment.