What is Coaching?

It is our human nature to improve, resolve, enrich and seek positive change in our careers, relationships, health and quality of life.  Often when we are inspired or motivated to work toward something really important to us however, we come upon mires and challenges.  Sometimes, despite our best efforts, what we want to change, resolve or improve keeps eluding us.  This is when a coach makes a big difference.  When we ask a coach to work with us we engage in a partnership that enables us to see, understand and successfully navigate past what is getting in our way - and create what really matters to us.

"I have been calmer, happier, I laugh more with my family and feel closer to them.  
They have noticed a positive change in me too."
G. James, Victoria
  

Coaching...
 

...helps us see things in a different light;

"You have shown me that there are different ways to see things that actually empower me...that release me from the hold the way I was looking at them had on me."  Cathy K., Calgary

A Coach helps us to step back and see things from a different perspective - outside our habitual frame of thinking and reacting, freeing us of constraints and enabling us to move forward.
 

...asks us important questions we don't think to ask our self;

"I went to Cath at a time when I knew that I wanted to make a change in my life's direction but was very frustrated at the lack of ability to hear myself and figure out what I was going to do....When I was stuck she was able to provide some feedback or ask the important questions that I was not necessarily addressing.  The realizing came from me, but I was helped to hear it."  James K., Toronto

We usually don't have the experience to ask ourselves the questions that would reveal to us what we need to know.  A personal Coach is trained to identify and ask us those questions.

...co-creates a supportive, stimulating environment;

"She has the most amazing way about her that makes you feel totally understood, accepted and respected.  This gave me the support I needed to look at my situation differently.  I actually look forward to dealing with it, given the new insights I gained from our coaching session."
R. Cannon, Victoria

A supportive environment helps us to achieve much more with less stress, less effort - and with more enjoyment.
A personal coach helps us to design, improve, change or perfect our personal and/or professional environments.

...provides a means to get things done;

"Catherine helps break down an issue/problem into manageable 'bites'.  She helps you break down your (sometimes tangled)  thought process so that you can really focus on what has to be dealt with - i.e. helps you to prioritize what to focus on.  Catherine is good at encouraging you to think through a problem... as well I was given more tools to use for dealing with future problems on my own."
A. Rhodes, Victoria

A coach helps us make sense out of confused and congested thoughts, illuminates things we have not yet realized and provides new sources of  relevant information.

...elicits clarity, insight, understanding, vision, and energy.

"...I want to add here that the space that you gave me...and the opportunity to be listened to was ***so*** helpful to me - I was able to get to the fundamental issues in my current struggles, and formulate the key points for consideration/action... I am so very, very thankful...- you gave me a very, very special gift!  And my spirits are considerably improved, to boot!" M. Andrews, Seattle