Mind

Coaching
What is coaching and how does it differ from psychotherapy? 
The key difference between coaching and therapy has more to do with the mindset than the method. While both coaching and therapy can help people make major life changes, coaching does not focus on medical pathology of disorders or psychological assessments and diagnosis. Coaching is typically more goal oriented and while there are goal oriented types of therapy, coaching doesn’t usually address the underlying issues that can be related to behavior change.

The goal of a coaching relationship is to help people tap into and actualize their deepest visions of what they want and who they want to be.  Coaching allows one to focus on creating and maintaining behavioral change.  Coaching fosters self responsibility, accountability, and steps to be able to see progress toward the end result. 
Coaching is aimed at self-empowerment. 

Wellness Coaching

At Intuitive Wellness, we specialize in Wellness Coaching, which is a coaching service that allows clients to work one-on-one with a practitioner who can help support and encourage behavior change around health and well-being.  Wellness Coaches can work as a team with other health professionals helping patients adhere to health practices for prevention of disease and disease management.  Wellness Coaching emphasizes a holistic model in working with the whole person and their wellness needs. 

Wellness Coaches are sought out to help people in the various areas:

• Disease Prevention/ Management
• Stress Management and Mindfulness
• Weight Management/ Healthy Lifestyle Change
• Work/Life Balance
• Family/ Partner Relationships
• Smoking/ Tobacco Prevention/ Cessation
• Fitness Education/ Exercise Prescription
• Depression and Anxiety Prevention/ Management
  

Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is stemmed from a medical model of diagnosis and the aim for the client is to gain insight into how beliefs, feelings, and past events dictate their current life and behaviors.  Psychotherapy is about healing at a deeper level and then moving forward. The coach puts less emphasis on past memories, hurts, and trauma and focuses more clearly on just the behavior change.  If a person has a deeper issue of hurt or past trauma, coaching merely puts a band-aid on the problem.  

For example, a client comes in with the wish of weight management and help with emotional eating.  In a coaching relationship, the client would receive techniques and suggestions on what to do stop the behavior and ways to cope with desires of emotional eating.  If the same problem was brought to a psychotherapist, the client would also receive suggestions and techniques in how to decrease the behavior, but the psychotherapist would also assess resistance to change and underlying issues of past hurt, trauma, or experiences that continue to re-trigger the desire and create the barrier to meaningful change.

Working with a psychotherapist can allow a client to heal the underlying symptoms that can truly lead to personality and developmental change.  Psychotherapists have undergone a long course of education in human development, psychopathology, and have an extensive knowledge in the practice and implementation of various types of therapy with a variety of different clients. This type of training allows psychotherapists to help clients to create change in many aspects of their lives.  

Guided Imagery
Guided Imagery is a term used to describe a range of techniques from simple visualization and direct imagery-based suggestion, through metaphor and storytelling.  Guided imagery is used to help teach psychophysiologic relaxation, to relieve symptoms, to stimulate healing responses in the body, and to help people tolerate procedures and treatments more easily.   Guided Imagery CD’s and scripts can be seen to help with the following areas: healthy sleep, healing cancer, regulating mood, preparation for surgery, reducing stress, etc.

Interactive Guided Imagery is a specific approach to using therapeutic imagery.  The guide helps to create situations where clients can draw on their own inner resources to support healing, to make appropriate adaptations to changes in health behaviors, to find creative solutions to challenges they might have thought were previously insoluble. In summary, interactive guided imagery encourages clients an ability to gain better access to their strengths and resources and tends to lead toward greater self efficacy and empowerment. 

Carley is a licensed marriage and family therapist intern, nutritional counselor, certified guided imagery practitioner, and certified Life Coach. Carley received her masters degree in Health Psychology, which blends the prevention of disease and health promotion through counseling, education, support, health interventions, and psychotherapeutic practices. Carley integrates her education and experience in all of these professional roles to help empower, heal, and guide her clients to greater happiness and compassion towards themselves and others.  Carley specializes in the following topics:

    • Weight Management
    • Improving Self- Esteem
    • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/ Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
    • Coping with a chronic illness
    • Pain Management
    • Insomnia
    • Life Transitions
    • Emotional Eating
    • Mindfulness based psychotherapy/ coaching
    • Stress Management

3 Levels to Coaching

This is a fine system for keeping one on task with helpful reminders and support, but it doesn’t instill a person with the belief that they can create lasting change.

2) Developing Confidence in your ability to change
This second step could also be called self-actualization- which refers to one’s ability to fufill one’s potential. At this level of coaching, we help clients learn something new. We can work with a person so they’re not just able to accomplish a goal or task one time, but so that the can continously do it on their own. The aim here is to teach someone how to do something rather than just telling someone what to do.

3) Changing how you relate to yourself
At this level, we might work with how you relate to yourself and others and your world. By achieving insight in this, one can create lasting change.

Example of coaching model used with weight management

At levels one and two, a coach may address a client’s relationship with food, calories, and exercise, whereas at level 3, the focus is shifted to the relationship with themselves. This might include understanding how they relate to their body and how they seek out nurturance and comfort outside of food. At this level, techniques might be brought in to allow one to slow down and get in touch with what is really needed or desired. This new perspective into themselves allows a greater sense of accomplishment, freedom, and potential.

Coaching structure
In the first session, we will do an in-depth intake to address your specific goals and interests. Then in session 2 or 3, I will present you with an outline to how we can address your specific concerns, as well as focus on patterns, beliefs or ways of living that may be interfering with you living your goals, vision or optimal potential.

I will suggest specific practices self-observations and techniques to explore the issues and create lasting healthy solutions in your life. We’ll then explore these themes as the weeks progress – particularly working with obstacles that arise in order to support a deep transformation. Ideally the initial intake and following session is done in person. After that, the work can be conducted via phone. Sessions usually take place weekly at an agreed upon time.

COACHING PACKAGES

Healthy Start Coaching Package
These sessions will include one-on-one coaching to address obstacles and identify goals you are wanting to work towards. This package gives you four sessions each month. The duration and frequency of the sessions are typically one session a week, but can be arranged according to your preference and schedule. These individual sessions can cover items such as: weight loss, sugar cravings, emotional eating, stress management, relationships, chronic illness, life transitions, mindfulness.

Coaching Sessions

These services can be arranged into a package that works for you and addresses your unique goals and desires. Additional sessions can be purchased for additional support and wellness.

Four- 30 minute telephone coaching sessions

Four- 50 minute telephone coaching sessions

Eight (approximately 2 months)- 30 minute telephone coaching sessions

Eight (approximately 2 months)- 50 minute telephone coaching sessions

Whole Person Healing Start-Up
This coaching package incorporates 4 sessions to help you to explore different aspects of health and healing to support you in your path to well-being. These sessions will include a first session of one-on-one coaching to address obstacles and identify goals you are wanting to work towards, an hour-long nutrition session to help you incorporate healthy eating practices, one personal training session to create a program of exercise that addresses your unique body and fitness goals, and lastly a guided imagery session to help you access a deeper level of healing.

4 session package

Pleaes call or e-mail me to set up an appointment and indicate which service you are interested in and provide a few dates and times that you prefer. Telephone: 415-971-7556