Brigid Cooling Coaching
   personal and business coaching by telephone or internet instant messenger chat

Thinking about coaching? Is it right for you? What is it anyway?

There's something in your life you want help achieving or changing. It could be anything:

I have a specific plans - I want to finish that course, redo my cv, start my own business - and I want more motivation or accountability

I don't know what I want, I just don't want what I have! I want some help in figuring it out!

Its not so much about achieving things - always looking to the future, I want to live a more enriched life and take time to smell the flowers - I want to take the scenic route through life!

I work alone most of the time and want a weekly sounding board to keep me focused and bounce my ideas off!

I need a fresh pair of eyes on my situation, someone to challenge my assumptions.

See below for some of the areas people have brought to me for coaching.

ABOUT ME

I am a fully qualified, professional, motivational business and life coach. I encourage my clients to identify and structure their plans and goals, explore the challenges they face, and enable them to tap in to their own inner resources to create the life they want. I became a coach because throughout my life, I have always enjoyed helping people to discover things for themselves. To me, the best thing about being a coach is when clients have their "light bulb" moments, when they suddenly discover an option they never considered before. I love it when they reflect back on our time together and recognize how far they have come, the tools they have learnt to use to help them in the future. There's a short biography giving my background and areas of specific coaching experience below.

WHAT IS COACHING?

Coaching is way of encouraging people to identify where they want to be in life, where they are now and how they will get there. My role as your Coach is to use specialized questioning techniques and exercises to draw out from within yourself the areas in which you wish to change aspects of your life, and your action plan for doing so. As your Coach, my role is to stretch you beyond your comfort zone, bring 'overwhelm' into perspective, and challenge you to think about problems, obstacles, barriers, methods in new ways. I will also use different listening and questionning skills and exercises to help you to identify and work on eliminating any self-limiting beliefs ("I can't", "I've never been able to", "It's just not me" etc) which are holding you back.

Ready to commit? contact me

MY CLIENTS

My clients take responsibility for themselves, for designing the life they want and making it happen. Our coaching may be focused around specific goals within a given time-scale - eg. complete this project by that date - or they may be more about 'living in the now' - "what feelings, relationships, activities do I want to experience in my normal daily life?" If you are a tightly focused person, you know what you want and you know how to get it, then the coaching may be more around how do you achieve your goals while maintaining balance in all areas of your life. You may be someone who isn't sure what you do want, you just know you don't want what you've got! Our coaching in this case may focus around identifying those areas of your life where you wish to make changes.

My clients come from all over the world. While most of my clients are from the UK, I have worked with clients in the US, Europe, Egypt and the Gulf countries, South Africa. My clients come from a wide range of backgrounds - arts, law, accountancy, small businesses, media, sciences and the corporate world.

Coaching is a process and does not involve giving advice or making suggestions. Everything that happens as a result of coaching is entirely your choice. Because of this, it is not necessary to have specific experience coaching in the particular area you wish to explore. Indeed, it can sometimes be advantageous not to have the specific experience as fresh eyes and fresh questions are brought to the situation. It is much more important that we have rapport and trust. Nonetheless, here are links through to a list of specific coaching issues I have worked with and a short biography.

People and businesses hire coaches for a wide range of reasons - some of the different areas I have coached in are: career, work-life balance, managing finances, money, paperwork, health, home (routines and decluttering), time management, personal development and growth. I have also coached small businesses - both start up and ongoing concerns.

Ready to commit? contact me

MY METHODS

Most of my coaching sessions take place on the phone. I also provide internet messenger (chat) coaching for those who cannot - or simply prefer not to - talk about these aspects of their lives on the phone. See below for an overview of people who may like to try or use this method. Sessions are booked on the hour though the actual call itself is usually 45 minutes. A few minutes at the start and end of the session are set aside to prepare for the call and to review the session at the end.

What will I do for you?     I will listen to you - both to what you say and don't say; summarize and feedback to you to make sure that I have understood you correctly; I won't judge you - don't be shy to say if you find something very challenging that others find easy. Everyone is not the same and coaching is about you. You are the expert in your life!

What won't I do for you?     I won't give you advice or make suggestions. This is not the job of a coach. I won't give anecdotes from my own life - you know the kind of thing "oh that happened to me too, let me just tell you about it....". I will not presume to know how you feel based on how I might feel in the same situation!I most certainly will NOT do your actions for you! Anything you do as a result of coaching is entirely your own decision, not that of anyone else.

My responsibility or your responsibility?    It is important to note that if, at any point during our coaching alliance, I believe as a private individual that you need to take suitable professional advice, be it medical, legal, financial or anything else, then I will inform you of this during the session. If I genuinely believe as a private individual that you are endangering your life or those of others in some way then I will inform you of any steps I may feel obliged to take potentially in breach of confidentiality. Any such matter will be fully documented by me.

As your coach, it is my responsibility to challenge and stretch you using various techniques. It is your responsibility (and right) to say 'no' to anything you are genuinely unhappy about for whatever reason.

Ready to commit? contact me

GETTING STARTED

Coaching takes time, energy and commitment. You have to want to change and be at a place in your life where you are willing and able to invest the effort. No one can make the changes for you. Consider the following statements honestly:

• I am able to take responsibility for my own life and actions to achieve my goals. No one can do this for me, including my Coach.
• Coaching is an investment in my future, not a 'quick fix'. I am fully committed to giving it the time, energy and attention it needs to reach my goals.
• I am ready, willing and able to work towards changing self-defeating behaviours and self-fulfilling prophecies that are creating barriers in my life.
• I am ready to commit the funds necessary to pay for coaching and understand that it is a worthwhile investment in my own future.
• I am ready to commit the time necessary to take the coaching sessions, and respect both my time and that of my Coach by being on time for scheduled appointments.
• I am open to trying new things even if I can't always see the point at the time.
• I am willing to be truthful with my Coach and in turn am ready to be challenged and to feel uncomfortable at times. I will tell my Coach straightaway if I am genuinely unhappy about some aspect of the coaching.
• I know and understand that Coaching is not counselling or therapy. I believe that Coaching is the appropriate process for the changes which I wish to make.

Ready to commit? contact me

CHOOSING A COACH

The right Coach is an invaluable ally, believing in you, supporting you and challenging you without judging you and without having their own agenda. Choosing the right Coach is very important. You need to feel able to relax and be open with your Coach. It is important that you feel your Coach can offer the right kind of questioning and challenging skills to suit YOU. Everyone is different, and a great Coach for one will not necessarily be a great Coach for another. It is a good idea if you talk to two or three Coaches before making your decision.

Coaching is a process, Coaches do not make suggestions or offer advice, so experience in your particular area is not essential - and is sometimes preferable as the Coach will come to a situation with fresh eyes and fresh questions. Nonetheless, some people prefer a Coach with either a similar background or experience in a particular area. I have given a short biography and a list of just some of the topics where I have coached people.

WHAT DOES YOUR COACH DO FOR YOU?

• Listens to you without judging.
• Focuses on you - does not talk about herself at all.
• Asks you thought-provoking questions.
• Reflects and summarizes back to help you clarify your thoughts and make sure she's understood you.
• Believes in your ability to achieve what you want.
• Provides an outside, objective perspective, identifying central issues.
• Helps you define goals, strategies and plans and attain them.
• By using certain tools and techniques with you, enables you to learn ways of 'self-coaching' in the future.
• Challenges you to move outside your comfort zone and serves as your support structure in doing so.
• Helps you to examine very challenging goals and bring them into 'stretch' not 'panic' zone.

Ready to commit? contact me

MORE ABOUT ME

Short biography.

I bring to my Coaching a wealth of experience spanning infrastructure, health, electronics and education sectors. I have worked for large and small organizations within both the private and public sectors. I have worked at senior management level and held several professional specialist roles in customer services, asset performance, data analysis, engineering sales support, and commercial property management as a former Chartered Surveyor. I have also taught maths, physics and English!

I am an expert time manager - having achieved several postgraduate qualifications while working full-time, and I always seek to use simple methods to streamline processes. I have followed my dreams on several occasions - returning to university at 39 to study for that Ph.D. I always dreamt of, and which I was awarded at 43 - I am now officially a model (albeit a space physics model rather than the new Kate Moss!). At the end of 2007 I took the plunge and moved to Cairo, Egypt to experience a new way of life and to become a full-time Coach.

QUALIFICATIONS

Coaching is currently an unregulated profession and I have been Coaching informally for many years both explicitly and within the context of my academic and managerial roles. In 2007, I decided to qualify professionally.

I hold the following coaching qualifications issued by The Coaching Academy, London:

• Diploma Excel in Personal Performance Coaching
• Diploma Excel in Small Business Coaching
• The Corporate & Executive Coaching Programme (endorsed by the ILM)

The Coaching Academy is the largest Coach Training School in the UK. The Coaching Academy courses are currently accredited and endorsed by four British external, professional and academic bodies:

• The Open College Network at their highest level
• The Open and Distance Learning Quality Council
• Education Development International plc
• The Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM)

Ready to commit? contact me

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

While not a requirement for Coaches, most of the major professions such as law, medicine and allied professions, surveying, teaching, accountancy, engineering, counselling, therapy and so on require professionally-qualified persons to maintain a commitment to life-long learning through Continuing Professional Development activities. I fully subscribe to this position and am committed to maintaining up to date qualifications, accreditations and new developments. At present, I am working towards the Advanced Diploma Programme and NLP Practitioner.

From time to time, I have reduced-rate coaching places (typically 25% off) available for people willing to participate in CPD. This means that you agree to having your case written up (confidentially of course!) for submission to accreditation bodies, or having calls monitored from time to time by quality assessors (you will always be informed when this is taking place), or experiment with new methods. Rest assured that the quality of coaching you receive is the same regardless of the rate you pay. Interested? email me putting 'CPD Waiting List' in the subject line.

AREAS OF COACHING EXPERIENCE

Here are some of the wide range of reasons people have asked me to coach them.

Career, Work, Life Balance, Finances*, Money,
Paperwork, Health*, Home, Time, Personal, Growth

Carry on reading for more information on the topics coached around.

CAREER / WORK / BALANCE

• I can't get on with my boss, I don't know if I have a future with this company.
• I need to get a new job, help me sound convincing when interviewers ask me what my strengths are.
• I need to quit my job; I've become so negative that I am starting to affect my team and those around me.
• I seem to upset people at work and I don't know why.
• I'm juggling too much between home and family. My wife is suffering PND but if I don't finish my degree my career is on the rocks.
• I don't feel that I'm really a [New Role]. I feel like a fraud, that someone will find me out.
• We have been through a tough time in the company with downsizing and reorganization. There is a lot of conflict in the teams. Can you run some team building coaching workshops for us?

Ready to commit? contact me

FINANCES */ MONEY / PAPERWORK

• My finances are a mess; I need to get control over them. I need to figure out how to manage my budget.
• My paperwork is in heaps and piles all round my home, I can't find anything. I need a new filing system. I try a new filing system every few months, but it never works.

Ready to commit? contact me

HEALTH*

• I know that I need to follow this exercise plan every week but I just can't seem to motivate myself.
• I have been struggling with my weight for years, I know what I should be eating, I just don't seem able to stop raiding the fridge.

Ready to commit? contact me

HOME

• I am horribly overcommitted, my house is in chaos and I don't know where to start. I haven't had anyone over for months. I have so much else to do, the cleaning just never seems to be top priority. The laundry is in heaps, the fridge is full of science projects.
• Help me get rid of things, I can't let go. I am living in a museum. I'm swallowed up by books but I can't give them away, I was brought up to worship books.

Ready to commit? contact me

TIME / WORK

• Everyone wants a piece of me. The business is picking up now and I just can't do it all. I feel like a headless chicken - I need to get control back.
• I've just expanded the business with a new product and I am running to keep up. I'm a sole trader and I just need someone to listen to me every week to challenge my thinking.

Ready to commit? contact me

PERSONAL / GROWTH

• I don't know what I want to do most. I have so many ideas, my head is buzzing all the time; I start things and never finish them; I lose interest.
• I've been playing roles all my life, I don't know who the real me is anymore. Who is the authentic me?
• My husband is on nights a lot and I am bored. I want to learn French but I don't know where to start. He doesn't want me signing up for evening classes. I haven't got the motivation to do it alone.
• Can you help me to find my way back to God?

Ready to commit? contact me

*Please note that Health and Finance Coaching do NOT involve giving advice or making suggestions, and I am not qualified to do so. If at any time, and in any issue during our Coaching I believe as a private individual that you should take specialist, qualified advice then I will tell you. Depending on the nature of the issue, it may be necessary to suspend coaching until the qualified advice has been sought.

Ready to commit? contact me

OTHER INFORMATION

Internet Instant Messenger Chat Coaching
Most coaches use speech/listening methods - telephone or face to face - coaching methods. This means that if you either can't, or prefer not to, use voice methods for talking about your thoughts or feelings you are normally unable to participate in coaching. Some coaches do offer email coaching, but this takes place over hours or days and while it has its place, does not give the same instant feedback as the phone.

Internet instant messenger (chat) coaching gives you coaching at the same pace as a telephone, depending on your typing speed of course - though people choosing this method will usually be comfortable with this method of communication already!

Internet instant messenger coaching is for you if:

• you have hearing difficulties
• you have speech difficulties
• you express your thoughts better in writing
• you can say things on messenger you don't feel able to say on the phone
• your cultural or religious views prefer that you don't speak with a female
• you want to be sure your coach doesn't make any sub-conscious judgements based on your gender or appearance
• you have a heavy accent yet prefer to be coached in English
• you travel a lot and internet or mobile phone connections are not good enough for speech
• you are in a noisy environment
• you are not able to get a private space for your session and don't want to be overheard
• you like to have a written transcript of the session for your records

I currently use Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Googletalk or Skype Chat. If you have another preferred method, let me know and I will try to accommodate you.

Ready to commit? contact me

CONTACTS

info @ coolbeesplace.co.uk
UK LocalCall: 0845 308 2489
Land: +44(0)208 123 9819
Skype: brigid.cooling
Snail: see foot of page

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Page last updated: 17th November 2009
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