Are you interested in helping other people? Would you like to help other people to improve their lives? Why not consider becoming a Life Coach?

What This Course Can Do For You:

• Give you skills to set up and work as a Life Coach.
• Qualify you to join the Association of Coaching.
• Help you develop contacts and build networks within industry.
• Raise your awareness of opportunities within the coaching industry.
• Lay a sound foundation of knowledge and skills which can grow with experience and further study.

During the Life Coaching course, there are ten lessons in which you will study -

• definitions of life coaching
• life coaching theories
• maintaining a well balanced life
• coaching skills
• physical well being and life coaching
• setting goals with clients
• coaching success
• review and adjustment in the coaching process
• you will complete ten assignments during the course, which will include case studies for you to complete on how you would work with clients.

ACS Distance Education is an organisational member of the Association For Coaching.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction: Nature & scope of life coaching - Nature of life coaching, cognitive behaviour therapy, different approaches, the scope of life coaching.
2. Individual Perception - Psychology of self-perception, perceptual barriers, motivating clients to challenge their perceptions,
3. A Well Balanced Life - The inter-relationship between psychology and physiology, stress, the psychology of balance
4. Coaching Processes - Key coaching processes, assessment of the client's situation, dealing with emotions, setting goals, replacing negative habits with positive ones, leadership qualities in a life coach, imagination and enthusiasm, clarifying goals, recognition of limitations.
5. Coaching Skills -Understanding the communication process, body language, communication barriers, listening skills, assessing learning styles.
6. Coaching and physical well-being - Human nutrition, important factors in nutrition, physical well-being.
7. Coaching and psychological well-being - The psychology of self-esteem, stress management programme, identifying stressors.
8. Coaching Success - High achievement, coaching success, career guidance, managing your money, beginning a business.
9. Goal Setting - Values, aims and goals, types of goals, planning, future goals, steps for sucessful goal achievement, effort and attribution.
10. Review and Adjustment - Indications that a programme needs to be reassessed, client's lack of confidence, personality clash, over-achievers, health and safety issues,

What You Will Do

• Interview a life-coach (or someone who offers life-coaching service as part of their professional counselling repertoire) for information on the nature of life-coaching.
• Identify principles that differentiate life coaching from other helping professions.
• Consider pros and cons of different approaches to life coaching.
• Do case studies to reflect on and/or observe the effects of different life-coaching
  • approaches on improving a person’s quality of life.
• Design and administer a questionnaire to research some effects of negative aspects of self-perception.
• Discuss the importance of balancing a client’s limitations and encouraging the
  • to step outside their comfort zones
• Identify means of monitoring an individual’s self-perceptions.
• Examine the relationship and interaction between a person's mental/psychological and physical health and wellbeing.
• Consider how to deal with clients with special needs such as disabilities.
• Identify the processes involved in life coaching and describe what each can contribute to a client's personal growth and development.
• Discuss ways individuals might resist life changes and ways to facilitate change.
• Discuss the pros and cons of assertiveness training.
• Identify reasons that individuals are unable to make decisions.
• Identify different life coaching skills and when they are required.
• Explain the importance of listening to the client and how to do it.
• Consider factors that might make a life coach’s personal skill repertoire ineffectual.
• Discuss the role and risks of physical life coaching in the life-coaching process.
• Research factors that must be considered when setting out a life coaching plan to promote physical health, and psychological health.
• Identify crucial information to be included in the development of a client’s plan.
• Discuss ways to nurture a client's goal setting, planning and self-monitoring skills .
• Research how much life-coaches use/do not use individualised client plans.
• How can the life-coach monitor the effectiveness of his/her program for a client?
• Create and evaluate an action plan for a real person/client, including monitoring.

Sample Course Notes - How To Get Started As A Coach

The first thing to recognise is that there is no set starting point to begin working toward a business or career as a life coach. If you look at people who are successful life coaches, you will find a mixed bag of backgrounds.

Some commence their career by taking a comprehensive course of study; while others may come to it with a wealth of experience and knowledge built up through all sorts of life experiences.  Some may be stronger in one aspect of the job than others; and that is not necessarily a bad thing. A life coach who has extra strengths in the area of fitness may tend to attract clients with a greater need of help in that area; while another who has strengths in the area of financial and business management may attract clients with a greater need in those areas.

You need to recognise that no life coach can ever be all things to all people; but over time, and with experience, you may develop a capacity to help people in any area they need help.

How to Get Clients

First you will need to be really clear about the service you are offering, and who you are offering your services too.

• How are you going to structure your programmes?
• Do you have a special area of expertise, such as health, business development, fitness or finance?
• Who do you want to deliver your services to?

To be convincing, and inspire confidence in potential clients you will need to be able to succinctly describe your service, and most importantly how they will benefit. People are more enticed by the value they will receive than hearing all about what it is that you do. So rather then telling them how you will run the sessions by talking about their life and their goals, then working out strategies to help them reach their goals, say something like “are you living your dream life? Do you want to? Well, that’s what my life coaching services can do for you.” These words may not work for you, so work out something you can say to entice people to your service that feels authentic to you.

To get an even better response, you can tailor your spiel to the individual person that you are speaking to by responding to their unique needs and appealing to their desires. You want the potential client to be attracted to your services to fulfil their personal desires. For example asking, what does your dream life look like?... listen to their answer then reply with how you can help them to achieve this. Just make sure you are genuine!

Once you have become clear about your service, your target market, and how you are going to present your offer, you will need to start finding yourself some clients.

Here are some ideas for ways to attract clients:

• Word of mouth is the best way to get clients. People trust other people’s opinions, especially if they know the person, but also even if they don’t.  It may take some time to build your business through word of mouth, so you may need to have special offers to entice people to try your services and encourage them to recommend them to their friends. For example by offering their first session for free and an additional discount to their following appointments if they refer a friend. Encouraging people to “like” your business on facebook is one way to help people spread the word about your service.
• Networking is another really effective tool. You need to get out there and talk to people about your business. Even if the person you speak to doesn't require your services, if they come across someone who does require coaching, you will be the first person they think of. Networking can include social events, as well as more formal business networking events. It can include calling someone up and going for a coffee, or contacting other similar professionals.
• Share information. This will build your credibility with potential clients and inspire them to come and use your services.
• You need to be visible. People who need to use a life coach need to be able to find you.
• You need to be remembered. If you are only seen occasionally, you will not be remembered.
• You need to be perceived as being good. If you can build relationships with other professionals and get "testimonials", that helps a lot. If you present an impressive "profile" or CV, that helps.
• Work on getting referrals. Consider developing relationships with other businesses - Financial advisors, gyms, health professionals etc, may refer people to you, and you refer people back to them.
• You need to be accessible. When you are starting out, make yourself available whenever people want you (within reason!). If you refuse to give your phone number, or the phone always goes to an answer phone; you will lose clients. If you limit the days or times of day you are available, you will make it harder to get clients. If you make yourself readily available, any time, anywhere, you are going to build a business faster.
• Get a web site - this is expected for most businesses today. Include testimonials - preferably video testimonials.
• Get involved with social media. Just having a facebook or linked-in account does not work unless you use them (daily), and use them in the right way.
• Advertising - adverts in newspapers and magazines might work in some places, but they can also be an easy way to waste money.
• Shows, Exhibitions etc -Having a stand at the right type of show or exhibition may be a way of getting a new business started, but again, many shows can be a big waste of time and money. Always look at the numbers of people who go to the show; the type of people, whether they are "your potential customers", talk to other stand holders and find out how successful the show has been for them in past years.
• Brochures - can be useful if written well, but only if you can get them into the right hands.
• Shop front - do not expect you will get business by leasing a shop or office and putting a sign up -again can be a waste of money. You are better to get a practice moving before leasing commercial space.
• Listings in directories - a directory of life coaches on the internet might work for you; but again, consider, in your locality, will people look for life coaches this way?
• Events - A launch might attract free media coverage, particularly if you do something off beat, imaginative and quirky.
• Offering something Free (e.g. free first session, free online assessment, free book, free newsletters, free information).

ACS Distance Education is an organisational member of the Association For Coaching.

Who is this course suitable for?

The Life Coaching course is a great introduction to working as a life coach. So this course is a great one for you if -

• You want to learn more about life coaching.
• You want to work as a life coach.
• You want to run your own business.
• You want to improve your coaching skills within your current role.
• You want to learn more about the theories of coaching.

Why Study This Course?

This course is an excellent start to your career as a life coach.  Throughout the course, you will learn the theory of life coaching and look at life coaching practice through case studies and developing action plans.  Our Life Coaching tutors are there to help you every step of the way, so that you learn how to coach clients effectively.

Any Questions?

Please click here to contact a tutor or Request a course handbook here.