Life Coaching
- Jan 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 3
Why Seek Life Coaching in Chattanooga or Atlanta?
Coaching is an investment that can be returned many times over. It’s not just a collection of techniques or sessions, it’s a form of relationship that is confidential and life changing.
Our work together is designed to empower you to invent something new- perhaps to think something you’ve never thought before, to say something you’ve never said before, to do something you thought impossible…to experience life as fully ALIVE.
HERE’S WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE:
You’ll complete an inquiry form and we will schedule a consultation call to see if we would be a good fit to work together.
Once we start, you and I commit to meeting together across the next several months. We’ll do a deep dive on your life and your inner and outer experiences that impact how you show up in the world.
We meet in person in Chattanooga or virtually via phone or video, weekly or bi-weekly. We may communicate in between scheduled sessions using WhatsApp to share thoughts and experiences in real time.
Our time together is intuitive. Co-Creative. ACTIVE. It will often take the form of:
Inquiry
Experiential Processes to accelerate learning and transformation
Hypnotherapy (if desired)
Practical Training
Skills Sharing
Shadow work and uncovering the hidden parts of self
Intimacy, Sexuality and Relationships
Radical Authenticity
Structuring your work and daily routines
Values and Purpose
Spiritual Exploration
Vocational Exploration
As a coach and clinician, I am committed to bring to my clients that deep, soulful, sense that they are FREE- free from their supposed limitations and their assumed life scripts.
Life Coaching isn’t for everyone.
My style is dynamic and engaged. The expectation is that you are participating fully. This is not about fixing what is broken. You aren’t a problem to be solved. This is YOUR life. If you want conscious, intentional change, you’ve got to show up.
Our work will involve a series of personal challenges that we have created together. These are often in the form of inquiry, asking that you consider new ways of thinking or to take on a different kind of experience. Change doesn’t happen by getting good at “weekly meetings”. Showing up for a session every week or every other week simply conditions us to put on a performance for that time and place.
I make room for a small handful of coaching clients to ensure that each one gets the very best attention. My work is unique; tailored to you and your specific challenges and goals. You bring ALL OF YOU. I bring ALL OF ME. We participate together in life unfolding.
You're a therapist. Why do you call it Life Coaching and not therapy?
Quite bluntly, this is the way that I prefer to work with people at this stage of my career. You get a coach and a therapist and we innovate together!
Life coaching can take many different forms based on the training and personality of your coach. At Ascend, I value the coaching world and the many amazing professionals who inhabit it. I have been personally mentored by coaches. I also recognize that this branch of self-help is like the Wild West. Truly, anybody can call themselves a “coach.” Exploring my website will give you a good idea for my particular approach, experience and style. Many of my clients appreciate the fact that I have training and certification as a mental health professional. Since coaching can delve into vulnerable spaces of your life, it’s reassuring to know that you’re working with someone who has training to handle the whole of you.
What is the difference between life coaching and therapy?
A coach is someone who helps you focus on getting out of life what is most important to you (even when you don’t know what that is yet!) and gives you the tools to keep doing this long after your final session. People typically hire a coach when they are reevaluating life choices, making a career transition, or simply feeling ready for a personal or professional breakthrough. Depending on an individual's life experiences and needs at a given time in their journey, psychotherapy may provide a more appropriate healing space and longer time frame than a more action and results oriented coaching model, especially if you are struggling with mental health issues. The difference we typically see is where someone is starting from, in both mindset and present concerns, which helps determine the pace and results we see in our time together.
Consider the following (typical) cultural distinctions:
Most of a therapist’s clients have mental disorders as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A life coach works mainly with people who have no mental disorders. When a client does need therapy, they get that in addition to life coaching.
Therapists often assist people to gain insight by dwelling on the psychodynamics of their thinking and behavior. While coaches value insight, they assist people to move quickly from the realm of insight into setting goals and taking action.
Therapy, especially when it’s based in psychoanalysis, often delves into the client’s past and inquires into the origin of the behavior. Life coaching is more about assisting clients to change behavior in the present and create the future they want.
Therapists are often focused on a specific problem, the client’s “presenting issue.” Life coaches start with a survey of the client’s whole life, including health, relationships, career, spirituality, and much more, and then deal with every aspect of life. It is much easier to deal with the whole aspect of a client’s life when there is not a significant mental health issue to address.
Sometimes, a therapist’s job can be summarized in the phrase, “There’s something wrong that needs fixing.” Life coaches are more likely to say, “There’s nothing wrong here. My client has a great life and wants it to get even better.”
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