Coaching Emotion

Coaches help clients with the WHAT, HOW, WHO and WHYs of their journey. I was trained to enter the conversation in more or less that order, otherwise we can misunderstand what the client is really trying to accomplish with the coaching. It can be daunting, however, to go deeper into the emotions of a topic. Internal Family Systems shows us a way to address these vulnerable parts of the client, without entering into depths and lengths of treatmet that falls in the scope of practice of therapists. This short dip into holding space for the vulnerable emotions of the client can have profound effects on the present mental health of the client and is a valuable therapeutic skill that all coaches can learn.

The key to competence as a coach in holding strong emotions of the client starts with an ability to hold your own emotions. That is why my coaching of coaches begins with a practice for the coach to hold space for their own vulnerable parts. Through the experience of m IFS coaching you will understand what you can then do for your clients. It can take just a few sessions to help a client process the wounds that are buried in the past and help those young parts come into the present and become the joyful, playful parts of the personality that they were meant to be. Once a coach has experienced this transformation, they will be able to see the need for it in the clients they serve. A tear in the eye, a choke in the voice or a phrase that startles because of its bluntness of feeling are signals to the coach that something deeper needs attention.