Life Coaching - Patricia Carswell...anyone had coaching? Thinking of giving it a go...

[Corrin]

Hi Ladies

Had my 30 minute free session with Patricia last night...a suggestion was that one of you may have been in similar position to me and could give me a bit of advice as to how it works...what worked for you etc.
Feel I need a bit of help to sort my head out about going back to work, what to do, how to go about it (got 2 kids and need to earn certain amount to pay for childcare, redundancy from long-term well paid job and now don't know which way to go).
Anyone been in a similar position and had coaching with Patricia...?
Thanks as always for your advice/thoughts...

[unicorn]

hi Corrin,
I was one of Patricia's 'guinea pigs' and would definately recommend her.
She helped me clear my jumble of a head a bit and work through attainable (bite size)targets.
I think she would be really useful to work with especially re going back to work.

[happymummy2]

A very close friend of mine has just started out as a LIfe Coach, offers phone sessions too!! If you are intersted e-mail me as [email protected] and I will pass on her details to you!! Good Luck, I don't know much about it but am intrigued by the whole idea! :)

[mommie]

i think life coaching is money for old rope...you'd be better off asking advice on mumsnet IMO

[Corrin]

Hmmm interesting...thanks Unicorn,happymummy2 and mommie.

Anyone else?

[Securlurking]

Not used Patricia but have used a Coach (part FTF part phone)

It was excellent, very well worth while. I intend to go back every 18 months or so for "catch up" sessions to ensure things don't slip etc. Having said that I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to make the most of it.

Also I think that it can be horribly over charged for, I do not think that this is a service where quality is reflected by price - shop around, they often do free taster sessions. IMO it is more important to have someone you are comfortable with talking to than someone who is the cheapest/most expensive.

If you decide to try the shopping around approach I could give you the number for my coach - I think she still does the free taster sessions.

[TheHonArfy]

oh BUGGER just typed a really long post and lost it all dammit

Anyhow, I was one of Patricia's guinea pigs and it really helped me.

Done properly it is NOT money for old rope. Yes, it should be obvious (and is to many people) how to sort your life out BUT if we could all do it we'd all have perfect lives wouldn't we.....fact is it's very hard to bring any sense of perspective to your own life and problems. Also, many people (and often busy mothers trying to run themselves/a house/family/job/whatever) are so busy looking after and organizing other people that a)there's no time to sort yourself out and b)subconciously many people believe they're not actually 'worth' spending time looking at themselvers

It's most important that you pick a coach who you click with and feel you can talk honestly too.

Life coaching will make you look at your life, and any particular decisions/problems you have in a structured way. it will help you prioritize things, sort out what to do when, what's important to you, what criteria you can use to decide things and come up with strategies to help yourself. Essentially it's project 'you'

hopefully it will also help you apply the skills you learn in the future so you can be a bit like your own life coach. It's massively helpful to get another perspective on your life and to talk to someone to sort your head out when you don't actually need a counsellor, you just need someone to help you tackle all the stuff that gets swept under the carpet.

I have really gone on - just wanted to say I am sure that there are some crap life coaches out there (as in any field) but the concept itself is not ridiculous IMO. Of course Mumsnet is very helpful too, but quite easy to ignore . I wasn't sure before I started but it really helped me clarify a lot of things and treat myself better. Well worth it especially if you have tricky decisions to make.