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This website is dedicated to occupational therapists interested in adding coaching to their professional practice toolkit.Coaching is being increasingly recognized by occupational therapists as an effective intervention approach that they can use to enable clients in their pursuit of meaning, adaptation and change. Coaching has been formally adopted as an enablement skill by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT, 2007). Coaching has been identified by the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists (AAOT) as an emerging area of practice for the profession.
Definition of coaching in the context of occupational therapy:
Coaching in occupational therapy is one of a variety of modalities/tools that may be used in the enablement of occupation with clients.
It is a specific conversational partnership for enabling occupational change that assists clients to clarify what is important to them, access their strengths, resources and creativity, choose goals and design and follow a plan of action to get what they want. The process is highly client-centred, fosters self-directed learning and is grounded in self-awareness, personal values and strengths recognition. A key focus is assisting clients to discover what is important to them, contribute more of their unique self to the world and thus create a greater sense of meaning in their lives.
The distinguishing feature of coaching in the context of occupational therapy is its focus on occupation. The goal of coaching in occupational therapy is to enable occupational change that fosters optimal client health and well-being. Occupational performance is the dynamic interaction of person, occupation and environment. Coaching enables by beginning at the level of the person (affective, cognitive and spiritual). As a result of the client's action-reflection-learning cycle throughout the coaching process, changes then occur at all three levels (person, environment, occupation).
Background
The origins of the coaching skills that can be used by occupational therapists for enabling occupation are found in the field of professional coaching. Professional coaching is a process engaged in by persons who want to make changes in their lives. The process occurs over time and is facilitated by a coach. The coach works with the client in a conversation and question-based process to foster client self-awareness and assessment of current behaviors, definition of personal values, and recognition of strengths that in turn will foster self-directed client learning. Coaching takes an appreciative approach, in that it focuses on the individual's strengths and builds on what is working in his or her life (Cooperrider & Whitney, 1999). In this way, coaching assists clients to make lasting lifestyle changes that enhance well-being and health. In the professional coaching relationship, clients are considered partners, or equals, with the coach. Clients are supported in clarifying what is important to them, recognizing their beliefs and assumptions about who they are in the world, expanding their options, and choosing and making desired life changes-all with the overall aim of moving in the direction of a more balanced, effective, and personally meaningful life.
What is Professional Coaching?
Although we use the term here of professional coach or coach, it is important to note that the concept of coaching goes by many titles. Common terms used in the literature and popular press include life coach, wellness coach, executive coach, personal coach, peer coach, and mentor. Definitions of coaching vary, but "the contemporary use of the term coaching has moved well beyond the traditional references to sports or educational coaching" (Cavanagh, Grant, & Kemp, 2005, p. 2). The International Coaching Federation (ICF) describes coaching as:
...partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives. (ICF, 2007a).
Approaches taken by individual coaches range from an instructional approach to a more facilitative approach. Despite differences in definitions, there are common core themes across most coaching approaches, including a focus on the egalitarian and collaborative relationship of the coach and the client, a focus on goal attainment, and an emphasis on the process of coaching being systematic and involving personal growth and self-direction on the part of the client (Stober & Grant, 2006).
Professional coaching focuses on questions such as, "Who am I at my best?" "What is most energizing and meaningful to me?" "What do I want to do with my life?" and "How can I go about creating the life I want?" The coach uses questions, tools, and techniques to help clients gain the necessary clarity about their lives that will allow them to find their own unique answers. The coach assists clients in designing plans and strategies to enhance their lives in accordance with these insights and supports them through the process of putting the plans and strategies into action. Unlike much of the information provided in self-help books, videos, and workshops, professional coaches assist clients to take these strategies and techniques beyond knowledge and actually integrate them into daily life. Ultimately, coaching is about assisting clients to take action (Yousey, 2001). Professional coaches assist individuals to increase their self-awareness, identify their choices, and develop strategies to deal with what gets in their way of moving forward. It is a method that draws on the holistic view of the individual by using the individual's life experiences and strengths. As is the case with therapy, in which highly personal or sensitive information is explored, the quality of the relationship between the coach and the client is a key factor in the process.
Another way to describe coaching is to be clear about what coaching is not. First, coaching is not counseling, therapy, consulting, or educating. Coaching clients are not considered patients or students. The coach is not in a position of power and does not instruct or give advice. Rather, coaching is a partnership where the clients are the experts on their own lives and the coach helps clients come up with their own answers. In coaching, the client, (not the coach), is viewed as the agent of change. In other words, the client is responsible for identifying where change is needed and how to go about making that change. Second, coaching is not about analyzing or healing the past or judging past behaviors; instead coaching is future oriented and goal directed. Coaches challenge clients to focus on the present and to invent their future rather than trying to justify or make up for the past. Finally, coaching is not about the coach being an expert, giving advice, or having a particular agenda. In the coaching relationship, it is the client who sets the agenda and drives the process toward reaching their goals. This is also described as the coach "dancing in the moment" (Whitworth, Kimsy-House, Kimsey-House, & Sandahl, 2007). The coach asks nonjudgmental questions and listens at a deep, intuitive level, guiding the session and process based on the information the client provides. In this way, it is as if the client and the coach are engaged in an intimate dance with the client leading. The coach's role is to support, stretch, and challenge the client toward achieving his or her goals-whatever they may be.
Theoretical Underpinnings of Professional Coaching
Those working in professional coaching are currently in the process of consolidating its theoretical foundations and expanding its empirical evidence base. Like most of the human-service professions, it borrows for its theoretical foundations from a wide range of fields, including human development, psychology, philosophy, and education.
At the core of coaching is recognizing the importance of the dynamic between the human desire for differentiation and unique self-expression on the one hand and the need for integration, connection, and meeting the expectations and demands of the environment on the other. The coaching approach adopts the perspective that we need to help people discover how to bring their choices and actions more in line with their unique "best self" and to connect more creatively with the deep human desire to make a contribution to the betterment of humanity. The success that we have in resolving this paradoxical tension between self and others determines, to a significant extent, our success and satisfaction in life (Sinclair & Russell, 2002). In this context, the challenge for the coach is to work with clients to help them discover what their optimal resolution to this dynamic between differentiation and integration is at their particular stage of their life.
A number of important notions underpin the coaching approach:
One is based in learning theory, particularly transformative learning theory. Transformative learning theory focuses on those aspects of adult learning and knowledge construction that entail making meaning, particularly through becoming aware of the assumptions, values, expectations, and purposes assimilated from others (Mezirow, 2000). Through powerful open questioning, coaches assist clients to become aware of their own values, assumptions, and expectations and how they currently frame their issues and choices. This enhanced self-awareness is often sufficient to precipitate new awarenesses, options, choices, and possibilities that were previously not seen by the client.
A second and related notion informing the coaching process is that there is no single true reality; rather we as humans create our own reality with our thinking. Consequently we can re-create or change our reality by choosing either to change our thinking or how we respond to it. This notion is not new and pervades various fields, including psychology (for example, logotherapy, see Frankl, 1984; Glasser, 2000; May, 1953, 1975, 1983), Eastern religions such as Buddhism (Thurman, 2005), and qualitative research methods such as the phenomenological and narrative approaches (DePoy & Gitlin, 2005). Coaches work with clients to help them become more aware of the thinking, language, and stories that they use to construct their perspectives and experience. Clients can then begin to explore more helpful alternatives and responses, which typically opens up far more options and possibilities for them. As clients become more aware of how their current thinking is limiting them and realize that they have far more choice in their responses than they were previously aware of, self-responsibility and an increased sense of personal agency often ensue.
A third notion fundamental to the coaching approach is the focus on the client's strengths and values versus focusing on shortcomings and weaknesses (Cooperrider &Whitney, 1999; Cooperrider, Whitney, & Stavros, 2003; Seligman, 2002). In applying coaching to issues of life balance, the coaching perspective would be to help clients identify the extent to which their lifestyle is congruent with their strengths and values. The coaching focus would include assisting them to understand their strengths and values and what is truly important to them and then incorporate these more into their life. Recent theoretical and empirical research on human flourishing informs this approach (Aspinall & Staudinger, 2003; Emmons, 2003; Frederickson, 2003; Keys & Haidt, 2003; Ryan & Deci, 2001; Seligman, 2002; Snyder & Lopez, 2002). This research, among others, provides more detailed accounts of human strengths, resilience, the importance of values, and the role of meaning for well-being. Of particular note is the model of authentic happiness put forward by Martin Seligman (2002).