If you are looking for advice on what to do, step-by-step guides or hear from someone that has been there and you want to learn from them than you are better off finding a mentor. If you have a mental health challenge and or are generally struggling with day to day to life then it could be therapy or counselling are the better path. If the first two don't apply then coaching may be the right approach but if you are still unsure most coaches will offer free initial chat sessions to talk through it. You can book a chat with me here via the home page :)

It's a great question! If you have a challenge, blocker, issue, want, dream in your life that despite desperately wanting it, and having exhausted all your other options, you just can't find a way to change it or achieve it then coaching can absolutely be worth it. I guess you have to personally weigh up the cost of coaching versus what you want to see whether it's worth it for you and always make sure you can afford the cost of the coaching without going into financial difficulty.

I would suggest taking advantage of the free intro sessions most coaches offer and see if you strike up a good connection and that you feel comfortable with them. After all coaching can lead to some very personal things coming up and you will likely feel quite vulnerable opening up about weaknesses and challenges. If you are not comfortable with someone that is not likely to happn and the coaching will not likely lead to what you are looking for. But ultimately, like the vast majority of things in life, there is no guarantee that the coaching relationship will give you everything you are looking for so don't be afraid to walk away after the initial intro chat or even after you start coaching sessions. There is no offense for the coach, we are human beings too and know that sometimes things just don't work out.

I've been there, it's daunting. Opening up to a relative stranger is not something I ever thought I'd be comfortable with. I would suggest when looking at possible coaches you read their websites, blogs, social media or anything else you can access to see if their style, tone, message reasonates with you. If it does the next step would be booking in an intro call or chat with the coach, for the majority of coaches this is free. This will be your real chance to ask any questions but more importantly to get a feel and sense if this is the person you can see yourself opening up to and being vulnerable in front of. If you can't I would strongly suggest moving on and trying someone else, hoping that rapport and connection will come later is not likely to pan out... trust your gut!

The sad truth is the coaching industry is rife with 'coaches' who have setup a website or listed themselves on coaching listing pages/services. A lot of these people, where good intentioned a lot of the time, will not have the skills, tools and understanding of coaching to be effective. Even worse if they have some limited knowledge could even do more harm than good! That being said if you have a recommendation or do an intro coaching session with someone, even without training, and you genuienly strike up a good rapport and feel they can help that shouldn't necessarily stop you but just understand the potential risks and that it may not follow a known effective approach or process. Personally I've completed an 18 month coaching apprenticeship which included needing to complete 50 hours of coaching and some stringent observations by qualified coaches in order to pass. Without this I would not be as effective and confident in my skills and tools as a coach.