Excerpts from:
Coaching! What is it? Who does it? Are we ready for it?
by Nicola Francis-Burnell

Coaching is a process designed to help someone take positive steps towards their dreams faster and more effectively than they would progress alone. Linda Davies believes that the secret to living a fulfilled, happy life "lies in being who you are, doing what you love, and connecting meaningfully with people." For the last 23 years she has had a private psychotherapist practice in Hartford, Connecticut. "My transition and my dream is to be down here on the Cape full time," Linda says. "I've felt a strong pull to the Cape since 1970."

When Linda came across an article about coaching, she realized that she had really been coaching her whole life. "I don't think that people need a coach the way that people need a therapist, but people want to hire a coach because the quality of their life just goes up so many notches. Hooking people up with the appropriate connections is a big part of coaching," Linda says. "One really nice thing about Coach University is the network of support and resources that I have built up. But a coach doesn't fix someone's life," she warns, "A coach creates a safe and positively constructive environment to educate, support and train a client." With 200 hours of credit completed with Coach University, Linda is about to graduate. "So often, most people I work with do not realize their own gifts, so I always work with them on their gift list: 'What do you see as your unique qualities?' I ask them. This allows them to really look inside themselves and figure out what it is they want to do with their lives. Most women are caretakers and we've all been outer-focused and external in helping other people, but not ourselves. Coaching is about helping people figure out what they really, really want in their lives and then what steps to take to accomplish that."

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Coaching involves a very empowering process called "Action Steps" that literally means taking baby steps toward specified goals. These action steps are designated at weekly coaching meetings. Every action is encouraged and supported by the coach in a way that makes the next steps safe ones. "When I coach people through career changes," Linda Davies explains, "I help them build up a reserve of money, time, support and resources, so that when they get to the point of making a huge life change, some of the anxiety is taken out of it. I really think it just reduces the stress, making for an easier transition."

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"People who are really stressed out are the ones who really need a coach," Linda laughs. "It's about having less of certain things and having more of the good things." There is tremendous change in the first three months of coaching because people just start feeling differently about their lives. "This whole coaching program has been a great experience for me to get rid of the tolerations and clean up my act, to provide more space for more joy to come in. It works. Once you start to experience what it's like to feel that, you don't want to go back. Coaching takes a lot of the fear out of life, and it also adds joy and balance."

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"It's so important to really help people get in touch with how they experience their spiritual side," Linda Davies adds. "I try to hear where my clients are coming from in terms of how they conceptualize their spirituality. It is important to support them and help them develop that side of themselves."

Many people come to Cape Cod to heal, but is the Cape Cod community ready for coaching? "No question about it!" Linda says. "I think the world's ready for it!" There is great power in coaching, both for the client and the coach. "There are changes that happen just from the fact that someone hires a coach," Linda says. "Even though coaching is only half an hour a week, coaching goes on 24 hours a day inside that person."

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"The most important thing to me, in life, is people and connections and helping people build community," says Linda. "That's really what it's about for me. I don't picture ever not doing this, it really is who I am and what I love."

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