Life Coach?

Bipolar has given my one "talent" that I'm not using to my fullest potential.  A forum member "put a bug in my ear" about it tonight.

I don't know what to call it.  Something like empathy and good advice.  :)

What do you think about life coaching?  not counseling - that focuses on the past, on diagnosising and treating a condition.  But coaching - making a plan to move forward and improve your life.

What would you pay for a life coach?  What would you pay for a life coach that caters specifically to people with bipolar disorder?  What would you pay for an hour of my undivided attention?

 

It definitely isn't a replacement or substitute for a pyschologist or psychiatrist.  I think it is a fancy name for giving advice and asking good questions.

Really, really distilled:

Psychologist - dealing with past issues and mental illness, how you feel about things

Psychiatrist - diagnosis and medication

Life Coach - learning to move forward and live the best that you can, practical things you can DO

I just thought that I've been doing this for/with friends and random strangers for 10 years!  That's quite a bit of experience.  There isn't any license or certification required to start.  Just skype or a phone and a website.

And - I can do it when I'm depressed (this is HUGE).  Not only can I do it when depressed, I get HUGE benefit out of it.  Helping someone else talk through their problems will get me out of a depression every time.  It would help other people, supplement my income and help me staying stable.

Hey Red   :)  - I hear you on trouble with traditional work!  With bipolar it is hard to find direction in life, or even to find identity.  Those alone make working stressful, not to mention that traditional workplaces have a lot of bp triggers!

Thanks for the encouragement. :) My website guy is setting something up. If I get 2 sessions (in the next year), the website has paid for itself. That's not a lot of risk. If it goes really badly or is super disappointing then I don't renew the website, right?! No big deal? No big marketing scheme - just an easy to navigate website, and word of mouth from friends.

Genetic - those aren't symptoms of bipolar - just common problems for anyone with a mood disorder. For example, difficulty with time constraints isn't a symptom of bipolar, but it is a really common trigger that causes problems for bipolars in the workplace. Identity crisis is more of a problem with bipolars that have had it since childhood, and those with rapid-cycling or cyclothemia that spend so little time in a normal state that they have a hard time knowing what is real and not - much less who they are (beyond their symptoms). Just want to be sure I'm clear and you're not offended. :) You seem to do a pretty good job educating yourself and trying to make good choices - like with your diet. You're probably doing a lot of proactive healthy choices for yourself already and don't need someone to help you. (Kudos!)

Red - I think there is a place for both past and future. for instance if someone has a trigger and they know WHY they have the trigger, the psychologist can help work through the past issue causing the trigger. The life coach can help to make a plan to proacticely avoid / eliminate the trigger. Do you see the difference? They are both important. Between the two, there is a decent chance the trigger will stop being a problem.

For example, my parents trigger me often. I could examine WHY and try to heal from it with a psychologist. I have done this and it didn't make a huge difference - healing takes time. But with the life-coach-approach, I made proactive decisions to set boundaries and mostly eliminate the trigger. It comes up occassionally still because I haven't continued the work with a pscyhologist and actually healed. But because of the choices and changes I made, it is not a constant problem that is causing mood swings. Now it just bothers me and I vent to my boyfriend and I'm over it. :)

I put up ONE page of my new website today.  I can't post the link on this forum because of the rules, but I did make my email address on my profile available so anyone can contact me.

Can I get 5 volunteers to take 6 FREE sessions each so I can practice what I already do in a more formal way?  Just email.  :)

Haha! You want direction, I'll come up with something. lol I was more hoping you would get a laugh. :)

Seriously though, flylady.net is a nice site to help on those days when nothing seems right, you feel "lost" and without direction, and everything seems overwhelming. I think her thing is "go shine your sink!" Go to the "Baby Steps" link.

And.... you'll never know what I'll say if you don't try. :tease: I appreciate the viewpoint of a skeptic!

I could totally herd your 5 cats! I used to have an obedience trained cat. :P LOLOL

I do have bad days, but I'm always learning and practicing to do better. I think even with tp's and pdoc's there is something missing. They give you a diagnosis, meds (that may or may not work) and sit down and talk about your childhood. There isn't a whole lot to help you move FORWARD. How to continue to live, to learn to make good decisions, how to navigate through life when you never know what direction you are facing. If I can pass on some of what I have learned and it improves someone's life, I will feel good! :)