A COACHING APPROACH IN DISABILITY SERVICES:

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1 A COACHING APPROACH IN DISABILITY SERVICES: Questions, Connections, & Outcomes Shani Feyen, MA, CPCC

2 WHAT WE LL COVER Coaching overview: What does coaching really mean? What is a coaching approach, and how can I use it in my current role? Why a coaching approach in disability services? Impacts for neuro-diverse individuals Opportunities for brain integration Goals setting processes that lead to outcomes Coaching examples/tools/resources along the way

3 WHAT IS COACHING? A Partnership: coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential (International Coach Federation, 2011). Client-focused: Coaches empower the client to select the agenda/topic for the coaching relationship (Whitworth, Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House, & Sandahl, 2007) Non-directive: coaches refrain from telling coachees what to do. Instead, they engage in active listening and promote self-discovery and action by posing meaningful questions designed to trigger a client s deeper critical reflection. Accountability-promoting: Coaches also hold the client accountable for following through on goals, plans, and commitments in a non-judgmental manner which promotes learning about what helped and what hindered the actions in between sessions (Quinn et al., 2000; Whitworth et al., 2007). Source: Coaching and College Success, Richmond, et al.

4 HOW IS COACHING DIFFERENT FROM COUNSELING? Perhaps a lot, and perhaps not really so much. Therapy vs. coaching (adapted from Coaching vs. Psychotherapy: the Great Debate): Therapy Medical model (dysfunctions, diagnosis) Resolve old pain, past, trauma Doctor/practitioner- patient relationship Therapist diagnosis, provides professional expertise and guidelines to provide a path to healing Coaching Healthy clients Deals with the present, design desirable future, Co-creative partnership Coaching helps identify challenges, partners to turn challenges into met goals Perhaps this description relies on old paradigms and stigma, rather than current practices. Bottom line, both can be vehicles to empower clients into self-awareness and change, and there is likely a lot of overlap.

5 A COACHING APPROACH The concept of coaching is typically used quite broadly in disability-related fields of education and rehabilitation counseling (job coaching, academic success coaching, etc.). How can I use a coaching approach with my clients/students? What does this mean? In short, consider the elements of make makes up coaching. We can all apply these in our own role. Requires a role shift from expert to guide Expert: Has all of the answers Guide: Built off of authentic curiosity and teaches that to clients Built off of the base idea of all are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole Start with questions

6 IF ANYTHING, START HERE: POWERFUL QUESTIONS What makes a question powerful? Examples of powerful questions: What do you mean by that? What about that is important to you? What are you hoping for as a student/employee? What does it mean to be (a self-advocate, curious, organized)? What steps will you take to be (see above)? How is self-advocacy like a pizza? (why is a question like this so powerful, specifically for the brain?) Let s try the two questions above in relation to your current role

7 WHAT MAKES A COACHING APPROACH POWERFUL FOR OUR CLIENTS? Neurologically, a coaching approach encourages integration and a critical awareness and management of pre-frontal cortex functions: Integration = The linkage of differentiated parts ~Dr. Daniel Siegel (sourced/adapted from Neuroscience of Co-Active coaching, Ann Betz, CPCC)

8 WHAT MAKES A COACHING APPROACH POWERFUL FOR OUR CLIENTS? Ability to integrate and use varied parts of the self (academic, professional, social, emotional, spiritual, etc.) in order to create resonant change Engaging self-discovery and goal attainment in a very different way (connecting to what is meaningful to me and moving forward from that: BE & DO) Engages growth mindset instead of fixed (Carol Dweck provides an overview of her research in this TEDtalk); hinges off the belief that I am capable of learning and changing, rather than a fixed idea of my intelligence and capacity. Research-based support for working with beliefs and flexible thinking. Where is the flexible thinking critical for your clients? Example tool- circle activity rating satisfaction in areas of being a student

9 Social skills: Joining one student organization, going to meals with other students 3x/week, checking in with my RA 2x/week. Academic skills: (example: achieving 3.0, studying 4-5 hours a day, meeting with a math tutor 2x/week, feel confident on my exam. Life management: showering daily, checking my bank account weekly, doing laundry weekly Image shows circle broken into 4 parts, with different descriptions in each part 5 Ideas for using this circle activity (adapted from the Coaches Training Institute s circle of life activity) Start with a question: What are all the parts that make up being a (student, employee.. etc). Create a circle (or just list) to have spaces for each part. What does it mean to be/have X part? Client defines what each part means What is your current level of satisfaction with each part? Client rates on a scale of I have them put a dot in the circle with 1 closest to the middle and 10 close to the outside. Once client is done rating, use powerful questions: What is it like to be a 5 in life management? What is missing? What are you proud of? What would a 7 mean for you? How will you get there?

10 WHAT MAKES A COACHING APPROACH POWERFUL? A coaching approach allows individuals to calibrate in both hemispheres (logical answer for those on ASD, or more rigid thinkers- go in through the doorway of the left brain) Broader goal is for individuals to experience integration of being and doing, of hemispheres. R- sees the forest, but not the trees, wholeness, interconnectedness, metaphor, visually, music/poetry, questions of purpose and meaning (more being ) L- sees the tree in the forest, individual trees- sequential/logical/parts; sees pieces of the puzzle (more doing ) What happens when we re integrated- using both sides of our brain? What are the implications for development from high school student to professional? Consider our clients as developing professionals: What do we know about successful professionals and the workplace? sourced/adapted from Neuroscience of Co-Active coaching, Ann Betz, CPCC)

11 Example Approach: Chaos vs. Rigidity (source: Neuroscience of the co-active model, ppt 1, Ann Betz, CPCC) LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN Structure: Focus, direction, positivity Freedom: Oneness, meaning, present moment Rigidity: Anger, blame, denial Chaos: overwhelm, depression, fear

12 WHAT MAKES A COACHING APPROACH POWERFUL FOR OUR STUDENTS? Importance of pre-frontal cortex: different brains may need varied levels of stress and stimulation to function; everyone needs to know their own just right, but the tools of coactive coaching can help develop neural pathways that can grow toward integration (Your coachingbrain.com- Goldilocks) Coaching encourages active management from high stress, amygdala hijacks (D. Goleman) Provides a chance to recover to who we are to make choices from a creative/resourceful place, rather than a place of chaos. Shorten the gap between reaction and creation (movement forward) Example coaching tool: Goldilocks (sourced/adapted from Ann Betz, CPCC)

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14 COACHING EXAMPLES: PRIORITIZING Categories: Important/not important urgent/not urgent Adapted from S. Coveys Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Picture to the left is a student s pencil drawing of 4 quadrants. Upper left: Biology video notes, annotated bibliography, read for HPS, work 7-12am Upper right: RCPD scholarship, car insurance, buying textbooks, paying credit card bill off, taxes, FAFSA Bottom left: nothing Bottom right: pack for training. Student writes: I rule my own brain!, and I m not a victim of my own thoughts.

15 A TASTE OF A COACHING APPROACH Let s try it! Three minutes of powerful questions with a partner. Partner A: Consider either a situation with a student you are currently working with, or an area of the circle you completed earlier to discuss for 3 minutes Partner B: Respond to person A with questions only to help the person to discover/explore the situation

16 RESOURCES Books: Kimsey-House, H. Kimsey-House, K. & Sandahl, P. (2011). Co-Active coaching: Changing business, transforming lives. Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Dweck, C. S. (2011). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House. Siegel, D. (2010). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. New York, NY: Bantam. Betz, A. & Kimsey-House, K. (2015). Integration: The Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life. Croydon, UK: Changemakers Books. Articles: Betz, A. (2012). Co-Active Coaching and the Brain: Neuroscience Research Supports the Efficacy of the Co-Active Model. Field, S., Parker, D., Sawilowsky, S., Rolands, L. (2013). Assessing the Impact of ADHD Coaching Services on University Students' Learning Skills, Self- Regulation, and Well-Being. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability (26). Siegel, D. J. (2009). Mindful awareness, mindsight, and neural integration. The Humanistic Psychologist, 37(2), Retrieved from Williams, P. Coaching Psychotherapy: The Great Debate. Choice (2). Retrieved from MDc3I-/RV=2/RE= /RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fcce- global.org%2fassets%2fbcc%2fresources%2fcoachingvspsychologythegreatdebate.pdf/rk=0/rs=i1vzzdavqjxylrwkidahs0e0aow- Online Resources: Your Coaching Brain: yourcoachingbrain.wordpress.com by Ann Betz, highlights neuroscience behind coaching Dr. Dan Siegel s blog: highlighting how the brain changes Carol Dweck s TedTalk: The Power of Believing you can Improve: