Healthy Options Magazine - September 2005 issue

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Life coaching - what it can do for you
by Anita Hollerer-Squire, Life Coach

Life coaching is one of the newest trends to hit New Zealand's shores. It originated in
America, with Thomas J Leonard being one of the pioneers behind developing the
professional coaching field from the late 70s.Until a few years ago, most people in
New Zealand had never even heard about life coaching. Only in the past six years it
emerged in the Land of the Long White Cloud and is now recognised as a highly
effective way to bring out the unlimited potential in us all. High-powered business
people, entrepreneurs, professionals and people who want more out of their life have
Life Coaches. There are lots of different reasons for people to hire a Coach, but they
all have one thing in common - they want to improve their life. Some people get a Life
Coach to achieve a better work/life balance, to find the right career, to increase their
income, to work on relationship issues or to stay sharp, focused and ahead of the game.
More and more people are tired of the fast-paced, frenzied world we live in and are
interested in higher-quality lives - lives in which they have more time for themselves and
their relationships, and more energy to invest in their emotional and physical wellbeing.

What do I need to start coaching?
You will need to have the desire to improve your life and be willing to experiment with
fresh approaches and be open to redesign parts of your life. Ultimately, you are the one
who will decide what is best for you, however, the more willing you are to grow as a
person, the greater the benefits will be.

How should I select a Coach?
At this stage, anyone can call himself a Coach. There are no regulations in New Zealand
as yet, and simply being a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF) doesn't
guarantee a certain standard.
I suggest you look for someone who has substantial training with an accredited coaching
organisation like CoachU. Also consider the life experience a Coach has and whether you
like to work with this person. You are going to spend a lot of time with your Coach, so
make sure that you are comfortable with him or her. Choose someone who is a person
you admire or who you would like to be like.

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New Zealand Herald on Sunday - published on March 20th, 2005:

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Guide to life

Can't get no satisfaction? Plenty of people are paying a life coach to help sort out their lives.
ANN NEWBERY reports.

Parnell businesswoman Hinurewa te Hau concedes she'd hit rock bottom before going to a life coach. Her world was in turmoil following the break-up of her 16-year marriage. She gave up a good job in Wellington and moved back to Auckland to make access to her 10-year-old daughter easier. "I was vulnerable," she says, reflecting on a miserable 2004. "I came back to Auckland going through all these issues and needed to sort things out. Somtimes you can't do things by yourself."
A friend recommended she try a hot trend in the personal development field - life coaching. Her three-month stint of several hours once a week with a coach was very intense, "but change was happening to my life and I needed to address what my values and principles were. "I needed to get some sense of clarity, some sense of direction," she says. "I needed to get some self-confidence back, to convince myself I was still a good person. And that's what I got!"

Life coaching "isn't rocket science", laughs life coach Anita Hollerer-Squire whose gentle Austrian accent reverberates around her villa in Kingsland, Auckland. "Life coaching is really simple," she explains. "It's just looking at where you are now in your life, where you want to be and how to get there."
Some of her clients "are stuck", she suggests. The majority come, initially, because of their careers. "They have slithered into something they don't want to be in but they don't know what they want to do." Others may be unhappy that they have no partner, or they're overweight, or have no work life/home life balance.
Life coaches usually begin by asking the client specific questions, having them fill in forms about their values and goals. Later, the client is assigned tasks towards achieving it.
There is no quick fix, Hollerer-Squire cautions. "If somebody expects to come in here and talk to me once or twice then have a great life, no, it's not going to happen," she says. The client has to do the work, overcoming common issues such as procrastination, low self-esteem and fear of failure.
Many of her clients are in their 30s and 40s, facing mid-life crises. "That's old enough to start thinking 'where do I go from here but still have time to make it happen?'" Her oldest customer was 69. "It's nice that older people still look forward, 'OK, what can I do to improve my future?'"

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