What is Life Coaching?

Life coaching is an increasingly popular service that greatly benefits people from all walks of life. It differs from other disciplines, such as therapy or counseling, in that life coaching prioritizes the present. Instead of focusing on the past, coaches help clients examine their current lives as a whole; identify desired outcomes or goals; and design concrete actions and solutions to pursue these goals. Life coaching is an incredibly empowering experience that stems from positivity. Coaches don’t tell their clients what to do or think; the dynamic is not “doctor-patient”. Rather, coaches act as a guide to help clients make decisions using not only their extensive training in life coaching, but also knowledge from fields as varied as sociology, psychology, neuroscience and career development. Clients and coaches work together—as colleagues—to determine what works best for the client.

What is Academic Success Coaching™?

Academic Success Coaching™ is our trademarked, academics-centric form of Life Coaching for young people—high school students, college students and recent graduates.

For our high school student-clients, we are proud to be able to offer our Academic Life Coaching™ services in conjunction with College Admissions Consulting. Élan recognizes that school is the number one source of stress for many students, and we work with students to address all things school and college apps-related: grades, tests, study skills, extracurriculars, sports, you name it.

Still, nothing occurs in a vacuum, and Élan believes that academic success is no exception. Where adults in life coaching might initially focus on career as a problem area only to find that their relationships or wellness need more work, in the course of these sessions you might discover previously unexamined “blockers” to a stress-free, accomplished high school career. Addressing these blockers—and anything else you wish to work on in your life—is what we will help you with in Coaching. With the objective of a smooth-sailing high school career and college applications experience, Élan is committed to giving you the practical tools you need to use introspection and solve problems on your own, in your own way.

If you are happy and productive in life outside of school, you will be happy and productive in school. And if you are happy and productive in school, you will naturally become a more attractive applicant to colleges by senior year.

What will Coaching sessions be like?

You and your Coach will participate in regular sessions in the form of phone calls or video chat (we love using Skype or Google Hangout). Each hour-long session is simply a casual conversation.

The only difference between your conversation with your Coach and your conversation with a friend is that you and your Coach’s will be directed towards a goal that you design at the beginning of a session. For example, if prior to speaking with your Coach you experience some tension with a friend or family member that you cannot stop thinking about, bring it up and you and your Coach can work on it! Your Coach will listen to what you have to say and be genuinely interested. He or she will then ask you questions and guide you into an organic conversation that explores what you are going through.

At the end of the session, you and your Coach will jointly design “action steps” to address the issue. You can then try it on for size for the rest of the week and see if your objectives come to pass.

How do college applications fit in with Academic Success Coaching™?

For your freshman and sophomore year of high school, your Élan Coach may devote more of your Academic Success Coaching sessions to life and study skills, all the while helping you keep an eye on the things you need to do for college, like deadlines and SAT/ACT testing dates.

For junior and certainly senior year, a greater percentage of your 10 yearly sessions may be devoted to figuring out the particulars of what to do for the applications themselves. That’s when you and your Coach will move more readily into essays, scholarships and the like.

Remember the best part: the content of these sessions is flexible and is all about you and what you need in the moment.

What do I need for Coaching?

An open mind and a genuine willingness to work with your Coach!