Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between licensed counseling and life coaching and Neuro-linguistic Programming practices?
Licensed counseling generally operates from a psycho-social medical model for the treatment of a diagnosed mental illness and major relationship problems. Counselors are trained and legally authorized to diagnose and treat mental illness. As such, licensed counselors often focus on picking apart and processing the details of the past. Licensed counselors have a legal Counselor-Client confidentiality status, and their records are classified as medical records. State laws require counselors to hold those records for several years.
From a mental health perspective, appropriate outcomes are often judged from the counselor’s therapeutic standard for what is optimal. This is advantageous for people dealing with significant symptoms of mental illness or major to severe relationship dysfunction.
Life coaches and NLP practitioners typically work with higher functioning clients with a primary focus on the future—on what people want to do or who they want to be in the future. Life Coaches and NLP practitioners generally take a teamwork approach. To this end, they help people clarify for themselves both their desired goal(s) and the steps toward attaining the desired goal(s).
Steps, as described in the strategies I use, include verifying your core goal and helping you to
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access what resources you currently have and currently can do,
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identify and develop strategies for gaining needed knowledge, training, counsel and practical resources, and
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resolve current blocks or impediments.
With these models, appropriate outcomes are determined by you: what fits you or works for you based on who you are, including your interests, your temperament, and your values. They are designed to assist you in your search for satisfying solutions for your goals, tied to relationships, work, stress reduction, personal change, and more.
Life coaches cannot diagnose or treat diagnosed mental illnesses. While they may coach couples, they cannot do marital therapy.
While neither life coaching nor NLP practices have a legal confidentiality standing, I will not divulge your information without your written permission, unless required to do so by law.
Coaching standards do include disclosure to appropriate parties if there is a significant risk of client self-harm, or harm to others by either the client or a third party. This is to protect the safety of the person at risk.
What is Neurolinguistic Programming and what does it do?
Simply put, NLP is a collection of strategies for helping people
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Identify their internal roadmap of reality
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Make changes in areas of perception that are inaccurate or unhelpful, and
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Tailoring their map to one that is more realistic and more helpful.
NLP is effective in
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Removing internal blocks to desired goals such as fears and blocking beliefs,
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Resolving internal conflicts, as when one part of you says “Do A,” and another part says “Do B,” and you can’t decide which.
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Clarifying personal desires and values,
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Accessing resourceful internal states,
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Accessing and applying models of competence or excellence,
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Turning personal values into living personal traits, and
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Mentally rehearsing living out those changes where you need them in real life.
What is Neuro-linquistic Programming and what does it do?
Simply put, NLP is a set of strategies to accelerate change by identifying and tailoring your internal roadmap of reality to one that is more realistic, resourceful, and helpful.
NLP sees people as capable of living out qualities they value and achieving what they value. This is not about perfection. It is about meaningful personal change, growth, and achievement.
NLP is effective in
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Clarifying personal desires and values,
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Accessing and enhancing relationship skills,
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Finding and applying models of competence or excellence,
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Accessing resourceful internal states,
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Removing internal blocks to desired goals such as fears and blocking beliefs,
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Resolving internal conflicts, as when one part of you says, “Do A,” and another part says, “Do B,” and you can’t decide which to do..
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Turning personal values into living personal traits, and
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Mentally rehearsing living out those changes so you can have them when and where you need them.
Many have found NLP to be a life-changing resource. One of the biggest advantages of NLP for most people is the speed of change compared to many helping strategies. This is a practical consideration when you consider that much of what blocks us is often more internal than external. These blocks include fears, hesitancy, ambivalence, faulty assumptions, internal lack of direction, and unhelpful beliefs.
What does strategic questioning do?
Strategic use of good questions is the heart of a good coaching model. Both NLP and facilitating thoughtful states heavily utilize the use of good questions. There are several reasons for this. Only you really know deep down the things you long for and what makes them valuable to you.
Only you know your resource terrain, including things like
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What your deepest longings are,
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What your abilities are,
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What personal resources you have,
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What you know,
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What you don’t know,
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What keeps you from moving forward, and so on.
Good questions help pull these into focus as you work toward what you want. Good questions invite exploration and draw us forward. Statements of fact or opinion can trigger our defenses and slow the journey toward what we want. Good questions help us figure out what steps we can take toward what we want, in what order, even if they are very small at first. Good questions help us hold ourselves accountable, primarily to ourselves, our dreams, to those who will benefit, and only secondarily to the coach as a source of support and encouragement.
What does thought provoking questioning do?
Strategic use of good questions is central to good coaching, mentoring, and leadership. Good questions are central to both facilitating thoughtful reflection and NLP and for vital reasons.
Only you know your resource terrain, including things like
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What your deepest longings are,
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What your abilities are,
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What personal resources you have,
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What you want to learn,
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What keeps you from moving forward, and so on.
Good questions help pull these into focus as you work toward what you want. Good questions invite exploration and draw us forward. Good questions help us figure out what steps we can take toward what we want and in what order, even if they are very small at first. They help us hold ourselves accountable, primarily to ourselves and to our dreams, and only secondarily to the coach as a source of support and encouragement.
This often contrasts with statements of assumed fact or opinion can trigger our defenses and slow the journey toward what we want.
What does facilitating thoughtful reflection do?
Thoughtful reflection
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Focuses your thinking
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Gives you time to explore and answer questions thoughtfully and more accurately,
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Improves creativity and problem solving,
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Improves self-awareness, and
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Helps you access your core needs and values.
Too often we don't know who we really are or what we want because we are so caught up in the complexities of events around us, in our own negative self-talk, or the “tyranny of the urgent.” Many people have difficulty slowing down to the speed of intuition and critical thinking or lack an environment where this is possible.
Both effective coaching and NLP provide such an environment.
One of my key discoveries when I worked as a licensed therapist was this: Going slower is consistently faster in the long run. and works much better than does me being the instant “expert” or “answer man.” It does a much better job of tailoring the outcomes to the clients’ wants and needs.
Serving Paris Texas and Lamar County
Email: solutiontap.glessner@gmail.com
Phone: (903) 905-0656
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