What is empowerment coaching?

During my career as a therapeutic coach, I started my training in emotional health coaching. Then, I went on to study counselling and psychotherapy. In my experience, I have helped and supported many clients who wished to improve their self-esteem, self-confidence, social anxiety, stress, work life, relationships, phobias and incongruence.

However, in all of my experience, reading, learning and research, I realised one thing… the goal of the treatment is key to its success. This is why I decided to concentrate on the therapeutic focus of empowerment coaching. In this form of coaching, I incorporate many different forms of coaching and counselling such as cognitive behavioural psychology, gestalt psychology, humanism and positive psychology.

What actually is empowerment?

Empowerment is “authority or power given to someone to do something” or “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights” (Oxford Dictionary). Now this is an aspirational goal! When we focus too much on one aspect of ourselves, we risk the possibility of missing the bigger picture of what we want and can possibly achieve.

Yes, having anxiety is a negative situation and controlling that one aspect may improve one area of our lives but not all of them. By focusing on the long-term goal of taking responsibility and control over, not just our lives now in the situation we are finding difficult, but also on our future selves and the infinite amazing possibilities that it can bring gives us something to really aspire to.

Steps to empowerment

During my sessions, with children and adults, I focus on many areas that are conducive to achieving this feeling of empowerment, they include:

• identifying what we want and what is holding us back
• self-esteem
• self-confidence
• resilience
• gratitude
• appreciating your strengths and efforts
• social anxiety
• emotional control and regulation
• control over our thoughts and feelings
• perception
• stress management
• conditions of worth
• coping strategies
• self-compassion

Results of empowerment coaching

Focusing on all aspects of ourselves is crucial. We are more than just our upbringing, experiences, biology and thinking styles. As humans, we naturally tend to look at the negatives within our lives, especially what we don’t like about our lives and situations. However, in empowerment coaching, the focus is also placed on what strengths and abilities we do have and how we can use these in order to change our current and future situations.

During sessions, I offer techniques and advice as well as assignments in order to practice what we have covered. This allows experimentation, adaptation and support on an ongoing basis which can be used during the program as well as once the therapeutic journey has come to an end. By creating realistic short and long-term goals, we can take manageable steps towards the life that we all deserve!