Q&A with Nicole Salazar Director of Staff Development & Research, Life Coach MFT intern
Q: What have you learned from the participants?
A: Other than an increase of patience and empathy, I have learned how important it is to incorporate one’s learning preferences into coaching/therapy. Not only is considering an individual’s learning preference important to both andragogical and pedagogical approaches in a classroom setting, but I have noticed the value of incorporating different learning strategies into life coaching/therapy sessions. Coming into the life coaching department as an MFT trainee, I felt the need to talk more. I felt the need to “sound” inspiring and motivating without actually coaching or educating my clients and physically doing the work with them. I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I noticed my clients listened to what I was saying but I didn’t create a space where their preferred senses were being used. That’s when I started to think back to when I was in school. I began to think about the teachers who I truly learned from and how I learned. I can still recall the way I felt when a light bulb went on. I began to use those experiences and incorporate them into my coaching techniques. Asking my clients about their learning preferences; what classes they liked in school, what was hard and if there were instances when a tutor, a teacher, parent or friend explained a concept or formula in a way they understood when all else failed. This has been extremely helpful in my approach to coaching and therapy. It has changed the way I structure or “un-structure” my sessions to get the most out of them. So I encourage everyone to think back to how YOU learned best in school and what teachers you feel you learned the most from. What made that light bulb come on while learning, for example, about pre-calculus formulas? What technique did someone (doesn’t have to be a teacher) use to help you understand how to solve a problem that others may have been trying to explain to you? How did you feel when that light bulb went on? This same approach can be used on coaching/therapy. So to answer this question; our participants have taught me how to be a better coach, a better therapist, and a better person.
Q: How have you motivated, inspired, and supported our participants?
A: Hmmm…as an ILS, I think I motivated them with pots and pans to wake up in the morning. In my work as a life coach, I think this is a question best suited for my clients to answer. I hope I have motivated and inspired my clients. In regards to support, I feel that validating each individual’s feelings, worries, fears and providing a safe place to challenge those feelings/fears is important to create a positive therapeutic relationship where motivation and inspiration can take place.
Q: Have you been inspired by our participants?
A: Seeing how resilient our participants have been in facing the challenges in their lives is inspiration alone. It is truly awe-inspiring how incredibly strong and brave every individual is. There are a lot of stereotypes out there that may negatively portray individuals who receive treatment; however, in listening to a participants’ story, it is quite the opposite. Our participants, each and every one of them, have gone through situations most people may find incredibly hard to bounce back from and THEY DO.
Q: What changes have you seen in participants?
A: Honesty. It’s so heart-warming when a client is genuinely authentic with you in session and allows you an opportunity to see their true self. Again, it’s important to remember what our participants have gone through and it comes to a point where lying becomes a way of life in order to survive, whether it’s to survive the day or a moment. The real changes begin at that point, when the guard begins to slowly drop inch by inch. It’s when an individual is starting to feel some kind of safety and starts to rebuild the ability to trust in others. They are able to be honest with themselves, their families, their friends, coaches, therapists, etc. That, to me, is my favorite change that I have witnessed.