Q1 "What is personal coaching?"

Professional athletes have professional coaches because their goal is to win and continue winning. Their coaches provide services to help them achieve this goal by enhancing their abilities to improve their performances. The same can be said about personal coaching. Personal coaching was developed to integrate such an effective coaching system and services with more people in mind, other than athletes, who want to succeed in their life. The goal of a personal coach is to help you increase your productivity as well as satisfaction in your life.

Q2 "What exactly does a personal coach do?"

The common areas that people want to improve through the use of personal coaching are:

1. Communication skills
2. Interpersonal skills
3. Relationship issues with your partner and/or family
4. Effective time and/or life management techniques
5. Career and life goals
6. Self-image
7. Decision-making skills.
8. Conflict resolution techniques.

My job is to create an individualized coaching plan for you after assessing your strengths, areas of development, personality and goals.

There are 4 major steps involved in a personal coaching process.

1. Visualization = Picture your dreams and goals clearly
2. Assessment & Planning = Assess your abilities and situations & make plans that will lead you to success
3. Action = Make actual actions based on your plans
4. Evaluation = Review and evaluate what you have and have not achieved

Coaching sessions are conducted by telephones and e-mails.In every session, you are given assignments to complete which moves you toward your ultimate goal(s). Each assignment is developed to help you clarify your thoughts and overcome your obstacles, depending on where you are. As a personal coach, I also use creative questions to help you explore your potentials and options that will move you forward.

Q3 "How is personal coaching different from psychotherapy?"

Personal coaching and psychotherapy are different types of services. Two major differences are discussed here.

(1) Goals of services

Psychotherapy is a service for people who experience difficulties in their daily life due to their problems and symptoms. Such difficulties include, but not are limited to, lack of concentration, disturbed sleep, diminished motivation, fatigue and social withdrawal. If you are not being your usual self and/or your functioning level is lower than before due to your current issues and concerns, psychotherapy is a more appropriate service for you.

Personal coaching is a service for people who are able to function "normally," but are interested in improving themselves and achieve their higher goals. People who would like to overcome their areas of weakness are also the good candidates for personal coaching.

Determining which service is more appropriate for you can be difficult. I will be happy to provide you with a consultation before starting any services. Since I have had trainings in both psychotherapy and coaching, I will be able to provide you with an assessment and help you decide which service is more suitable for your need or circumstance.

(2) Approaches

Psychotherapy focuses on your thoughts and emotions. Its process often goes back to your past experiences and relationships, in order for you to find out the causes of your symptoms and thinking pattern. Discovering and recognizing where your issues are rooted becomes a healing process.

On the other hand, personal coaching focuses more on actions and results. For this reason, a coach does not spend much time on talking about your feelings and emotional baggage from your past. Instead, coaching values the present and future because that's where people can make their changes.

About Consultation Services

I provide multiple consulting services for your wide range of needs. The fee for each service would be dependent on your specific need(s) and the intensity and frequency of the services needed.

I. Clinical Supervision

This service is provided to other psychotherapists who are looking for high quality of supervision to improve their own clinical skills in an effort to become an effective psychotherapist. I have received the necessary training required to provide clinical supervision for other mental health professionals. For unlicensed therapists in California, you will be able to accumulate and count our supervision time toward your licensing requirement.

II. International Business

If you have ever conducted business with Japanese companies or their business executives, you are probably aware of the importance of understanding Japanese cultures and customs. One of my strengths is my familiarity of both Western and Eastern cultures and their languages. In addition to that, I have completed my training in Executive Coaching. If you have specific needs for your business situation, I will be happy to be a part of your consulting team.

III. Employee Training and Work Environment

Managing your employees and keeping your work environment safe and positive can be very difficult, especially if you have many employees. I provide different types of educational seminars and trainings for both employees and management level staff. For example, your employee can benefit from learning stress management and effective communication skills. I also train management teams how to effectively motivate their staff to increase productivity and profits. Conflict resolution and crisis intervention services are also available upon your request.