Looking for some life coaching?

23-May-2002

Volunteers are being sought for free life coaching groups at the University of Wollongong in exchange for their research participation.

Dr Lindsay Oades, of the Department of Psychology, said life coaching was growing in popularity around the world with people participating for such reasons as performance enhancement, work/life balance, seeking happiness or meaning in their lives.

"It usually involves setting life goals in various domains of your life such as work and relationships and then working on a one-to-one basis (face-to-face, phone, email) or group coaching to monitor, evaluate and finally celebrate success of achieving goals," Dr Oades said.

Registered psychologist Suzy Green will facilitate the life coaching groups at UOW as part of a research project under the supervision of Dr Oades and the Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney, Tony Grant.

ÔWhether you want to change your lifestyle, lose weight, build a business or write a novel then creating a purposeful directed change can be difficult," Dr Oades said.

He said the Coach Yourself program would teach participants how to be their own "solution-focused life coach". The groups will include a full-day workshop followed up by nine weekly one-hour evening groups at UOW.

Dr Oades said the program involved a process of self assessment, goal setting, planning and action and showed participants how to establish a system by which to monitor and evaluate progress towards goals. Anyone interested in participating should contact Marie Johnson on 4221 4207 as soon as possible as there are limited spaces available. Suitable applicants will be forwarded an information pack and referral to other psychological services will be available if required.

Attention media: For further information contact Dr Lindsay Oades on 4221 3694.