Oh my what a week we just had!
40 degree temperatures – the highest we’ve ever known in the UK.
I’m not very good in really hot weather – especially if I have to work in it – my brain starts to melt and stops working properly.
It’s been interesting to hear different people’s views about the heat.
Some have been absolutely thriving – out and about enjoying activities and feeling great, while us pale, Celtic types have been practically dissolving in the shadiest, coolest corner of the house, feeling beside ourselves.
It’s good that we’re not all the same and don’t all have the same experiences. We are all unique after all.
With temperatures off the scale it got me thinking about another kind of scale I want to share with you.
My Mental Health Scale.
This is not a scientific, medical scale, it’s just a scale that I adapted years ago and started to use to help me to give clients the right type of support.
Because I have a therapy and a coaching background I generally blend the two, depending on where my clients are on the scale when I first meet them.
This background makes me a very therapeutic coach OR a very coachy therapist depending on my client’s needs.
Most therapists tend to focus on cleaning up your past so you can have a better future.
Whilst most coaches pretty much ignore your past and focus solely on improving your future.
My experience has been that most people need a mixture of the two.
As well as being a therapist and coach, I’m also a trained counsellor.
When I was being trained it was repeatedly drilled into us that, as counsellors we must never ever give advice.
The reason for this is you would be giving advice from your point of view, not from your client’s point of view.
You haven’t lived their life; you aren’t standing in their shoes, so you don’t have the right to advise them what to do.
I do agree with this. But I’ve worked with so many clients now who don’t necessarily want to be advised, but they do want to be guided.
They don’t know what they don’t know so they actively seek out your guidance.
With this in mind, I started to incorporate lots of suggestions into my sessions. The idea being if I throw a lot of ideas into the air, the client will catch the ones that are right for them and run with them.
The insights are then theirs; the breakthroughs come from inside them – I just gave them a little nudge along the way.
This has worked particularly well over the years and has now added to my blended way of working.
So, back to my Mental Health Scale.
The scale goes from minus 10 to plus 10.
If you imagine that very basic mental health is 0 – this is when you have no real mental health issues, but you have no real major life satisfaction either.
All of the general mental health issues are in the minuses. So that’s:-
Phobias.
Anxiety (all kinds).
Depression.
Low self-esteem.
Addictions.
Bi-polar.
Excessive stress and overwhelm.
Feeling suicidal.
If you have any of these issues you are on the minus end of the scale and you need therapy to bring you back to 0 or centre. The more serious the issue the lower down you are on the scale.
Feeling suicidal and actually making plans is minus 10.
Once you have overcome any issues and moved up to 0 you can start seriously improving your life.
This is where the coaching kicks in.
All of your energy is now going into moving your life forward rather than just managing your issues.
The further up the plusses you go the better your life gets.
And we work holistically, ie on all areas of your life, so your life remains in balance.
So that’s your physical health.
Your wealth.
Your career.
Your home environment.
Your love life.
Your other relationships.
The goal is to get to a plus 10 life, which is every area of your life as good as it could possibly be.
With the right guidance, support and commitment this is actually possible.
All of my products were created in this blended way…because I know it works.
I feel that I’ve taken the best elements of all of my training and background and combined them in a way that works really, really well.
Your past needs to be cleaned up…detoxed if you like.
Your old wounds need to be healed then you can really start to change your programming, to build yourself, your confidence and the future of your dreams.
Although things are improving in this country, therapy and coaching are still relatively new concepts.
There’s still some stigma attached to them…some scepticism…some shame maybe?
Lots of people think you should just be able to manage your own mental and emotional health and do all of this by yourself.
Well, maybe in an ideal world, but we don’t all live in one of those, do we?
What great athlete doesn’t have a coach?
What great sports team or swimmer doesn’t have a coach?
Someone who can get the absolute best out of them?
We all need someone to recognise the greatness within us and then take that to the max so we can achieve our fullest potential.
We all have blind spots. It’s so difficult (nigh on impossible) to see our own pitfalls.
It’s so good to have someone beside us championing us every step of the way and helping us overcome those pitfalls.
Yes there is a financial cost involved, but for the price of a nice holiday you can absolutely transform your life!
If you’re ready for this mission I’m ready to be your guide.
Why not come to the edge and take a leap. I’m here to catch you.
Much Love
Christina xx