December
2007

 Due to the holiday, the member spotlight will resume in January 2008.

                         RELATIONSHIP COACHING – Not for the faint of heart

Who hasn’t had a tough time in a relationship? All of us at some time in our relational lives have desired outside help to do better or different. Jeannine Lee, our DCF featured coach this month, is a coach you can rely on to help you through that tough divorce, separation, or relationship issue. Jeannine is trained through CTI, The Center for Right Relationship, The Relationship Coaching Institute, and The Grief Recovery Institute.  She brings more than 5 years of formal coaching and a lifetime of informal coaching to her practice.  

Jeannine has discovered that it is not so much the people in the relationship, but the relationship itself that is her client. “The relationship is an entity in and of itself.  It has its own wisdom, needs and wants, and will require things from those involved in it to get where it wants to go.  The key is discovering the relationship’s wisdom,” says Jeannine. 

Denver Coach Federation members and guests know Ann Strong, founder of ThrivingCoaches.com, for the beauty she brings to the monthly meetings when she leads the centering to begin our evenings together.  Ann has volunteered to lead this relaxing, meditative moment at almost every DCF meeting for more than six years. 

She strongly believes in the value of coaching. She has also noticed that creating a formal “sacred space” within the coaching session greatly facilitates clients receiving the most value from their coaching.  In her first years of coaching, she didn’t use centering with her clients.  Neither did the coaches she hired to coach her.  She then witnessed first-hand how much deeper the same clients went when she formally created this sacred space.

According to Ann, “centering helps clients understand that the coaching session is a different place, apart from their life and work.  In this sacred space, clients can begin to peel away the layers of “stuff” that have been piled onto our natural state of thriving.”  “I use centering for every single coaching session, even initial coaching consultations,” Ann firmly states.  She continuously advocates centering to every coach she knows. 

Something that many of us at DCF may not know:  Ann also uses a soothing yet empowering closing to formally close each coaching session.  She has graciously offered to share both her opening and closing with everyone at DCF. 

When asked what benefits her clients feel they gain as a direct result of centering, Ann described both short- and long-term benefits.  Short term, her clients feel more present, gain greater clarity and make better decisions.  Long term, Ann described that her clients "come back to sanity each week" as a result of the centering, which in turn leads them to work with her long-term.  Ann's clients work with her for an average of 18 months.  Many work with her for years, including one who has worked with her for more than seven.  Ann definitely attributes much of her success and her clients' success to centering!  Let's give her ideas a try and watch our businesses thrive . . .

Opening: centering for a coaching call

. . . Settle back into your own space there as well as our space here.  And, we’ll take a couple of deep breaths together.  Know that we have come here in this time to form a powerful Mastermind alliance for whatever is in your highest and best good. We acknowledge that we have unlimited resources to accomplish whatever you desire.  We also acknowledge that even if we aren’t entirely aware of it, we know that we are each way more than enough.  We ask for a greater and greater conscious knowing of this inherent goodness, so that we may be more consistently from that place.  We’re willing to release anything that no longer serves so that we may be more fully present now.  ________________ (name of client), is there a particular quality you know you want in our time together (peace, clarity, organization, courage, compassion, etc.)?  (Allow time for them to tell you the quality.)  So as ________________ (name of client) has spoken, we know we have unlimited access to the gift of ________________ (the quality) and we call a greater awareness to it right now. We do all of this in profound gratitude, knowing that truly it is already happening.  And, so we begin . . .

Closing

. . . We conclude this Mastermind alliance for now, taking with us new insights and wisdom.  With gratitude, we acknowledge that we have planted powerful seeds and commit to nurturing and tending them, remembering that Thriving is our natural state.  And, so it is!

By Judy Schiller
Member, DCF PR Committee

September 2007
DCF Member Spotlight:  Karen Van Cleve

Karen Van Cleve, highly-accomplished owner of Live Well Coaching, has recently achieved something that many of us hope to do one day:  publish a book.  Congratulations are in order for Karen who just published her first book (of a future series) titled, 66 Simple Secrets to Save Your Sanity. Karen uses her book as a promotion tool for her business, and she sells or gives it away depending on her business objective.

Karen offers several key suggestions for want-to-be authors.  First, she highly recommends the book, The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, written by Coloradoan authors Tom and Marilyn Ross.  Second, she suggests joining a group that will support you 100% in moving forward, such as a writers’ group or mastermind group.  Third, she advocates using mind-mapping techniques, to write down on paper what the various tasks are to have your book published.  Finally, she advises determining exactly what purpose your book will serve  and how you will use the book in your business.

Our “featured-coach-of-the-month,” Karen Van Cleve, would like to encourage everyone who hasn’t done so already to become a member of the DCF. She enthusiastically states, “Joining the DCF was one of the best personal and professional decisions of my life!”   May DCF have the same effect on you!

Karen Van Cleve, newly-published author, offers some additional tips for future book publishers:

·        Hire a book coach!  These experts are wonderful and make the entire publishing process less intimidating and more manageable.  A book coach will help you determine where to begin.

·        Again, be sure that you have clearly defined the purpose of your book.  Ask yourself, “Who is going to read my book?  How will I use it?”  Have concrete answers to these questions to guide you during the publishing process.   Even if you have secured a contract with a larger publisher, it will still fall largely on you to market and sell your own book. Having your target market and purpose clearly defined at the very beginning will assist you greatly when implementing your marketing.

·        As stated earlier, Karen strongly recommends the book The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing.  This books addresses the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the publishing work: how to get an ISBN number; general publishing guidelines, such as writing your book so that it has multiples of four pages; etc.

·        Even if you are self-publishing your work, talk to at least a couple of different people who work in the book-publishing industry.  “Stay open to making a comparison between publishers.”

·        Don’t be afraid to ask questions of potential publishers and experts; ask for their references and follow-up by calling them.

·        Make use of the resources around you; don’t hesitate to ask others for their assistance and/or expertise. (And that, of course, includes fellow DCF coaches.) “Follow the people who are guiding you.”

·        Most importantly, Karen strongly advocates:  “…stay[ing] open to the evolvement of the process.  Don’t be tied to a specific outcome; be flexible to what might evolve.” Wonderful advice!

When asked if she would do anything differently in hindsight, now that her book has been published, Karen Van Cleve answered, “No,” which was a wonderful surprise to the interviewer’s ears!  Thus, if you follow the advice that Karen has so generously shared with all of us, your road to final publication should be a smooth one too!

By Judy Schiller
Member, DCF PR Committee

August 2007
DCF Member Spotlight:  Lorri Molinari

Lorri Molinari has been living in Denver since 2000.  Originally from New Hampshire, Lorri's journey out West was a very personal one, after 24 years as a marketing expert in corporate America and numerous changes in her personal life.  Thus, she chose the name of her new coaching business very carefully, to reflect both her journey and that of her niche: women in transition. Thus, “New Beginning Life Coach Services” was created, specializing in helping women “take the handcuffs off their greatness so they can resume their inspired paths!”

Lorri has been coaching full-time slightly more than a year, and already you can hear her coaching sessions on both a local radio station and a local tv station!. Lorri’s high level of energy, charisma, and enthusiasm are apparent when you tune in to her coaching segment with local SASSY 107 radio personality, Gloria Neal, every Thursday morning at 7:50 am.

Lorri’s positive self-talk, marketing savvy, and personal “chutzpah” led her to Shaul Turner, a Fox 31 local tv personality, who hosts Good Morning Colorado.  Lorri’s coaching segment with Shaul (generally) airs every third Thursday at 8:20 am.  Be sure to show your support for our fellow DCF member by watching Lorri’s next show this coming Wednesday August 1, (also at 8:20 am)!

Coach Lorri helps women take the necessary steps to begin making themselves a priority in their own lives. Too often, Lorri relates, women are incredibly busy taking care of everyone else in their lives—significant others, children, parents, colleagues, bosses, etc.—but not themselves.  Consequently, too many women have stopped dreaming or being creative and have little to no “daily joy”.  Lorri poignantly asks, “How are we [women] showing up in others’ lives if we don’t make ourselves a priority?”  She encourages her clients to create more “win-win situations” in their lives.  For example, a client may first participate in a fun activity with her family or loved ones and then afterwards “allow” herself the joy of some alone time or personal fun time.

One tool that Lorri uses with her clients to encourage them to make themselves a priority in their own lives is helping them to silence the inner voices of guilt, shame and negativity.  The four most “toxic words” in the English language, in her opinion, are “should, shouldn’t, can’t,” and “but.”  According to research, Lorri states, 77% of all self-talk—for both men and women—is negative self-talk.  She points out that this equates to 46 minutes of every hour!  Lorri is a firm believer in using “double-check questions,” especially the following one:  “Would I talk to another human being in this way [negatively]?  So, then why am I allowing myself to talk to myself in this way?”

Lorri practices positive self-talk with herself daily, and it is this genuineness that attracts her clients to her and makes her a successful life coach! She also utilizes her marketing background to look at every opportunity as a potential “alliance,” such as the one that came into fruition between her radio show and tv show.  In addition to coaching and offering workshops, Lorri is expanding her line of products to include a set of workbooks for clients to refer to and complete in between sessions. Her new products are sure to be a big hit, for, as Lorri points out, “I’m not asking anything of women that I’m not willing and able to do myself!”  

By Judy Schiller
Member, DCF PR Committee

July 2007
DCF Member Spotlight:  Reuel Hunt

How Denver Coaching Federation Coaches are Changing a Few Young Lives for a Better Future

With Coaching Skills for Kids being taught at the Rite of Passage program in the Betty Marler center, Reuel Hunt and his many volunteers with Coaching Kids, Inc. are making quite the impact. The girls, aged 13 to 18, are participants in a program which teaches them the dynamics of life coaching skills, and how to use these coaching skills in their relationships with others.

This is the third course of this program being taught in a prison setting. The first run was conducted with a group of nine girls from the Rite of Passage Center over a period of eight weeks. The girls' tough outer shells quickly melted and real progress towards change was made as Reuel and his volunteers created a coaching cocoon full of powerful question- asking and open-minded listening.

The Coaching Skills program at the prison that is currently underway is a process of opening up to one's peers, sharing one's deepest needs and fears, beginning to understand one's own emotions and motivations, and discovering one's true self and letting that person shine. The curriculum used stems from many different areas including an Emotional Intelligence Profile developed by Laura A. Belsten, Ph.D., past president of DCF. This assessment is taken both before and after the program to track progress of self-understanding, to learn how the girls relate to others, and to understand their own personal powers.

"The warmth and emotional capacity I experienced during my first visit blew me away. I was so impressed with the girls' involvement and enjoyment of the Coaching Skills Program, I decided to dedicate more of my time to this program," says Michelle Coble, a new volunteer with Coaching Kids, Inc. Michelle's heart was not the only one captured by these girls; many other active volunteers participate in this program on a regular basis and also enjoy the progress they witness each week.

Though no two sessions are identical, a typical session usually begins with the participating girls gathering in a common area, each bringing their emotional baggage of the week, their current hopes and disappointments, and most likely, some form of beauty primping product to temporarily distract them. The girls settle within the circle with Reuel and his volunteers and begin to feel and feed the vibe of the room. Check-ins with all participants consists of questions that update the group of the girls' feelings and personal dealings. Once everyone is connected, Reuel begins to engage the girls in an activity to both recap what has already been learned and to incorporate new ideas for new learning. Participation is not forced; it does not need to be, as the girls happily share their opinions and knowledge with bouts of laughter and uncomfortable silences in between.

The success of this coaching program within the prisons has made a large impact on many people. Reuel is hoping to continue projects of this nature and is constantly working to improve them. With the help of the members of the Denver Coach Federation, success knows no limit!

By Carol Hewett
Member, DCF PR Committee