As I mentioned in the first chapter of this book, I strongly advise you to do all of the exercises in the book and practice the ACT techniques and skills on yourself before using
them with your clients. This is in keeping with the ACT tradition and will help you in two ways: you will understand how all the processes work, and you will be able to convey the importance of doing the exercises to your clients because of your own experience of having completed them.
I like the idea of steps when learning something new. They remind me of stepping-stones in a secret garden. The carefully laid-out steps guide you down a path that ultimately takes you to your destination. In my garden the stepping-stones lead to a small pond with an intimate deck and a comfortable chair under a large, shady locust tree. When I reach my destination, I am rewarded with a quiet, cool place to sit, where I can reflect on my day.
Your steps will guide you down the path of figuring out how to integrate this ACT material into your work with your clients. When you finally reach your destination, you will be rewarded with clients who can get unstuck, meet their goals, and live meaningful lives.
While steps are obviously sequential, feel free to determine how you spread them over your sessions with individual clients. With some clients, you might be able to cover more than one step in a single session. With others you might need multiple sessions to cover one step.
It’s up to you to determine this. You know your clients better than I ever will.
Step 1: Conduct the Assessment and Help Clients Set Goals
The best place to begin to integrate ACT principles and practices into your coaching is in your new client intake interview. Explain that you use ACT principles and practices when you discuss informed consent. I suggest including this first step in a free session and letting it become a key part of your marketing. I recommend advertising that your initial assessment is free and that it’s devoted to helping potential clients understand how your ACT-based practice differs from other coaching approaches they may have used in the past.
I suggest breaking this session into two parts: filling out and submitting forms virtually, and discussing the forms in real time (face to face or on the telephone).
I have provided sample forms for intake assessment, informed consent, and other issues (see appendixes A and B) at the back of this book. You can also download them from the website (http://9318.nhpubs.com). Lyn Kelley, president of Grow Training Institute and my coaching mentor, has graciously allowed me to modify and replicate these forms. For a complete list of services at Grow Training Institute, visit www.growpublications.com and check out Lyn’s work (Kelley, 2008). She is a master motivator and an expert in how to grow your coaching practice.
In appendix B is a section titled “Background and Approach to Coaching,” where I spe-cifically mention that my coaching practice uses an eclectic mix of techniques drawn from the fields of coaching (coaching principles and practices), educational psychology (motiva-tional theory, values clarification), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (mindful-ness training), psychotherapy (acceptance and commitment therapy), and health education (relaxation training, wellness). In this section I mention that while some of these techniques are adapted from psychotherapy, I am not a therapist and I am not practicing psychotherapy using these techniques. All of the techniques I employ are used in a classroom, and in corpo-rate and other settings with students and clients to help them identify their values, set goals and objectives, and work through obstacles that are in the way of reaching their dreams. I suggest spending sufficient time in your initial assessment using appendix A to ensure that your clients need coaching, not psychotherapy, and that their initial goals fall within the parameters of your training, credentials, and expertise.
One section of the “Informed Consent” form (appendix B) relates to sending and receiv-ing information and assignments. I ask clients to specify how they want to send and receive material from me. They can opt to do this by fax or using e-mail attachments. It’s entirely up to them, and I provide them with my e-mail address and e-fax number, so they know where to send material to me.
Download the forms and have your clients complete them and send them to you by mail or fax, or have clients bring them in if you have a face-to-face practice. As I mentioned, I have a virtual practice, so all of my form management is done by e-fax. It’s not the purpose of this book to discuss the pros and cons of a virtual practice compared to a face-to-face one and the myriad issues involved in this. There are countless books on the market that can help you decide which way to go on this issue.
Once you have the completed assessment and informed consent forms with your poten-tial client, I suggest providing a free session to introduce yourself, go over the forms, clarify the person’s goals, and decide if the two of you will work together. At that point you can also reinforce your methods and set the stage for your client to understand what it means to work with an ACT coach and how that distinguishes you from the rest of the coaching field.
Explain to clients that you will teach them the key ACT information they need to know through a combination of homework assignments and directed readings that you will supply to them. Explain to them that mastering these skills will help them integrate them into their lifestyles as hardy emotional and intellectual health habits. Explain to them that your approach does not require them to buy any books or read anything other than the homework
assignments you give them, which are available on the website (http://9318.nhpubs.com).
Last, let clients know that while your primary task is to help them achieve their goals, to do this you will devote some of your time to teaching them ACT-related material that will help ensure their success.
Step 2: Provide a Quick Overview of ACT
In this step you want to introduce your clients to the basic principles and practices of ACT. It’s especially important for them to understand how the mind works in processing thoughts, personal scripts, mental images, and emotions. The best way to accomplish this is to give clients the following exercise as homework.