Special Needs Life Coaching

• TERI is the only organization offering a certificate in Special Needs Life Quality Coaching. Start your own career. Learn how to build your own business while helping others. Register today to become a Special Needs Life Quality Coach. Course starts January 30th 2012. Contact Ben Burgeson: coaching@teriinc.org or call (760) 622-8540.

I was recently in Texas and about to settle into a big plate of barbecue when my cousin introduced me to the waiter as “my relative from California.” This cowboy took two steps backward, clutched his heart, and drawled, “Shit, howdy!  You ain’t one of them loonies from the lala land of fruits and nuts, is ya?” I’m serious, here….

I set down my fork (with regret; they DO have great barbecue) and said: Dude! Like, don’t be a buzz kill! Cali’s  like, you know, totally far out—radically epic.  Now mosey on back to the kitchen and snag some cornbread, okay?  Awesome!

People from California have a reputation in other states.  We try things others consider “out there”, and they never tend to believe us when we say they work. I’d  be willing to bet that Californians hire more Life Coaches than all the other states put together (well…maybe the Zonies give us a run for our money… I used to be one, so I can say this!).

For the uninformed, a Life Coach is someone who is trained to help you meet goals that you have been unable to attain without additional support and motivation.  A Life Coach will assist you in designing an action plan to change careers, recharge your love life, or earn your first million.  They hang with you until you reach your goals.  They are, to some degree, professional partners in helping you lead the life you want to lead.

There are about 10,000 Life Coaches of all kinds practicing in the United States.  Most of them are women (about 69%), and they work with the majority of their clients for about a year.  A full time coach earns an average of $82,000 annually—not too shabby.  In terms of an hourly salary, coaches can make anywhere from a low of $40 per hour to a high of $500 per hour, depending on their level of education and experience.

Life Coaches came to mind for me when I was working with families to help them complete Special Needs Life Plans.  This is an extensive process, but in the end families have a clear roadmap for the future for their children and adults with developmental disabilities.  I feel good about the role that life plans have played in making people feel they have taken definitive steps to secure the future life quality of their kids with special needs.

Despite having a detailed life quality plan, most parents I meet need help in order to move from a “plan” to a “reality.” In pondering who might be best suited to assist them in their efforts, I thought of Life Coaches and proceeded to search for Coaches who were specifically trained to support individuals with special needs and their families.  My research turned up the fact that there wasn’t a course of training for Coaches in this specialty area, so I decided to develop one.

There is little standardization in the training of Life Coaches, and no “official” state or government approved certification process.  As a result, some people take a one day class and hang out their shingle as a Life Coach while others pay tens of thousands for a multi –year training program. It is probably not surprising that this made it difficult to decide  how to design the Special Needs Life Coach course curricula and the prerequisites for taking the class.

 I think it is dangerous to send people who are ill-prepared out to do the job of supporting families whose children have special needs.  This is a complex job to tackle and it requires individuals who have not only a particular knowledge base but who also have an appropriate level of empathy. Pity is useless and a desire to help is simply not enough.

Despite these roadblocks, I still believed that families could greatly benefit from the help of a Special Needs Life Coach.  I did my research and designed a series of classes that lead to a certificate in this new area of specialization.  I’d like to share a little bit about the course and the experiences of the first few graduates who have gone on to support families and individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.

The courses are offered online and are not “real time.”  A new study module is posted every Monday and students have until the following Sunday at midnight to complete their assignments.  Since most of the coaches I have trained are either parents of kids with special needs or work in the field, I thought it was important that the classes offer as much flexibility as possible. Another reason for going online was to make this available to people on a large scale. I believe that everyone, no matter where they live, can use the services of a Special Needs Life Coach.

It takes 16 weeks to finish the  course of study, which includes not only assignments based on the online class  for the week but practical work within family homes, special education classes, adult programs, and residential programs.  Students work as part of a cohort, and the classes are kept small so they can receive a high level of instructor and peer support. The cost for the class is well below what is charged for other, similar courses, and we have a sliding fee scale as well as no interest loans and full-tuition scholarships available.  Again, I don’t want any barriers to getting this type of help out to the people who need it.

This is a brand new career option in the helping professions. We have just completed our first year of offering courses and following up with graduates.  What we are seeing is as varied as the people who have taken the class.

One coach posted a notice in a local ListServe and had 16 calls from families wanting coaching—way more than he could do alone.  He partnered with one of the people in his cohort and is working with a wide range of individuals.  Another Coach is an attorney and he plans to specialize in legal assistance and refer families out to others for coaching, broadening his practice.  A third person is a financial planner who simply wanted to learn more in order to better help the families he serves.  The rest of the Coaches who have started their private practices are working with a small number of families in addition to holding full- time jobs.  In most cases, these are people they already know as a result of working in the field.

I think that, as time goes by, we will see Special Needs Life Coaches providing a wide range of services and supports to families.  My dream is that the help of a specially trained Coach will be as common for families and individuals with developmental disabilities, autism, or mental health needs as is that of a speech therapist, psychologist, or respite worker.  This would, indeed, be RIGHTEOUSLY GNARLY!

• TERI is the only organization offering a certificate in Special Needs Life Quality Coaching. Start your own career. Learn how to build your own business while helping others. Register today to become a Special Needs Life Quality Coach. Course starts January 30th 2012. Contact Ben Burgeson: coaching@teriinc.org or call (760) 622-8540.