Frequently Asked Questions
Please reach out to me at vanessa@vanessarosscoaching.com if you cannot find
an answer to your question.
Coaching is a strategic partnership in which a coach helps individuals to identify their goals, overcome obstacles, and make positive changes in their lives. It is premised on the idea that every individual is worthy and capable, and the coach's role is to help them uncover their own solutions and take steps to keep moving toward what they want to create in their lives. The techniques used in coaching can be applied to general life goals, professional goals, relationships, health-related goals, or any area in which a person wants to evolve in their life.
In my clinical practice working with women in the menopause transition, I often find that my patients are looking for more than a diagnosis and a prescription. What I love about combining health and life coaching is that it offers the opportunity to delve deeper into the interface between our health and our quality of life than what is possible in the limited time allowed for visits in our modern medical system. Making sustainable changes that serve our physical and mental health is possible, and forming new habits requires shifting our mindset as well as consistency and accountability. Coaching provides a powerful container for transformation in whatever areas we choose to focus on.
The cultural narrative around midlife is that "it's all downhill from here", especially for women. This patriarchal view discounts the fact that midlife women have decades of experience and wisdom to share and incredible value to offer. The lack of support around the hormonal and other physical changes at midlife are leading many women to leave the workforce early when they could be leaders in their fields. To me, this loss is a tragedy for our society and for women on a personal level. A lifetime of putting others' needs first, as women are socialized to do, may be catching up with us and taking it's toll. This reckoning is what makes midlife such a potent time to evaluate where we are and envision where we want to go. Learning to truly know and care for ourselves is how we create the conditions for vitality and clarity so that we can make the second half of our lives even better than the first.
In a coaching session, we discuss your goals, challenges, and strategies for overcoming obstacles. I will listen, ask questions, invite you to envision new possibilities and question your limiting beliefs, and provide guidance, support, tools, and accountability to help you achieve your goals.
Coaching helps people who are generally functioning well to achieve new goals and levels of growth in their lives. While past experiences may be touched on in coaching conversations, coaching is grounded in the present and forward-focused. Therapy, in contrast, may involve specific mental health diagnoses and a deeper level of processing past events in one's life. There are many different types of therapy and styles of coaching, and there can be overlap in both disciplines in the use of somatic, cognitive-based, and positive psychology techniques. Coaching and therapy can coexist for different purposes. If issues arise in coaching that indicate the need for a clinically trained therapist, I will help you find a licensed mental health provider.
In my role as a coach, I will not be serving as your health care provider. I will use my experience in women's health, sexual wellness, and menopause to inform my practice and provide health education when helpful. This educational component does not take the place of medical advice by your health care provider. If needed, I will be happy to help you find a licensed health care provider to address your medical needs.
The length of a life coaching program depends on the individual and their goals. This program is designed to last 12 weeks, which has been shown to be the minimum effective time frame for habit change. If you identify new goals to work on, our contract can be renewed, and we can continue to work together beyond that period of time.
Vanessa Ross Coaching
Florence, Northampton, Massachusetts, United States