Cathy Liska 
Life is full of challenges. Some see these as barriers, and some see them as opportunities. How do you choose to face challenges? How do you support coaching clients when they face challenges? Ideally coaching certification supports facing them as an opportunity.
Beyond considering how to face challenges, consider the pros and cons of the approach. When challenges are perceived as a negative barrier, then that negative barrier is immediately more difficult and daunting. When challenges are perceived as manageable or an opportunity, then there is more energy behind taking them on and greater flexibility in moving past them.
Consider the challenge we all face with the current pandemic. For some the challenges include a loss of income, the closure of children’s schools, the inability to get home, quarantines, lack of access to basic necessities, illness, and even death.
Safeguards are being put into place, we can access information for self-care, and we are limited in terms of travel, work, and social activities. How do we face this challenge?
Resources abound for all of us through ICF’s website and more. Please visit the Center for Disease Control at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html to learn how to take care of yourself and others.
What can you do for the people you serve? Consider and work with their circumstances. This may mean putting a hold on the coaching, considering a sliding scale fee, or being ready to discuss the challenges they are facing with openness, vulnerability, and a willingness to have tough or deeply personal conversations. Use what you learned in coach training and apply the techniques and coaching competencies as well as the ethics.
