Life and business coaches from all over the world have been volunteering their services to give support, at no cost, to anybody anywhere who has suffered either directly or indirectly in America's 11th September tragedy.
Those wishing to get in touch should go to the following website where they will be able to find details of individual coaches offering help:
Contact with coaches is usually by telephone, sometimes face to face, sometimes by email. Many of the coach volunteers have also offered to cover the cost of international and other telephone calls during the free coaching sessions.
This initiative was the original brainchild of British coach, the Countess of Minto. Caroline Minto's idea was immediately taken up by US coach, Susan Chapman, who generously offered her website to host what is now known as THE COUNT ME IN COACH LIST. As a result, some 200 coaches from all over the world including Australia, the UK, mainland Europe, Canada and the United States have volunteered their services free, and the list is growing hourly. Life and business coaching is a relatively new profession. It is not known how many coaches there are, but some estimates suggest that there may be as many as 10,000 coaches in the United States, about 1,500 in the UK and another 5,000 elsewhere.
Coaching is action-based and, in effect, 'starts from today' to help clients achieve goals, gain focus and generally make the best of themselves.
Counselling and therapy tend to deal with emotional and behavioural matters from the past that can block progress.
Coaches come from many different backgrounds, some from the 'caring professions'; others from management consultancy, PR or business or the professions generally.
Those volunteer coaches on the List who have been trained in grief or bereavement counselling will indicate this, but should coaches who have not been so specifically trained be volunteering at this time?
We believe they should. With so many thousands affected by the terrible events of the last few days, whether survivors, rescuers, family, friends or colleagues (or wherever they may live in the world) contact at no cost whatsoever with kindly, caring, volunteer professional coaches might well provide practical and comforting stop-gap support while people struggle back to normality.
Coaching is just one of the ways in which people can be helped at a time of crisis or deep personal questioning. Its key elements are listening, empathy, encouragement and moral and practical support, where and when appropriate.
Should a coach become aware that he or she is not able to provide the help that may be needed, our professional ethic is to recommend an alternative and more specialised professional source of support.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the Count Me In List have issued the following statement to potential users or recommenders of the List:
"The qualifications of coaches listed, and the information provided is not verified by Coaching Zone or Wealth Beyond Riches in any way. Individuals utilizing this list are urged to take reasonable steps to verify the qualifications of any potential coach. By your utilizing this list, you agree to hold Coaching Zone and Wealth Beyond Riches harmless from any and all claims which may arise as a result of your using the information provided."
George Metcalfe, Vice-President, UK International Coaching Federation (Acting as UK based press officer for the Count Me In initiative)
Tel: +44 [0]208 670 2122. Email: [email protected]
For further info on Coaching see:
The International Coach Federation is the independent professional body for the coaching profession. For further details on the ethics and standards of the profession see:
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