Depth Coaching

Book excerpt: Discover your own hero's journey and how to encourage others on their paths to self-understanding. In Depth Coaching, author Pat Adson explores the skills and attitudes needed to assist people in developing their full potential. As a detailed guide for therapists, life coaches and any one interested in helping others on the journey, this book provides the tools for an intense study of personal developmental issues. Based on the work of Carol Pearson, co-developer of the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator" instrument, Depth Coaching emphasizes the practice of positive psychology based on development rather than disease. Each section of the journey contains a workbook.Initially resisting the call to become a "life" coach, author and psychologist Pat Adson discovered the rewarding benefits of helping others explore paths to meaning and balance. She notes, however, that this is a vocation undertaken only after one has fulfilled his or her own journey. Inspired by Carol Pearson's work with self-development through archetypes, Adson set out to explore her own "hero's journey." The result of her exploration is this step-by-step guide created for all who wish to take the journey or to coach others on their paths."Coaching as a discipline," Adson tells readers, "is a client-centered way of working with individuals to help them achieve their goals, balance their lives, and attain fulfillment. Coaching focuses on clients' lifelong development rather than the remediation of past wounds. The coach and client collaborate as partners or peers in a relationship that is symmetric rather than paternalistic.Therapists, educators, and spiritual leaders will find Adson's methods useful in developing their own strengths as well as encouraging clients toward embarking on their personal journeys. Individuals and anyone who wishes to support themselves or others through growth and development will also find this work enlightening and helpful.