Frequently Asked Questions

What do Coaches Actually do?

Coaches help you gain clarity, see issues from new angles, and overcome mindset blocks like limiting beliefs. Through careful questions, a coach helps you dig into deeper issues and become aware of all perspectives – not just solving today’s problem but understanding the underlying patterns holding you back from lasting change. As one of my clients said, “Janine asks me the questions I should have been asking myself.”

Will a Coach Tell Me What to Do?

No – and that’s intentional. Advice imposed from outside rarely sticks, because it doesn’t account for how you think and feel. You are the expert on what’s right for you, even if it doesn’t feel that way yet. My job is to bring that expert out and help you discover what actually works.

How Might I Benefit from Working with a Coach?

Coaching can help you achieve your goals in your career and personal life. It can help you solve problems, change your mindset and become healthier, to name just a few. My biggest personal breakthroughs through coaching were getting rid of my migraines and learning to trust my own judgement over that of everybody around me.

Coaching works on two levels. You’ll work on immediate goals, like navigating a difficult coworker, and longer-term ones, like building the confidence to speak up in meetings. The latter usually requires a deeper shift in how you see yourself. Coaching can help you build self-confidence, move past social narratives that keep you in a box, and learn to identify and follow what matters to you.

How is Coaching Different from Counseling?

Coaching doesn’t treat anything. It operates from the assumption that you are whole, capable, and already possess the wisdom you need — it just needs to be drawn out. That said, many of my clients work with both a counselor and a coach simultaneously; the two address different things and complement each other well.

How Long Before I see Results?

Short-term goals often see movement within a single session. Longer-term goals — especially those requiring a real mindset shift — can take three months or more. Both timelines are worked on together, so progress happens at multiple levels from the start.

Does Coaching involve Homework?

Yes – and it’s yours to design. You’ll be most successful when you practice between sessions, though it rarely takes much time. It does require awareness. I may offer suggestions, but what you take on is entirely your call. You decide what’s worth pursuing.

What Does Coaching Cost?

The answer to this varies tremendously from coach to coach. For me, the package most clients choose includes three 45-minute sessions per month plus email and text support in between, for $350/month. I offer a limited number of scholarships as well as discounts to alumni of Westminster University.

What Training and Credentials are required for Coaches?

The US does not require any training or credentials for someone to call themselves a coach, which has led to abuses and actual harm to clients. If you work with any coach, please verify they hold ICF (International Coaching Federation) certification.  Certification by the ICF requires a thorough process requiring 60+ hours of training in behavioral frameworks, active listening, impactful questioning, and ethics, plus demonstrated competency in real sessions and a formal exam. ICF coaches must abide by rigorous ethics standards.

I hold an ICF ACC credential, as well as a certificate on the Neuroscience Of Change from Coaches Rising.

What Should I Consider when Selecting a Coach?

• Make sure the coach is certified by the ICF.
• Consider the types of issues you would like to work on with your coach. Coaches typically specialize, for example as a life coach or leadership coach. This is not to say that you can’t work on leadership with your life coach, or on personal issues with a leadership coach, but it makes sense to choose one with a specialty that most fits the issues you’re dealing with.
• Make sure you like your coach’s style. Do you want to be pushed? Do you want to be supported? Do you need a non-judgemental approach? Is it important to you that your coach incorporates religious beliefs? Are you looking for a solution-focused coach or someone who will help you with personal growth? Do you want your coach to hold you accountable, and how? Take advantage of the complimentary introductory session offered by many coaches. It is ok if you decide the fit is not right after that session – that is what the session is for, after all. I would describe my own coaching style as non-judgmental, caring, supportive, intuitive, and aware.

Do You Have any Samples of your Coaching?

Yes – here’s a 17 min recording (shared with the permission of the client, of course!)