Our thoughts are the foundation for our emotions, perceptions, habits, choices, and even interactions with others. Basically, what you think, you feel, believe, and do. While thoughts can be positive, they can also be detrimental.
So, for example, you think, “I’m not good enough for that job,” you will feel that you’re not good enough to be accepted. And if you think to apply for it, that will then influence your actions, and you ultimately won’t apply for it. The vice versa is also true.
But all these thoughts come from one place: our minds. That said, your mind can actually be coached to help you overcome obstacles and limitations for your success.
This is where mental health coaching comes in.
An Overview of Mental Health Coaching
Mental health coaching is a new space within life coaching that specializes in helping people work through and overcome non-clinical mental health problems. A mental health coach is trained to assist people to develop self-awareness, go after their mental health goals, and basically manage their lives better. They also help people build valuable emotional tools that help them manage stress, improve relationships, and change thinking patterns.
So, you can say mental health coaching goes beyond what life coaching does. While a life coach helps people overcome obstacles to achieve their goals by working on habits and actions, a mental health coach digs deeper into the inner workings of a person’s mind, addressing the cause of such actions and behaviors.
It’s also worth noting that mental health coaching differs from counseling or therapy. While counselors and therapists deal with diagnosed mental health conditions like Major Depressive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, mental health coaches help people with undiagnosed mental and emotional issues that interfere with one’s quality of life.
Mental health coaching typically helps individuals with:
- Managing stress and anxiety
- Preventing burnout
- Building resilience
- Coping with stressful life events
- Managing major life transitions
- Achieving work-life balance
- Overcoming imposter syndrome
- Challenging and beating negative thinking patterns
- Improving relationships
- Changing their mental outlook on life
All in all, mental health coaching can help you get back on your feet when you’re feeling kind of stuck in your career or personal life. It can also help you get past a challenging phase in your life.
Elements of Mental Health Coaching
Now, mental health coaching works on what’s known as our inner parts, that is, the core parts of your mind. That said, it can be broken down into four ground-breaking elements. Let’s look at each of them:
1. Relaxation
The first component of mental health coaching is relaxation or calming down, in other words, quieting the noise. Mental stressors are one of the biggest precursors of mental health problems like anxiety, burnout, and negative thinking.
They can come from:
- Emotional issues
- Traumatic life events
- Financial strain
- Excessive worrying about the future
- New work responsibilities, and so on.
Stress, especially if it’s not addressed, can be a major health concern affecting the quality of your life. So, mental health coaching digs into a person’s inner parts to find out-of-control patterns and calm them down through techniques like mindful stress reduction. When you’ve mastered the art of quieting the inner noise, you can start to reshape your thought patterns and gain back control.
2. Self-Discovery
Who are you as a person? The deeper you contemplate this, the more elusive the answer becomes. Unfortunately, most people live their whole lives without ever truly grasping their authentic selves. When you have a deeper understanding of your sense of self and core values, you can accept your emotions for what they are, as well as recognize your goals and driving forces. Ultimately, you can:
- Find your purpose
- Be more self-confident
- Achieve better personal growth
- Build better relationships
- Become more adaptable
- Achieve greater life satisfaction and fulfillment
That said, striving to be your most authentic self doesn’t mean you have to be perfect or always happy; instead, it’s about feeling better about who you are and your mental well-being and being resilient against external pressures. Self-discovery is another element of mental health coaching. It helps individuals to come to terms with their true sense of self and, consequently, overcome mental barriers to becoming the best version of themselves.
3. Communication
Do you often feel trapped in patterns that repeat themselves? Have you tried to change certain habits but ended up going back to where you started? This is what’s known as self-sabotage. Basically, self-sabotage is where a part of your mind prevents you from doing something another part wants to do. In this case, the part that wins wants something detrimental or harmful.
For instance, you may want to go after your dream of owning a business. However, some part of you tells you that you can’t succeed at it or that idea isn’t really worth it.
While self-sabotage is a normal part of the human experience, it can be more prevalent in some people than others. Mental health coaching helps develop inner communication and consequently counter self-sabotage. Basically, it teaches you to mediate the desires of the inner critic so that you can overcome harmful behaviors and decisions.
4. Growth/ Self-Improvement
The last element of mental health coaching is growth. Basically, it makes you more aware of yourself, including your thoughts, feelings, and decisions. Then, it teaches you to work with them to be the best version of yourself. Ultimately, mental health coaching gives you a simple framework to improve yourself, exploring limitless growth opportunities.
Learn Mental Health Coaching to Change Your Life and That of Others
The mind is a powerful part of human functioning. Among other things, it can dictate how successful you are and how happy you become. Mental health coaching is about understanding how your inner mind works and rewiring “out-of-control” parts to overcome obstacles and achieve your goals. That said, mental health coaching training can guide you in handling most life challenges so you can maximize your potential and provide a great career path.
