A Coaching Model Created by Angie Perez
(Life Coach, COLOMBIA)

This model is based on the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy and third-generation therapies. These approaches give importance to thoughts, emotions as antecedents of the consequence, also a great value to the context in which they develop taking into account language as an essential link to recognize the values that each person has and validation, which will mediate our mental processes and, therefore, the client will have a more adaptive response.

This model has a contextual background, a behavior, and a response that during the coaching relationship, they turn in a spiral, thus improving the quality of life of the person. Here I will explain how my model looks like in the reality of the client before he starts the coaching session.

Contextual background

When a client decides to come to a coaching session it is because they want to improve something in their lives. At this point, coaches can observe that the client probably comes from an invalidating context, in which, they have constantly inappropriate reactions given their thoughts and emotions, in such a way that these emotional states are invalidated by important people in their environment in which they interact. Additionally, the emotions expressed by the client were possibly ignored or treated as unimportant at a high enough level that they ultimately lead to intensifying emotions (Crowell et al., 2009; M. Linehan, 1993a, 1993b; Rizvi et al., 2013).

Behavior

This refers to the situations, contexts, or circumstances that make the client uncomfortable, in which they will feel invalidated and may have a response that is based on the expression of negative emotions intensely, thus demonstrating difficulty in communicating effectively(Krummer&Fernández, 2005; Sarmiento, 2008)

This response has normally been constructed based on the rules of society, its parents, or people who directly or indirectly influence the client’s life.

Consequence

These are the behaviors that contribute to the occurrence that is reinforced by society or close people and make clients susceptible to them. This is the one that helps us detect the repetitive behaviors that are functional to the client, there is little evidence of the flexibility and high reactivity to criticism (Rizvi et al., 2013).

Coaching Application

Understanding these tools helps to develop in the client the development of skills and abilities, emphasizing acceptance and improvement of situations that cause discomfort

Dialogue

It is the art of talking, arguing, or debating (Linehan, 1993a) in the context of the coaching session. Using a set of communication strategies that the coaches apply to generate progress or improvement, bearing in mind that the analysis of each of the parts of a system has no value if the other parts of the whole are not related (Linehan, 1993a; Linehan et al., 1999). In other words, when the client communicates an idea, it has a relationship within a context that, when all its parts are together, makes sense and will allow the client to have a clearer and more open vision regarding what they would like to explore.

Secondly, there is a state that mentions that reality is not static, but is a set of opposing forces at the same time (Linehan et al., 1999), according to this, a person can present points of view that are contradictory at the same time, for example, “I want to do this ”and“ but I don’t have the motivation to do it ”, which leads to the analysis of this dialogue to a dimension that would address the value that the person gives to what they would like to improve and begin to explore what is happening here.

In the coaching session:

In the dialogue, we can find validation and problem solving, which are essential strategies within the model in terms of finding balance. Validation is an important tool in acceptance since it contributes to people experiencing their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that are difficult for them to understand and validate (Hadjiosif, 2013; Linehan, 1993b); on the other hand, problem-solving is the direct strategy for change, it aims to analyze in particular the situation of discomfort, describing the facts and developing effective coping strategies proposed by the client.

Here empathy plays an important role since the coachee must recognize the client’s different changes in energy when he expresses any discomfort or idea of well-being, in this way, in the coaching session the client should answer the questions proposed by The coaches, helping him to make his own insights and freely communicates what he thinks about it, giving him room for expression and allowing him to find his own answers.

Values

Values are those qualities, principles, and virtues that characterize a person, and that in turn, impulse them to act in one way or another because they are part of their beliefs, determining their behaviors and helping them express their feelings and emotions (Meaning, 2012)

In the coaching session:

Exploring around is competence in the coaching relationship:

What is important for you?
What are your values around this?
What does this emotion mean for you?

These help to clarify and understand the values by allowing the client to make better decisions about the direction that will guide their life. The important thing here is that the client has the ability to understand what aspects can be improved and those in which he is not willing to change. By understanding their values, the next step is aimed at accepting their thoughts and the events that occur as they are, without making any value judgment, trying to describe them as favorable situations of personal growth (Vargas, et al. 2012)

Action

Through interpersonal effectiveness, the client will have the ability to analyze the situation in which he finds himself and will determine goals, reducing the fear of being invalidated (Linehan, 1993a, 1993b)

In the coaching session:

Here the coachee could ask:

what can you do better?
What kind of person do you want to be in this situation?
What would be different in your life when you have this?
What do you want to make different?
What do you want to have that you don't have to know?
What obstacle can be on your way?
What do you need to do now?
What is learning for you?

It is important to keep in mind, that the effectiveness of this ability depends on the changes and objectives that each individual wants to obtain, always based on maintaining relationships and building self-respect.

References

Beck, A., Wright, F., Newman, C., y Liese, B. (1999). Terapia Cognitiva de las drogodependencias (Paidós.). Barcelona.

Crowell, S. E., Beauchaine, T. P., &Linehan, M. M. (2009). A biosocial developmental model of borderline personality: Elaborating and extending Linehan’s theory. Psychological Bulletin, 135(3), 495–510. DOI:10.1037/a0015616

Malott, M.E y Glenn, S. (2006). Targets of intervention in cultural and behavioral change. Behavior and social issues, 15, 31-56.

Glenn, S. (2004). Individual behavior, cultural, and social change. The behavior analyst, 27, 133-151.

Linehan, M. (1993a). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for borderline personality disorder (Guilford p.). New York.

Linehan, M. (1993b). Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder. (Guilfors Press, Ed.). New York.

Linehan, M. (2000). commentary on innovations in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 7, 478–481.

Hadjiosif, M. (2013). From strategy to process: Validation in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Counselling Psychology Review, 28(1), 72–80.

Meaning. (2012). “Valores”: https://www.significados.com/valores/.

Rizvi, S. L., Steffel, L. M., & Carson-Wong, A. (2013). An overview of dialectical behavior therapy for professional psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 44(2), 73–80. DOI:10.1037/a0029808

Vargas, et al (2012). Terapia de aceptacion y compromise:descripcion general de unaaproximacion con enfasis en los valorespersonales. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/153/15328800009.pdf