A Coaching Model Created by Florence Reisch
(Life coach: Expat woman & TCK coach, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES)

When I am in my rhythm, I am in my world and I feel confident….

To THRIVE is to grow, develop, or be successful. (Cambridge dictionary)

You are ready for coaching when:

You realize you are not where you would like to be, you want to take action and get there.
You want a change, you want to achieve YOUR dreams.
You are looking for motivation, an action.

Who am I?

Hello, my name is Florence Reisch and I am an ATCK (Adult Third Culture Kids) as I’ve been an expat for 20 years with my husband (who is an ATCK as well). Before that, as a child, I followed my parents in different countries for my father’s job.

As a child, I had to develop my self-confidence and get included in groups of friends. As a spouse, I had to reinvent myself in each country I lived in. As a mother, I had to repeat the pattern and help my two kids to feel integrated into every school and the environment they attend.

What is coaching?

Coaching is a form of personal development guided by a qualified coach who will follow patterns, approaches, style and proper structures to support his client during his transformation to succeed to go from where his client is today to where his client wants to be.

My engagement as a coach:

I will support my client during his journey to go from good to great. I will listen carefully, ask powerful questions, help my client create a new perspective and offer insight during our weekly sessions.

My difference:

I lived in a similar environment as my future client, I love people, I am curious, I love to listen to my client and I am so grateful people trust me and come to me to do this transformation together.

My Coaching Model: THRIVE

T Trust:

The client and I will work in a trustful environment. Everything that will be shared by the client will stay confidential. We are in a non-judgmental environment, the client will be treated with respect and encouraged to fully express him/herself.

H Honesty:

As a client, you will commit to being honest with yourself. You will be willing to eliminate or modify any self-defeating behaviours that limit your success. You will invest yourself to develop plans or best avoid obstacles that keep you from being successful. You will speak truth to me, your coach.

R Reflexion:

The client will bring a subject to the session and we will explore the specific issue for the allowed time of the session. I will attend your agenda but I will drive the coaching and choice of tools. I will carefully listen to you and leave you all the space you need to share your ideas, feelings and intention. I will support you with powerful questions and create new awareness by engaging in problem-solving.

I Identity:

Identity is one one of the three challenges ATCK and TCK are facing. It’s a personal and cultural identity. As a newcomer in a foreign country, you aren’t necessary for attaching yourself to a culture or to an identity on your own, so it’s totally normal that you really need some support with it.

Me, as a coach, I will explore all obstacles you, the client, brings to the session to help you to become yourself, the person you want to see in the mirror and not the image the mirror reflects.

NB: The two other challenges being belonging and grief (inclusion & the loss of your anterior experiences)

V Values:

Principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life. (English Oxford Dictionary)

Because your values define who you are and how you relate to the world around you and the people in it, it’s very important for a coach to pay attention to our client’s values. It’s important that clients select goals, which align well with their values if they are to be successful.

I can share different exercises with you to first understand yourself and your own values.

Those exercises can help you to check if:

• You ever thought about what are your own values
• You live is aligned with your own values
• You are living your own values or someone’s else values

Identifying your values will give you a purpose. Knowing your life purpose with focus and clarity will give you a clear direction for life. From that purpose, you will create some goals, designed some action and written up your rules for living well to support you daily. (Source: ICA module)

E emotions:

They are usually 4 phases of adaptation in an expatriation: Preparation, Honeymoon, Culture Shock and Adaptation. Those phases are triggering a constant roller coaster of emotional and physical challenges:

• Excitement
• Anxiety
• Feeling of isolation
• Communication issues (language)
• Discomfort with some aspect of the culture or local environment
• Loss of self-worth (for a woman)
• Up and downs
• Sense of feeling “stuck” in the adjustment process
• Exhausted
  (non-exhaustive list)

For TKC (children), the process of returning “home” can be as challenging as traumatic as their first move. Those kids will have to go through the 4 phases of adaptation as well. The family may feel cultural, socially and professionally our to sync with their new environment.