COVID-19 RESOURCES
Free and Low-Cost Coaching Options
Throughout the pandemic, I have continued to offer free and low-cost coaching packages—including individual and group coaching—to first responders, health care workers, mental health workers, and others have not been able to work from home (including grocery and drug store workers, construction workers, etc.). This has also extended to those who have been furloughed or lost their jobs due to Covid-19 (including museum and arts and cultural sector workers, transportation and tourism workers, artists, and other creatives).
Please use the online booking system below to book an "Introduction to Coaching" call that works with your schedule and availability. When booking, please double-check the time zone to be sure you have a date and time that work well for you. You will receive an email confirmation with the date and time of the call (and instructions for how to reschedule or cancel, if necessary).
On this call, we will work together to identify the best options for your personal situation.
At times, I have a full roster of clients. In that case, I am happy to refer you to free and/or reduced cost coaches in my network. Also, please take a look at the additional resources I share below.
Other Accessible, Affordable Coaching Options
There are more options than ever for accessible, affordable coaching. The following list provides several low-cost options. (Please note, inclusion in this list is not an endorsement.)
Online career and leadership coaching platforms:
Coaching for low-income women:
Women for Change Coaching Community
Also, try the International Coaching Federation's online coach finder tool, where you can select by location, cost (including pro bono), and other factors.
Journal Prompts
This is a powerful time to pause, look inward, ask questions, and articulate our thoughts.
Not a writer or someone who enjoys journaling? The following prompts not only work for traditional journaling, but can also serve as great conversation starters with friends, colleagues, family members, and neighbors.
Another alternative is to set up an audio or video recorder (your phone should work great) and record your responses and insights. My partner and I did this following our wedding; the memories we recorded have become a treasured time capsule. We listen to it on each anniversary.
1) What strengths are you noticing in yourself right now?
A crisis tends to bring our strengths to the surface, as well as our fears and challenges.
What strengths and positive qualities are serving you well right now?
In the past week, what have you said, done, thought, or tried that you're proud of?
2) What stories are you telling yourself?
In the absence of information, we tend to fill in the gaps. We make up stories.
Sometimes stories can be helpful; they calm us and bring us peace.
Sometimes they hurt us; they place blame where it's not necessary.
How are the stories you are telling about the pandemic and its effects helping or hurting you?
3) Tell the story of "a day in the life" of something in nature right now—a tree, a flower, an animal.
The human experience is profound and the hurt we are experiencing is visceral right now.
What might it be like for the spring dandelions right now... or the squirrels, or the clouds?
How can changing your perspective illuminate your own experience?
4) What help do you need (even if you're not ready to ask for it yet)?
For some, Covid-19 has meant working from home for the first time.
For others, your parenting role just became a home schooling role.
You may have friends, loved ones, children who are on the front line. You may be on the front line.
You may have lost people you love.
Regardless of your circumstances, it's an adjustment.
Can you ask—even if just inside your own head-—for what you need?
Who might help you get your needs met?
5) Name the emotions you've experienced over the past 2 days. What prompted each one?
Research shows that simply identifying our emotions—be it anger, sadness, or confusion—adds to our overall happiness.
Can you name at least 5 emotions you've been feeling lately?
Can you recall what brought them up?
Try this feeling wheel if you need help finding the right emotion words.
6) What do you want to remember in 10 or 20 years about this time?
While there will be things we want to forget, there are also things we will want to remember.
What about Covid-19 do you hope will stick with you—and with others—and be lasting?
Is it the way neighbors treat each other? The ways you stayed connected with family?
If you think about what you hope to hold onto, what comes to mind?
7) "Today would be awesome if..."
This is a great one for first thing in the morning, as you're getting ready for your day.
What small, achievable thing would you be grateful to have accomplished by the time your head hits the pillow?
What would make your day a success?
Sometimes, in the midst of so much uncertainty, this can be a powerful rudder.
Values Activity
Can you name your personal core values—those things you wouldn't sacrifice and always hold close?
What is your North Star—the guiding principles that help keep you focussed when all else fails?
It can be difficult to find words for our core values.
Is it family or independence? Can it be both?
This activity (click here for the PDF) will help you identify your core values, assess if and how they are present in your work, and chart a path forward to achieve greater values alignment.