Case studies presented here are composites of real processes and outcomes experienced by clients of enLiven Wellness Life Coaching. Names and specifics of their lives have been altered to protect their confidentiality. Click on a tab above to read more.

Background

Ryan is a 24 year old married young professional with a preschool aged son. He manages older professionals in an engineering field with more education and experience. When Ryan began coaching, he was concerned about how much time he was spending at work on non-work activities (scrolling Facebook, watching YouTube). His lack of productivity led him to the concerns that he would be fired due to his lack of performance. He’d received no indication that his job was in jeopardy or that his supervisors noticed his work habits. 

Ryan reports that he experienced difficulties with attention and focus throughout his high school years. While his grades were sufficient, he noted that it was hard to stick to things and often second guessed his decisions. He noted that he was an athlete and in good physical condition in those days. He lived with his mom, stepdad, and an older brother. He noted that he has a good relationship with his stepfather and his father is marginally involved in his life. Ryan was hired into his current organization at 20 years of age without a college degree and quickly moved into a management position despite his education and experience.

Ryan requested support to improve his work habits as well as improving his daily health and wellness habits. His bigger picture goal is to learn skills to implement life-long personal growth in all areas of life.

Goals & Plan

After specifically identifying Ryan’s presenting issues, he was asked to flip his “problems” and describe what it was that he would prefer to see instead. Regarding his habit of using social media to avoid difficult tasks, he indicated that he would prefer to deal with those tasks in a structured manner, completing more work responsibilities each day as well as interacting more with his employees and supervisors. Of course, saying what he wants does not make it so, therefore, Ryan has taken this further to identify the triggers of his undesired behaviors. He recognized that anxiety about difficult tasks caused him to seek activities that calmed him in the short term, which were avoidance activities such as watching YouTube (especially personal development videos). Long-term, these activities caused further anxiety due to a mounting workload and his concerns about losing his job from a lack of productivity. 

Ryan identified the need to resolve his immediate stress and anxiety in more functional ways. He learned skills to manage this (meditation/breathwork and other techniques to moderate his nervous system). In addition, he created tools to manage his task priority and daily schedule. 

As he began to feel more in control of his life, Ryan was better able to address habits and routines outside of work. He established bedtime habits conducive to better sleep, such as putting his phone in another room before bed to reduce screen time and blue light at critical night time hours. He also implemented exercise and eating habits to address body composition issues contributing to fatigue and unhealthy blood pressure.

Ryan’s journey has been a challenging one, falling off of the wagon several times. Despite these setbacks, noticeable improvements have been made on each subsequent return to coaching. Ryan reports that he has a very heroic vision for himself and is noticing that now sees a path forward to his ideal life rather than his pessimistic view of himself as a representation of his problems. He has enjoyed significant success in his productivity and is now expanding his vision to be what he admires honest, caring and successful people.

Background

Melani is a married 37 year old mom of 3 working in the real estate industry. She has been with her partner since they were teenagers.

Melani sought life coaching due to her reconciliation of a very restrictive religious upbringing that does not now match how her values have emerged. She also struggled with an outward expression of confidence that did not match her inner sense. Addition challenges arose as work progressed, including struggles to open up to new social relationships

Unlike traditional therapy, there are no mental health diagnoses in life coaching though clients sometimes come to coaching with previous diagnoses or even self diagnoses. When clients present with such things, we draw back from the label and describe behavioral ways in which this manifests in their lives. In addition to the negative characteristics, we also identify positive  attributes of the behaviors.

Goals & Plan

Melani’s goals were to come to terms with her past, accepting it for what it was and identifying the ways in which it has influenced all that she appreciates in her life. She also sought to improve the dynamic in her marriage, clearly communicating her needs to her husband in a manner that would maintain and build intimacy.

Melani took her challenges, identifying the feelings, actions and circumstances in her life that she did not want and turning that into a narrative about her life preferences and desires. In particular, she desired improved communication with her husband. Understanding that she could not change his behavior in these situations, she addressed how she approached communication, mentally preparing her tone to be less confrontational and changing her expectations for conversations from adversarial to resolution focused and lighter. She no longer took on every responsibility just to avoid conflict (which created significant resentment toward her spouse). This shift in perspective created extraordinary changes in their relationship and how her husband showed up as a partner and a father. Also in terms of family dynamics, Melani no longer shied away telling her husband what she needed and encouraged the same from him.

Outside of her immediate family, Melani wished for more social engagement and friendship, knowing that she could not fully count on her husband and a very small (and mostly logistically distant) friend circle to fulfill her relationship needs. She challenged her inner voice that told her people were not interested in getting to know her and went out of her way to join groups of interest and initiate new relationships.

Melani found great success from life coaching, challenging old ways of thinking and gaining new perspectives. It was not always easy. Old thinking patterns tried to creep back in causing her to question the improvements she experienced. We often objectively brought it back to what she was experiencing, not where her thoughts about her experiences were taking her.

Details Coming Soon

Details Coming Soon