Being able to communicate is part of life. An inability to communicate is not only frustrating but prevents individuals from participating in society.
The difficulties that speech therapists/pathologists observe in people with communication disabilities aren’t usually isolated to simple impairments, but often have more far reaching effects on life generally for individuals. A surprisingly large percentage of the population experiences a communication difficulty. Speech Pathology Australia reports that 2.7 million Australians have a disability affecting communication. Most of these people would have issues regarding their difficulties that are impacting upon their lives, whether it be emotionally, socially, financially, or professionally.
Life coaching has a major potential role in empowering populations that experience communication/feeding difficulties. This may include children, teenagers and adults (as well as their families) who are keen to establish, work towards and achieve holistic goals.
Imagine the following scenarios:
- A retiree with travel plans suddenly has a stroke, resulting in communication and swallowing problems
- A middle-aged mother is diagnosed with a degenerative condition that affects her ability to speak
- A young gentleman with a stutter desperately desires to enter a particular profession but lacks confidence to do so due to a fear of public speaking
- A university student sustains a head injury in a car accident and needs to re-learn how to function in life
- An eleven-year old with literacy difficulties struggling with school-work
- A high school student with Autism choosing career options
- An immigrant finds it hard to grasp the English language but needs to do so in order to work and support their family
- A young lady with cerebral palsy uses a computer to communicate and wants to participate more in society
- A teacher with a voice disorder threatening their career
- A singer with vocal nodules affecting the quality of their singing
- A mother is distressed because her newborn isn’t feeding easily
- Parents struggling to communicate with their child except via simple signs
- A businessman wants help with delivering presentations more effectively
Each of these people has concerns in life additional to their communication/feeding concern. Life coaching would work alongside or follow the completion of speech and language therapy in order to provide more comprehensive intervention. Rather than people feeling that their communication difficulties define their life and who they are, they will be empowered to examine the impact that these issues are realistically having on their lives, with a plan to move forward.
Speech pathologists are also regarded as therapists. The aim of therapy within the context of speech pathology is to guide ‘change’ or to work with a client to improve their current level of ability. This fundamental principle is consistent with life coaching. There is a main difference however, between being a speech pathologist and being a life coach. A life coach guides the client to seek the answers themselves, while a speech pathologist’s role is generally that of an instructor or teacher.
The advantages of speech pathologists additionally training as life coaches are many. For a start, they are trained professionals familiar with ethical standards, confidentiality, and developing rapport. They have an understanding of a wide range of medical issues that impact heavily on life that most life coaches wouldn’t have.
Life coaching can empower an individual to examine where they are at in life, what goals they have, what obstacles they need to overcome and help people to develop a plan to move forward, one step at a time. Instead of the traditional medical model of diagnosing a “problem” and then attempting to “fix” it, life coaching offers an opportunity for people with chronic conditions to not feel as though they are living with a long-term condition that they are forever waiting to be cured of. Instead, it allows someone to regain their identify beyond being a diagnosis, accept where they are at (including limitations), focusing on what they can do, and set about achieving whatever it is they need to do in order to progress.
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