"Moving On" Disability Life Coaching

MY JOURNEY OF EXCELLENCE

I wasn’t aware that I was going anywhere until, I decided to look back and see from where I’d come.  For nearly 39 years, I have been recovering from a severe brain stem injury that I sustained while I was a student.  From being a patient who was on life-support in a neurosurgery intensive care unit in Ann Arbor to the Rehabilitation Institute in Detroit, I have continued to crawl out from some horrendous circumstances, one step at a time.

Immediately after my trauma, I needed to learn how to walk, talk, think, and take care of my most basic needs.  If I considered the magnitude of what I had to accomplish, I would have given up.  But I didn’t think that way.  I did not focus on long-term goals.  I chose to concentrate on things that I could accomplish immediately.  I built one success upon another.  I have continued to gently push myself toward excellence.

After returning to undergraduate school at the University of Michigan, I gradually began to re- learn how to reintegrate into the mainstream.  Because I didn’t know what Rehabilitation Professionals might have said I couldn’t do, I went ahead and did.  After my brain injury, I completed college and attended graduate school in social work, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

My employment history is short.  I worked briefly in alcohol treatment before giving-up and getting on Social Security Disability.  Just because I was now considered 100% disabled by the federal government, I did not quit trying to accomplish.  I did what I could do.  I was able to establish relationships and could talk with anyone.

I found a role that I could perform at a local head injury support group meeting.  I could be a brain injured peer counselor & help others to reintegrate into the mainstream, because I had done that.  My experiences and education would only enhance my credibility.

After having read a book that introduced coaching, Therapist as Life Coach, Transforming Your Practice, I realized that was in fact what I had been doing.  I chose to further my knowledge of coaching by registering as a student of the International Coaching Academy 1½ years ago.

Since that time, I have participated in another student’s Mind to Succeed program.  It was  wonderful!  After that experience, I have been able to identify & achieve goals that I previously did not consider.  I’m very pleased with myself and I see no reason to stop trying to excel.  I have developed a list of short term goals that I intend on reaching and they follow:

TO DO LIST

1)      I will finish taking ICA classes by the 3^rd. week in June.  After that, I will do whatever needs to be done to graduate in December.

2)      My Disability Life Coaching Business Plan will be submitted to Michigan Rehabilitation Services in the middle of June, 2010.

3)      I will become a FACE Facilitator – FACE is a communication tool.

4)      I will participate in Jeff Albert’s Coach Approach Selling Boot Camp on June 18, 19 & 20^th.

5)      On July 24 & 25^th, I’m traveling to Florida to participate in a Silva Life System Seminar conducted by Mandy Bass.

6)      On the 39^th anniversary of my brain stem injury, Nov. 11^th, I’m going travel to Toronto to attend a Personal Strengths workshop.

7)      In December of 2010, I will graduate from ICA and become a certified Disability Life Coach.

8)      After graduation, I will collect the funds, $699, to allow me to take the Learning Leader Course in order to become qualified to lead groups for ICA.

learn-leader@icoachacademy.com

Am I pursing excellence?  I honestly don’t think in those terms.  I simply so what I have always done since I was hurt.  I try to do a little better today, than I did yesterday in all areas of my life.  I’m better at some skills than others.  I’ve learned that I must be interdependent with those in my environment and be grateful for all my privileges.  When I do that, I feel good about myself.  When I feel good about myself, I can contribute to ICA’s global community.