I did a coaching session with someone… I did a coaching session with someone last year and I would like to say that I did not find the experience helpful. I was having a conversation with the coach and was telling her how me and my friends always joke around with each other and about each other, often playfully making fun of each other. Sometimes I made mistakes but my friends always successfully made me feel better by joking about my mistake and showing love(that's how we show love to each other). She began to compare me with her acquaintance. Someone who she told me was used as a laughing stock by his friends. And although he "loved" his friends, he was still visibly hurt by the jokes. She continued blabbering about this guy and it really felt like she was talking about someone who I could not relate to, however, in her mind she was convinced that by sharing this story I would somehow gain wisdom and share the specific emotional pain she thought I was experiencing. It was a complete waste of time, however, I was very stressed about my work & relationship at the time and was feeling insecure so I was open-minded about her story and let her speak. In this case she was not the coach for me and it felt like she was trying to deeply psychoanalyse me and find something that is not there(common mistake, to be fair) Looking back(although I guess we can't trust memories) she lacked the experience to successfully to understand me, my feelings and my goals(which I don't blame her since I am not necessarily an open book). And she lacked the technical knowledge and experience of how to get there. I understand her intention and empathise with her. But still not good experience for me, personally. This was on my mind today, therefore, I have decided to write this post. I put effort into making it as accurate and honest as possible.

One of the Most Important Decisions I’ve Made Participating in coaching at HG has been one of the most important decisions I’ve made. When I went in, I didn’t think it was going to be anything more than a somewhat helpful to talk and what it ended up being was an incredible place where I was challenged to do and be better for myself. Incredibly thankful to everyone in my group, my coach, and all the people involved in the HG community!

High Quality Coaching and Strong Sub-clinical Service My coach was excellent. I found myself regularly rating her pretty highly on the post-evaluation surveys. I signed up for Career Coaching and found myself focusing on career-adjacent matters 30% of the time and the rest of the time talking about things that could probably be topics for therapists. That said, I feel like I had some conversations better than what I've had with therapists in the past (i.e. conversations that actually felt like they led to me taking productive action to address the things that caused me problems). I'm probably going to switch to therapy after my last coaching session in a couple weeks, but I feel like I will be able to make better use of that time for reaching my goals now.

The most help I've received so far I've been to therapy in a few different clinics. HG Coaching was by far the best experience I've had in terms of mental health support. I got better at recognizing and process my emotions in a healthier way. It helped me break some thought and behavioral patterns (e.g. causational, judgemental, black & white thinking) and better align my actions with my goals. I got better at checking in with myself and making a conscious decision about what it's important for me. I learned about praise and forgiveness. I learned about how to listen to others. I got better at celebrating the small victories (and encouraging others to do the same) and not let setbacks deter me from pursuing my goals. Overall, there isn't an aspect of my life that hasn't improved due to coaching. It's not for everyone and it's important that you find a coach that's a good match for you. If something doesn't feel right, speak up early and they'll be happy to help you out.

HG Coaching Was Wonderful I really enjoyed HG Coaching: Having a partnership with someone who was there to help me grow as a person was very useful, it helped a lot to see things from an outside perspective but that is probably an individualistic thing and the mileage may vary in general. In general, just having an authentic and compassionate person by your side is so helpful to people who haven't gotten that so much in the past, the mere act of even having one relationship like that in your life can do wonders for your mental health and life in general. It provides evidence that the same thing can be found in the real world. It provides hope to people who didn't get that opportunity in the past. People who used to be like me. (: I would say though, that as coaching is more akin to a partnership, the level of value you derive from it tends to increase exponentially depending on how much effort you put in, so if you give it a go don't expect it to be a walk in the park. Once again thank you the HG team for this experience.