Client Stories
Lesley, a forty-five-year-old woman with fibromyalgia, was a hard-working, highly valued manager, before worsening pain and fatigue forced her to leave the job she loved. During eighteen months on disability, Lesley grew deeply depressed. Finally, she made an appointment to see Dan for Quick Counseling. He found the root cause during her first session.
As a child, Lesley was verbally abused and neglected, so she grew up with very low self-esteem. But success at work gave her a healthy sense of self-worth for the first time in her life. Without her job, though, the childhood feelings of worthlessness returned full force.
Dan helped Lesley discover her self-defeating beliefs, one of which was, "My worth depends on my achievements." Next, he taught her some simple techniques to counteract those negative beliefs. Using them for several weeks, Lesley was amazed to find her depression completely gone. No longer paralyzed by despair, she now wanted to create a satisfying life for herself. Dan recommended Quick Coaching with Sylvia.
In her first coaching session, Lesley explained that the ever-expanding clutter in her home made her feel smothered, helpless, and embarrassed to have anyone visit her. Sylvia helped Lesley clear the self-limiting beliefs that caused her to hold on to things she no longer needed, using the techniques she'd already learned with Dan. Next, Lesley was coached to create her top ten house-clearing priorities list, and to schedule brief slots of time for de-cluttering. In less than four weeks, Lesley had an organized and inviting home. A short time later, she enrolled in a Virtual Assistant training program, buoyed by her newfound confidence and excited about the possibilities in her future.
Lesley's Quick Counseling + Coaching Profile:
CI & Co-Challenges: Fibromyalgia, severe depression, feelings of worthlessness, overwhelming house clutter, loss of career
Solutions: Counseling for depression caused by job loss and low self-esteem (twelve sessions)
Coaching for debilitating home clutter and planning a new career (eight sessions)
Results: In several months, Lesley moved from hopelessness, worthlessness, and severe depression to feeling significant relief from negative emotions -- which allowed her to start planning her new home business career
A fifty-one-year-old woman with asthma, Joyce sought Dan's Quick Counseling for the constant anxiety she felt, especially the anxiety of believing her asthma could trigger a heart attack. (She twice visited the ER with heart pains, only to be told the problem was extreme anxiety.)
After learning how to question her thoughts, Joyce's anxiety level dropped. Then Dan learned that Joyce also had anxious thoughts about her boss ("If I complain, I'll get fired"), and so Dan helped her prepare for a meeting with him. As it turned out, Joyce's boss was very understanding, and her anxiety and panic disappeared. But there was another layer of stress at work.
Encouraged by Dan, Joyce entered Quick Coaching with Sylvia to learn ways of controlling her daily overwhelm -- by setting priorities, practicing self-care on the job, and learning to say no without fear. In several weeks, Joyce mastered the skills of controlling her time and managing her work routines. Now, her job actually enhances her well-being, instead of causing stress and anxiety.
Joyce's Quick Counseling + Coaching Profile:
CI & Co-Challenges: Asthma, anxiety, panic attacks, work overwhelm
Solutions: Counseling for anxiety and panic attacks caused by fear of having a heart attack, fear of getting fired, and overwhelm at work (ten sessions)
Coaching to establish manageable routines, self-care habits, and the ability to maintain boundaries at work (eight sessions)
Results: In several months, moved from constant anxiety and frequent panic attacks to the disappearance of both, and from overwhelm at work to confidence and well-being on the job
Chris, a fifty-five-year-old woman with diabetes, was encouraged by her physician to lose weight, exercise, and get more sleep -- to achieve better control of her blood sugar level. Knowing that she needed dieting support, Chris opted to work with Sylvia on her initial goal of losing forty pounds.
When Sylvia learned that Chris always put her family's needs before her own, she focused on helping Chris create daily routines and habits that supported healthier choices. With this self-care framework in place, Chris was ready for the Beck Diet Solution, a scientifically proven system that replaces sabotaging thought patterns ("I deserve this cake") with helpful responses ("Fruit salad satisfies and it's healthy, too"). Using all these tools, Chris lost eleven pounds in six weeks. But sleeping through the night was still a problem, so Sylvia recommended working with Dan for her sleep disturbance.
After asking many questions, Dan learned that Chris was experiencing childhood abuse flashbacks which woke her up -- she had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. With Quick Counseling therapy techniques, the flashbacks stopped. Dan then focused on negative thoughts that also interfered with Chris's sleep. In a few weeks, she learned to fall asleep quickly and go back to sleep easily, if she woke up during the night. With the proper rest, Chris found that her energy and optimism were now boundless. This helped her maintain her successful weight loss strategies, while relying on monthly check-ins with her coach.
Chris's Quick Counseling + Coaching Profile:
CI & Co-Challenges: Diabetes, overweight, PTSD, exhaustion, sleeplessness
Solutions: Coaching to create healthy routines and habits that supported a weight loss and exercise program, in tandem with the Beck Diet Solution (six sessions, then monthly check-ins)
Counseling for PTSD flashbacks, disturbed sleep patterns (four sessions and five sessions)
Results: In several months, established healthy habits, achieved over a quarter of desired weight loss, started to exercise, eliminated PTSD, and restored normal sleep patterns, creating a big upsurge in energy and optimism
Meg, a forty-year-old woman with arthritis and chronic back pain, realized that her job as a research librarian had become too physically demanding. Far worse was the fact that it no longer interested her. "I'm not sure who I am anymore," Meg said sadly. Sylvia worked with Meg to identify her core values, and she realized with delight that she was still who she'd always been. It was simply time to move on at work. With coaching, Meg identified new career options she could pursue despite her CI, including consulting, writing, and teaching. But when Meg listed all the people she should call to gather information, she came up against her lifelong social anxiety. She felt too shy to call or even email people. Sylvia suggested working with Dan to dispel her fears.
In just ten sessions, Dan helped Meg learn new techniques that completely dissolved the fears she could not control in social situations. Then, they worked on Meg's phobia about speaking in large groups or to an audience. Imagining herself in these situations and feeling relaxed, Meg did some role playing work with Dan and, in a few sessions, she was able to do the same thing in real life. Meg continued coaching for several more sessions as she began creating her new, inspiring career.
Meg's Quick Counseling + Coaching Profile:
CI & Co-Challenges: Arthritis, chronic back pain, loss of direction in life, social anxiety, public speaking phobia
Solutions: Coaching to discover core values and how best to express them (six core sessions, ongoing as needed)
Counseling for social anxiety and public speaking phobia (fourteen sessions)
Results: In several months, identified core values and eliminated social anxiety and public speaking phobia -- in order to move in a new career direction, unimpeded by fear
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