What is a Special Needs Parent Life Coach?

What Exactly Is A Special Needs Parent Life Coach?

I’m sure you are reading the title of this article and asking yourselves, “What exactly is a Special Needs Parent Life Coach and what do they do? How can they help me?” I would be delighted to answer this question for you. A Special Needs Life Coach, deals with helping parents, but especially parents that are raising special needs children, take care of themselves while taking care of their family. Parents are always thinking and putting their child’s needs first, but yet, they put themselves and their needs last. By constantly putting their needs last, after a while, parents often feel alone, depleted, unsupported, judged, confused, guilty and angry. Parenting is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week job with no breaks, along with dealing with constant stress and worry. It is because of this, that parents in time can become taxed and worn out. When this occurs, parents can find themselves in a deep pit of despair. I know this all too well, because I was there. I neglected myself while raising my family and after a while I became depleted and depressed. I just couldn’t function anymore. At that point, I couldn’t help anyone in my family, including myself. But, it was at this point that I realized, while we are taking care of our families all the time, who is taking care of us? And this is where I learned about how life coaching helps. With hiring my own life coach, I was able to get my life back on track and it made me want to do the same for other parents.

Life Coaches help parents identify their goals and steps to achieve them. Life coaches also guide their clients through obstacles and help them make decisions. One aspect that I love about life coaching is that life coaches and parents have a co-creative relationship. This means they work together towards a specific goal. They solve problems together, they create action plans together and find ways to manage stress. Life Coaches help parents prioritize their life in areas that will make their life less overwhelming. Life Coaches are trained to listen and hone in to the parents and their wants and needs. Life Coaches ask many questions during a session in the hopes that parents can learn about themselves and come up with ways to manage their stress, fear, anxiety, anger, grief and loneliness. Life Coaches offer a safe, non-judgmental and confidential environment for parents to vent and share their frustrations and unload their burdens. By having weekly sessions, it gives the parents an escape because it is an allotted time of 50 minutes that is devoted to them and only them. Life coaches provide 100 percent support, trust and guidance. Life coaches become a cheerleader who cheers parents on and roots for them every step of the way towards their specific goals. A Special Needs Parent Life Coach wants parents to know that taking care of themselves can be done WHILE taking care of their family. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. It is through life coaching that parents can come to realize that self-care is not selfish, it’s necessary.

Life Coaches help parents with:

• Overcoming fear and anxiety
• Improving overall health and physical fitness
• Learning anger management techniques
• Achieving personal goals
• Increasing self esteem
• Implementing Self-Care
• Coping strategies for stress
• Overcoming personal obstacles
• Letting go of guilt
• Getting rid of “should haves”
• Exploring all perspectives and options to a problem
• Time management
• Improving relationships
• Helping balance work and family life
• Setting priorities
• Getting better sleep
• Changing eating habits
• And overall helping the parent be the best that they can be for their children.

In conclusion, I thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope this helped answer any questions about what a Special Needs Parent Life Coach does and how hiring a life coach is the first step to improving your life.