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Is becoming a coach right for an HSP?

Is becoming a coach right for an HSP?

I hear questions from highly sensitive people (HSPs) about whether being a coach is a good fit for them. They have concerns about their energy, other people’s energy, and whether self-employment could work. These kinds of worries stopped me from exploring it for years.

I hope this post will help you find some answers. As an HSP myself, I love being a coach.

woman wondering about her career journey
Would being a coach work for me as an HSP?

I kept meaning to write up my answers for you to these common concerns. Then an HSP coach colleague, Willow McIntosh, wrote about his responses to the common questions. As I read what he wrote, I found myself saying “me too!” and “so true” a lot. So I invited him to post his responses here and he said yes.

Willow is a coach and training facilitator for HSPs. He is from the UK. He understands High Sensory Intelligence®, as he calls it, and how it can be put to practical use as a coach, therapist, or healer. He provides classes and training in how to do that, through his work at Inluminance.

At the end of his post below, I added notes about coach training and making self-employment work.

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Guest post by Willow McIntosh

Willow McIntosh - founder of Inluminance HSP coach training
Willow McIntosh

Before I became a full time coach and facilitator I had several concerns as an HSP.

I wanted to know whether I would get too tired coaching day in day out.

I knew that from experience that when I was asked to coach people as a favour, I would often feel quite drained afterwards.

I also used to get worried about whether I would know what I was doing when it came to coaching professionally.

For instance, what would be the main area of coaching that I would focus on?

Also wouldn’t I be taking on my clients issues and negativity? How would this affect my own well being?

Yet what was on my the mind the most, was that I knew I wanted to work with people more than anything.

I had this deep calling within me to support the pursuit of purpose in others. It was the conversation I always wanted to have.

Then, everything changed for me when I began to get training to develop my high sensory coaching abilities.

When I began to understand that the area of life I was most fascinated by, was the very area I was naturally gifted at facilitating.

Which has always been the case for all the high sensory people we have now trained at Inluminance in our High Sensory Coach Training.

So since I started this path back in 2009, what do I know now about the concerns I have mentioned above?

Here’s how I answer these questions now:

Am I going to get too tired? As an HSP, won’t I get really drained taking on my clients' issues and negativity? How will I know I will be able to coach? What is the earning potential of being a coach? To Connect with Willow

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Coach Training Tips from Val

I believe it’s important to get some training as a coach. It will be enjoyable and improve your confidence and ability to make it work for you. Starting a training can actually help you know if it’s a good fit. You don’t have to commit to the whole training process to give it a try.

I think Willow’s free intro class and the opportunity to speak with him is a great starting place for exploration. (Available via his website.)

Another coach training option I respect is this in-person life coach certification training with a spiritual approach: Psychosynthesis Coach Training in New England.

I did both an in-person intensive coaching training and Willow’s training and I found it all valuable. I appreciated the HSP focus of Willow’s training, whereas I didn’t always feel understood in my earlier coach training. I have also been a guest teacher in Willow’s coach training community.

If you’re in the place of wondering if you’d be a good coach, and you relate to being a high sensory person, I think Willow’s training is a great place for gaining path clarity and some coach training and practice. It could be all you need to get started as a coach.

Already a coach and wondering how to make it work?

I invite you to check out my coach mentoring and business coaching, and/or my Bridge to Self‑employment course, both of which are especially geared for HSPs and/or introverts.

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Footnotes:

  • Photo of woman by Engin Akyurt.
  • If you use these links to Willow’s website, I might receive a referral bonus, and I do endorse his work but you should decide for yourself.
Picture of Val Nelson

Val Nelson

I’ve been a self-employed career/business/purpose coach since 2009. I help introverts and HSPs (like me) who want to make a difference — in a way that fits our energy and our practical needs too. ~ Val Nelson
Coaching | SOULpreneurs Circle | Courses | Newsletter | LinkedIn

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