Mental health coaching is a niche of the coaching field that borders on therapy. Though a mental health coach is not a therapist and does not treat mental disorders, good coaches can help their clients see the world in a new way, turn pessimism into optimism, and think with a glass-half-full attitude instead of a glass half-empty attitude.

Mental Health Coaching Works

Though people with mental disorders or conditions need a trained therapist, there are many people who merely need to alter the course of their thinking. They need someone to help them put on the rose-colored glasses and get a new view of the world. As that old classic song goes. “grab your coat and get your hat, leave your worry on the doorstep, just direct your feet, to the sunny side of the street.” That is what good mental health coaching can do. If you are a coach specializing in mental health, you can help your clients find the sunny side of the street through these ten steps.

10 Steps to a Better Attitude

1. Embrace happiness. Happiness is a choice not a condition. Mental health coaching can help clients reorganize their thinking and help them make choices that affect happiness.
2. Gratitude works. Living in a state of gratitude instead of feeling as if the world owes you something is a much better road to success and happiness. Be grateful for your family, your friends, your health – your life. Life is a gift – treat it as such.
3. Start you day with a positive thought. Kiss your spouse, hug your kids, play with your dog, or just think about something positive first thing in the morning.
4. Make positive plans for the day. Think of something you will accomplish during the day. Or, think of some goal you will reach or perhaps begin something that will produce positive results in the future.
5. Seek out the positive. The news can be very pessimistic – war, recession, violence – but there are always positive stories to be found. Find these positive stories and make sure to read or watch these to create a balance with all the negative.
6. Seek out positive people. There is no doubt that there are times it feels good to sit around and grumble about the world and life in general with other people. However, many people do this on a regular basis and it often leads to depression and apathy. Seek out positive individuals who look for success and happiness. Think of Ted Kennedy’s speech about his brother after Robert Kennedy’s death: “a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it…” Hang out with people who make lemonade out of lemons and your state of mental health will certainly brighten.
7. Act happy. That’s right – don’t be afraid to show others that you are happy. Whistle, say hello to strangers, ask a co-worker how their day is going. Happiness is contagious.
8. Be aware of the positive. Learning to look for the positive in the negative can make your view of the world completely different. Max Planck said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
9. Help others. Enjoying a life that is filled with giving not only benefits the one who who receives, it is emotionally beneficial to the giver.
10. Life is a journey. Mental health coaching is all about the journey. No one wants to get to the end of the journey as a grumpy old man, or women. Be positive, enjoy the ride and be happy.

Mental health coaching is all about, to use a clever little phrase turning a frown upside down. Use the ten steps in your coaching practice and you will have happy clients!

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Fred Philips
Business Coach
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