I was driving through the beautiful hills just outside San Diego for a special weekend trip with my Girl Scout troop when I saw a large sign in an empty lot that said, “Stress Coaching” and a number to call. I did a double take through the rear view mirror, wondering who would need coaching for stress out in such a tranquil area. And how many people would just pick up the phone and call a number painted on a large wooden sign?

Have You Ever Considered Stress Coaching?

Typing “stress coaching” will get over 21 million results on a Google search. “Tranquilizers, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications account for one fourth of all prescriptions written in the U.S. each year,” according to stresscure.com. It’s a mega-niche for coaches who are willing to take it on. But what is stress? It’s basically an emotional state. A combination of your body’s physiology, your beliefs, and what you say to yourself. Definitely something that can be changed with some basic coaching techniques.

Simple Coaching Techniques To Get Rid Of Stress

1. Change your clients’ physiological state. That is, change how their posture, how they are breathing, how they hold their muscles in their face and body. One common way to reduce stress is to exercise. But you can coach someone to change their physiological state while on the phone by having them stand up, take deep breaths, relax their muscles, turn on some music and dance.

2. Find out what they are focusing on that makes them stressed. What do they believe to be true? What do they think might happen? What do they fear? Your mind can only focus on one thing at a time. Help your clients shift their focus on what they are happiest about in their life right now, what they are most proud about in their life, what they are most grateful for, and what they are most committed to.

3. From this new position, have your clients identify what needs to be done. Give them new language patterns to say to themselves, like stress is a sign that I need to take action. Then provide accountability and strategy to help make it happen.

4. Empower your clients so they can change their state on their own.

You can’t really get rid of stress permanently, but you can help others to manage it. Stress coaching is a drug-free option that can help people make changes in their lives for the better.

Give this strategy a try and see for yourself that it works. If you liked this coaching tip, leave a comment or use the handy bookmark buttons below to share it with others on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. Thanks!

Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach