CLIENT AGREEMENT
Updated: October 2023
Please read this agreement carefully. It outlines the context in which we will work together, the logistics of our coaching relationship and how you will achieve your desired outcomes from your coaching investment. In working together, you agree to the following:
Disclosure and Informed Consent
1. Your coach (“Coach”) is a professionally trained and credentialed life coach and career coach. Coaching is not defined as therapeutic treatment for mental or physical health, licensed psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, prescriptive problem solving, business management, financial planning or business consulting. In the event that the client feels the need for psychological counseling or therapy, or a targeted business consultant or targeted professional support, it is the responsibility of the client to seek out those professionals or request a referral from their coach. The Coach provides only those services in which she has been trained, and if she finds that you need additional services will refer you to an appropriate professional who can assist where possible. Your practitioner is a Professional Certified Coach as accredited by the International Coach Federation and is governed by the Code of Ethics set by the ICF.
2. What to expect: Your coach has been trained and certified in Life Coaching, Career Coaching, Career Reinvention, Applied Positive Psychology Coaching, Narrative Coaching, Neuroscience-Based Coaching, somatic interventions for coaching, mindfulness and several other coaching and coaching-related modalities. Your work together is co-created, meaning that your coach will not tell you what to do but will engage with you in a partnership that is expressly designed to help you reach your desired goals and objectives. The client enters into coaching with the understanding that they are responsible for doing the work required to create their results and using the coaching relationship to make progress towards their desired outcomes.
3. This is the Process: Coaching sessions will be exploratory, solution-focused and actionable. This means that we will spend our time understanding what you want to create, how that connects to the foundation and resources you have now, what may be in the way (internally and externally) and what needs to happen next. We won’t be dwelling on the past or the problem, but instead focusing our work on where you are now and where you want to go. Coaching is designed to identify and serve your bigger vision and build the confidence and clarity that you need to create that. Please plan to show up prepared, undistracted and ready to put positive effort into your goals and challenges.
4. At the End of the Session: Together, we will co-create specific tasks or inquiries for you to complete between sessions. We may discuss additional learning resources. Integrating your growth in this way is a fundamental part of the coaching process and is designed to help you own your discoveries and learning, and take consistent action to complement the forward movement that you make during coaching sessions. Between-session action and inquiry is related to your desired outcomes for coaching. If you do not follow through, it may be much harder to achieve your goals for the coaching.
If you’re new to coaching, here is what you can expect:
Coaching: According to the International Coach Federation: “Professional coaching brings many wonderful benefits: fresh perspectives on personal challenges, enhanced decision-making skills, greater interpersonal effectiveness, and increased confidence. And, the list does not end there. Those who undertake coaching also can expect appreciable improvement in productivity, satisfaction with life and work, and the attainment of relevant goals.
ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:
Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
Encourage client self-discovery
Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
Hold the client responsible and accountable
This process helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life, while improving their leadership skills and unlocking their potential.”
Confidentiality
Your Coach keeps all information received from you confidential, and for internal and coaching use only. For more information, you may review this Privacy Policy. Confidential information does not include information that the Coach is required by statute, subpoena, or court order to disclose, involves illegal activity or presents an imminent risk of harm to the Client or others.
Your Choice, Your Responsibility
During our coaching sessions, we will explore perspectives and alternate ways of working with your challenges and potential solutions, as well as your vision and goals and ways of achieving them. Together, we will co-create next steps and your coach may offer resources, exercises, suggestions and experiments to try. Your coach may also make requests of you. You hereby agree that whatever we discuss is not binding upon you, nor is it prescribed by your coach. You remain in charge of how you choose to implement your learning as a result of what we discuss in our sessions.
Coaching is a comprehensive process that often involves multiple areas of your life, including career or business, finances, health, relationships, education and recreation. Deciding how to incorporate coaching principles and learning into those areas and making decisions within them is the Client’s responsibility. The Client remains solely responsible for creating and implementing their own physical, mental and emotional well-being, decisions, choices, actions and results arising out of or resulting from the coaching relationship.
Your Guarantee
Your Coach cannot take action for you or predict the highly individual learning, insight and direction that you will gain through the coaching, and therefore cannot guarantee a specific outcome. The Coach does guarantee that, if you attend all of your coaching sessions and invest time in doing your work, you will experience results, discovery and change. Experience has shown us that when Clients invest in the process, they always get results. Nearly all report increased clarity, confidence, well-being and forward movement towards their vision, among more specific goals.
Scheduling Policy
The client is responsible for attending their sessions as scheduled. Your coaching sessions may be scheduled and adjusted by the client through your online scheduling link. We ask that you schedule all of your sessions in advance, so that we can create a rhythm and predictability to our work together. This ensures the best result. A 24-hour notice is required for scheduling, cancelling and rescheduling sessions. Sessions that are cancelled within the 24-hour period, or no-show, are forfeited by the client. While emergencies do happen, those instances will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and rescheduling is not guaranteed.
Please complete all sessions within your agreement timeframe unless otherwise arranged with your coach. Remaining sessions for 3-month packages expire in 6 months. Remaining sessions for 6-month packages expire in 9 months.
Messaging Policy
Coaching programs include private between-session communication access with your coach. This support may include requests for accountability, clarifications, celebrations, questions, documents, assessments and assignments to assist the Client in working towards their stated goals. Please inform me at the top of your message how you would prefer I respond. (celebrating, need a resource, need feedback or a detailed response, hold for our next session).
Messages are responded to in order of receipt during my work week, Monday - Thursday between the hours of 9 am – 4 pm PT. Please know my response time is 24 - 48 hours, and that any messages coming in Friday – Sunday will be answered on Monday morning. Email, voice or private platform messages, including attachments, are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.
Payment Policy
Your commitment to enrollment in the 3- or 6-month coaching program may be paid for in one payment or in monthly payments. Clients are required to commit fully to the program and are responsible for the total cost in full. Your first payment or pay-in-full is due on the day of enrollment and any subsequent payments are due starting the following month. Your payments will be automatically deducted. You are responsible for keeping your credit card on file up-to-date. Should you choose to cancel this agreement before the full coaching program ends, you remain responsible for any remaining unpaid payments. All payments are non-refundable.