Hello,

I’m new to coaching and my clients are new to coaching. They don’t know exactly how it works or what to expect during the session, so I would be leading the experience in every way.

When listening to the client’s story, we might pull several models from the story. Since we use the model on our end but don’t make it a focal point with the client, how do we pick which C, T, F, A, or R to pick?

What, specifically, do we say to them?

Do we say something along the lines of, “I understand you are feeling…”, or “In listening to your story, I heard thoughts of …. how does that make you feel?”

But what if we dive into something we heard, and they come along with us on the journey of self exploration but, at the end of the session, they say something like, “we just spent 20 mins talking about X, but I really wanted to talk about Y”…?

I’d love some pointers on how to set up the beginning of the relationship, what they can expect, how to prepare their minds for our calls, etc., but don’t know what to say to them or how to help them set sound expectations for the sessions and relationship.

Would love some help.
Thanks!