Professional Counseling Services

Martin M. Parker, Psy.D. and Carole J. Parker, Ph.D.

Professional Counseling Services

Coaching Programs

Coaching for Career and Life Management
Coaching Means Success at Work
What is Coaching?
Customized Assistance for Specific Problems Relating to Work
A Confidential Forum to Discuss Work-Related Issues with a Trained Professional
How Does Coaching Work?
The Benefits
Career Counseling
Who can Benefit from Career Counseling?
How does the Process Work?

Coaching for Career & Life Management

Helping people overcome work related problems, predicaments, obstacles, blocks, limitations, concerns, or crises.

Coaching Means Success at Work

Whether you are newly employed or nearing retirement, a senior executive or at entry level, you can feel blocked by internal or external factors and robbed of the sense of accomplishment you want from your work.

We have helped people in all levels of employment to overcome difficulties related to:

Advancing within the organization
Relating with the boss
EQ Issues addressed
Quality of Life addressed
Being assertive
Resolving conflicts
Being affective in a new position
Confronting dysfunctional or addictive behaviors
Getting needed changes made
Being a boss
Handling organizational politics
Coping with organizational changes such as new leadership, reductions in force, mergers or acquisitions
Balancing work and family
Managing time
Being productive
Managing stress
Overcoming unproductive patterns such as perfectionism, disorganization, or co-dependency

What is Coaching?

Individual job coaching offers one-on-one consultation with a trained professional for people who want help with work-related situations.

Customized Assistance for Specific Problems Relating to Work

Job coaching goes beyond books or training seminars which provide helpful information in a general way. You get a personalized assessment of your problem, not a theoretical case study. You also get strategies to resolve it and to prevent similar predicaments in the future.

A Confidential Forum to Discuss Work-Related Issues

with a Trained Professional

Job coaching provides a totally discreet, safe place for candid discussions of work experiences and perceptions without fear of judgment or repercussion. The objectivity of a trained professional is valuable once people have done everything on their own to improve a situation. Often help with re-interpreting a situation can bring it into new perspective and make a solution much easier to achieve.

How Does Coaching Work?

We believe strongly in a focused and goal-oriented approach. The number of sessions needed for resolution generally ranges from 3 to 10 hour-long sessions, depending on the number and complexity of issues involved.

We use a three-stage process to assist clients in resolving issues.

Assessment.
An examination of individual strengths, weaknesses and past history, and a discovery of attitudes and beliefs about ourselves or others that may be contributing to problems.
Skill-building.
An imaginative and intelligent selection of problem-solving tools; books, tapes, resources, referrals to networking sources, role playing, counseling on business communications to help people find what works.
Action Planning.
Designing a strategy to resolve the immediate concern and a plan to prevent future problems, so that, armed with skills and understanding, people can be more effective and content in the workplace.

The Benefits

Through job coaching with us, people report getting a deeper understanding of both internal and external issues. As clinicians, we help people understand themselves and see how personal background, strengths and weaknesses, attitudes and beliefs can influence their experience at work. As experienced business consultants, we help people develop a more thorough understanding of the needs and constraints of the work environment.

As a result, people have a change in attitude and behavior that increases their effectiveness and satisfaction at work.

Career Counseling

We offer a unique, comprehensive approach to discovering your real work needs and planning a fulfilled life around career decisions.

Whether you're responding to a crisis that brings on the need for decisions, or have reached a point where you are ready to take more control over your work life, you can benefit from individual career counseling, a process that takes into consideration your life needs, values and aspirations as well as your interests and skills, a process that can lead you to real fulfillment in this all-important area of your life. We focus on helping you discover and clarify what you want to do. You will take control over your own career, not just jump into the job search to repeat old, safe, but unfulfilling patterns.

Who can Benefit from Career Counseling?

Those entering, re-entering or changing careers.
Those who want to move or advance in their current organization.
Those who are dissatisfied with what they are doing.
Those who have been terminated or relocated.
Men and women who want to design their work around family needs.
Those in recovery from addictive or dysfunctional patterns and who need to redesign their work to fit their current goals and lifestyle.
Those who are finally ready to decide what they want to be when they grow up.

How does the Process Work?

Self-assessment and discovery.
Analysis of your individual skills, interests, values and goals. You gauge where you are today in relation to your dream and where you can be in the very near future.
Targeting appropriate markets.
Identification of positions and organizations best suited to your qualifications and aspirations.
Launching a successful marketing campaign.
Designing and following a strategy to evaluate your options, resources and get you in the position your desire.
Interviewing and self-marketing.
Acquiring competitive skills and techniques through actual practice.