LMS/EAP  E-Coaching

Our clients have been accustomed to the traditional EAP face-to-face counseling, but there are exciting new changes taking place at LMS/EAP.  In 2010 we will be offering an alternative to our standard EAP services, called E-Coaching.  E-Coaching is an abbreviation for electronic coaching, whereby the client utilizes LMS/EAP’s secure online website to interact with an EAP Coach in a partnership towards reaching the client’s identified life goals.  The focus is not about what happened yesterday, but what the client wants to accomplish in the future with specific goals in mind.

E-Coaching is different from face-to-face counseling. Face-to-face counseling is typically where the client is asking for assistance when struggling with emotional or psychological pain.  The EAP Clinician works with the client to help eliminate emotional distress by working towards behavioral changes, challenging thought processes that hinder emotional health and coming up with specific interventions. 

E-Coaching involves the client and the Coach focusing on future change. The client comes to the coaching process with specific goals in mind, such as wanting to learn stress management skills, to make a career change or to learn teenage parenting skills.  The client works with the Coach to develop strategies in order to meet the client’s identified goals.  These types of desired goals can also be accomplished in the traditional EAP counseling, but remember, E-coaching is not mental health counseling. It is a coaching process where the Coach and client work as a team to assist the client with reaching his/her potential, not working through their emotional problems.

E-Coaching involves the client signing a contract with his/her Coach and completing several forms, including an assessment, to determine what the client hopes to achieve and if they are appropriate for E-Coaching.  As the process evolves, the client’s goals and outcomes will be monitored by the client and their Coach to determine if the client’s needs are being met.

There are many benefits to E-Coaching, particularly if you live in a different city.  You can e-mail your Coach anytime, so you have great time flexibility. It involves no travel, so you can have a coaching session in your pajamas while sitting in bed.  Lastly, it allows for more anonymity.  One minor drawback is that a client is not physically present, so non-verbal forms of communication are compromised and e-mail wording can be misunderstood.  E-Coaching takes a real commitment so it requires a lot of thought and preparation work.