Transition Coach Duties

Whether you're considering changing your career or need to heal from an intensely emotional event in your life, a transition coach may be able to help. These professional counselors are trained to provide guidance as clients move from one phase of life to the next, or to help individuals figure out why it is emotionally or mentally necessary to make certain life transitions.

Relationship Transitions

• A transition coach can help clients who are going through divorce, as they deal with the emotional and financial changes that are virtually inevitable during this type of life change. The will assist individuals in exploring the feelings associated with the transition and may provide exercises that will make the client more comfortable with being single, like intentionally scheduling recreational time with friends. In some cases, a transition coach will also assist people who have just gotten married or fallen in love. This is a major life change as well and will sometimes require intense self-examination for the relationship to succeed.

Grieving Transitions

• A client who has recently lost a loved one may request the services of a transition coach. The counselor will help an individual to explore feelings of hopelessness or intense sadness and to deal with any unresolved issues that may still exist between the client and loved one, even though the other party is deceased. A transition coach may also encourage clients to own their pain or grief and express it appropriately, or to take up a new hobby, like journal writing or painting to relay emotion. Grief transition coaching may also apply to parents who are now empty nesters and feel confusion, sadness and a loss of purpose because their children are no longer in the home. The counselor will provide the client with ways to rediscover a talent or ability that is separate from parenting to encourage balanced living.

Career Transitions

• If a person who has served in the military for years is preparing to leave the service and enter the civilian work force, he may hire a transition coach to make this life change easier. These coaches are also equipped to help a professional athlete who will soon stop play sports for a living and take on a new career path. During a session, clients may be asked questions that help them figure out what goals they hope to accomplish during and after the transition. The coach may also have to prepare clients for the change in their finances that could come with a career change, as well as the new dynamic in the workplace, for example, a pro athlete used to accolades may feel uncomfortable in a corporate environment where praise is not abundant.

Retirement Transitions

• Transitional coaches can be very beneficial to those who are getting ready for retirement after decades of full-time work. People will sometimes feel anxious or without purpose after retiring and a coach will assist clients in finding new activities to take up their time, or encourage clients to renew valuable relationships with loved ones. A transition coach could also prompt retirees to enjoy this phase of life, and to feel entitled to relax. While these counselors are not financial planners, sessions can include helping a retiree to make wise monetary decisions that fit her new way of life while honoring her preferences.