Family Practice Vol. 19, No. 5, 574
© Oxford University Press 2002
Book review |
The new private practice: therapist-coaches share stories, strategies, and advice.
Lynn Grodzki (ed.). (275 pages, US$32.) WW Norton & Company Ltd, 2002. ISBN 0-393-70379-7.
Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine, University of Minnesota, USA
When I first picked up this book, I did not know what to think. I had never heard of coaching outside of sports, and had no idea how it might relate to my practice as a primary care physician. The book is a series of essays and guidance about a new kind of fee-charging advice giver—probably less controversial than complementary therapy but equally unproven. The editor, in the Introduction, explains her concept of coaching. Coaching, it seems, is being a personal trainer for business and life. Coaching is "a threefold process that helps people set and reach better goals". Many of the clients appear to be executives, athletes or others with an obstacle to overcome. In some way, they all seem to be people who want more.
The book itself is divided into four parts: Executive Coaching, Personal Coaching, Peak-Performance Coaching and Special Niches Coaching. At the end of each essay, the author for their section gives some practical information, including how much they charge per hour, a bit of general advice, a short biography and who their coaches were.
The book is clearly written, and the jargon that is used is explained. Each author gives contact information. It would have been nice to have a list of the resources and contacts at the end of the book. The book does a credible job of illustrating the scope of this profession, but it would benefit from some way to pull all of these diverse essays together meaningfully at the end.
As I think back on yesterday’s busy clinic day, I begin to realize that I am a bit of a coach after all. Sometimes, I need to help a person through a critical incident such as a new diagnosis, and help them focus on the issues at hand, including deciding treatment. ‘Coaching’ may be more what I am doing with the patient at that point, rather than therapy.
However, this book is not intended to be, and is not, a how-to manual for coaching. It is a series of stories and advice, meant only to highlight "a turning point in the field of therapy" rather than an attempt to teach the topic. And while the essays are interesting, providing an insight into why people decide to go into this particular profession, I did not feel that I walked away with a lot more knowledge than I sat down with.
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