Approximately one in three working-aged people has a chronic illness and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next decade. Because of this, more people are beginning to seek out chronic illness professionals to help them improve their lives.
People with unpredictable, invisible, long-lasting conditions often deal with similar issues - so getting professional help doesn't have to be disease-specific. In fact, within each disease, symptoms can manifest themselves in vastly different ways - meaning each person often has a unique mix of challenges and issues they have to deal with.
This is why the process of coaching works so well in helping people adjust to chronic illness. Coaching is a process that treats each person as a unique collection of values, strengths and conflicts. The client and the coach work towards an individual solution that is specific to that person.
Ground-breaking studies from Stanford University show that individuals using chronic illness coaches over a three year period showed significant health improvement, spent fewer days in the hospital and saved four dollars in various health costs for every dollar spent on coaching. In his new book, Creating Healthy Organizations, author Graham Lowe describes a similar program put in place by Dow Chemical, for their workers, which yielded a return on investment of eight dollars for every dollar spent.
Considering the significant return on investment that a chronic illness coach can bring, the next question becomes: Where do you find these coaches and what exactly do they do?
Chronic illness coaching Is still a young and growing field. If you know of someone who has used a C.I. coach and can recommend them, that's probably the best place to start. If you do not have a personal connection to anyone, the Internet can be helpful.
How do you find the right coach for you?
Coaching is inherently holistic, so most coaches will touch on topics like taking care of your health, and dealing with work, relationship and lifestyle issues. However, a chronic illness coach often has special skills in a particular area. Here is a quick run-down:
Health-oriented coaching
These coaches often come from nursing or occupational therapy backgrounds. Sometimes they work for a local hospital, employee assistance plan or health care organization. These coaches can sometimes be very disease-specific. For instance diabetes coaches can help with tips on when and how to monitor blood sugar, what to eat, etc.
Life-oriented coaching
There are some life coaches that specialize in helping people with chronic illness. Many of these coaches live with chronic illness themselves and some have therapy background. These practitioners can help their clients not only with their health, but also help develop coping skills to deal with the dramatic changes that a chronic illness often brings to a person's life. We live in a society that expects illness to be visible, predictable and treatable, so having an unpredictable and invisible chronic illness has a huge effect on how a person perceives themselves and relates to other people.
Since coaching often takes place over the phone, geography is not a barrier. The best place to look for these types of coaches is on the Internet.
Career-coaching and high-performance coaching
Dealing with demands of a workplace that does not understand or acknowledge the realities of chronic illness is a difficult challenge. Being able to tackle these sorts of issues is what sets the career or high-performance coach from the pack.
These elite coaches are often former professionals or managers who have succeeded in highly competitive industries despite their illnesses. Some coaches work with people in all types of jobs while others specialize.
The high-performance coach works with managers, executives and people in demanding industries such as journalism, law and medicine. These coaches still work holistically but with the understanding that their clients are highly-driven people who are looking for a life and career plan that is both rewarding and sustainable despite their illness.
Again, a web search is your best bet as these people coach clients by phone across North America and the World. These coaches often write or speak on chronic illness issues at conferences and organizations or in the media.
How is a coach different from a counselor or psychotherapist?
While coaching and psychotherapy do have some similarities, there are many important differences.
Rather than concentrating on defining issues that have occurred in the past, coaching is forward-thinking and goal-oriented. The coach helps the client identify their strengths and values and clearly define the challenges and obstacles ahead. The coach then helps the client deal with their challenges and move toward their larger goal.
Chronic illness is inherently challenging, so having a coach in your corner can provide you with the focus and the resources to make the most out of your situation.
Jason Reid is owner of Sick with Success, and a high-performance chronic illness coach. He also educates organizations about the challenges faced by those with invisible, chronic illness.
A former award-winning journalist, Jason Reid has battled Crohn's disease for most of his life. He also has experience managing employees challenged by cancer, arthritis, depression and other chronic diseases.
Would it surprise you that Coach offers more than just handbags for sale? I know it surprised me. Mainly because all that is ever heard in the media is that Coach makes a superior handbag. The media does not concentrate on the fact that Coach also make superior Coach Shoes and Coach Boots. Not only does Coach make these accessories but the collection is well rounded with shoes like sandals, sneakers, boots, pumps, flats, loafers and wedges just to name a few.
I hear you, but how much does it cost to purchase a Coach shoe?
Like anything that you purchase from Coach, you are talking about purchasing a quality product. And with purchasing a quality product you will have to spend a little bit more than just going down to a store like Payless or even a mid-range priced store like Dillards. Coach shoes usually range in price from $100 to $300 dollars. This is usually for a pump or a sandal or wedge. But if your looking at purchasing a boot you will be forking over between $200 and $500 dollars depending on the style.
Don't look at the price as being to expense. Lets look at the average time that a shoe would last. I know most shoes I purchase only last approx. a year or so. That is for a dress shoe. But a speaker would only last approx. 6 to 8 month if I am wearing it everyday. These are poor quality shoes that are made to deteriorate in a short amount of time. Not Coach, because of the price you are pretty much guaranteed to get a quality product with real leather and real marksmanship from a master that will last you for years. Yes, I did say years. This is what Coach is known for. Coach is not a fly by night organization that puts out shabby Coach Shoes and Boots. Their shoes are meant to last over time.
Where can I purchase a Coach Shoe?
I have to admit the fastest why to get a pair of Coach Shoes is by going to you local high end department store. But expect to pay full price for anything that you purchase. But there is an alternative. Buying off of the net would allow you to buy at significant discounts that you would not see in your local department store. Some of these prices could be 20% to 40% off. That is a significant amount of change left in your pocket. So, don't be afraid to shop around on the net to get what you want. Especially in this economy, every cent saved goes a long way.
You would be surprise that Coach offers great shoes for men. If you go online and check for Coach shoes, you will find out that there are some Coach shoes for men available there. They have great style and quality like other Coach women shoes. It is one of the Coach commitment to provide the great fashion accessories for men and women including shoes.
Coach men shoes come in many different shoe types like sneakers, boots, loafers, sandals, slippers and many more. They all are fantastic footwear for you to add to your collection. If you are looking for casual or sport sneakers, you can get Coach sneakers for better style and option. You can also get Coach sandals or slippers for the summer accessories. They have better quality and durability that you can use in summer for many years. Coach created high quality shoes for men in well design and workmanship to make sure that all Coach shoes meet the top level standards of designer fashion accessories.
Where can I buy Coach men shoes?
Like buying other Coach products, you can buy Coach men shoes at the local department store where you are. You can also do it at the online stores for the fastest and easiest way to get them. But if you want to buy the real Coach shoes, I really recommend you to buy from the Coach Outlets or Coach Official Site for online shopping. I love to buy them at the online stores, because I can find the authentic Coach shoes at many online shopping outlets. I can compare the price among other shopping outlets that carry the real Coach products like Macy's, Amazon and Dillard's to get better price.
How much will I spend to buy a pair of Coach men shoes?
You know the price of the Coach men shoes is vary depending on the style and type of shoes you are looking for. You can get a pair of Coach sneakers for $75 to $200 of the retails price. But you can get a little bit cheaper if you can find some discounts or sale which are always available at the online shopping stores like Amazon and Dillard's. So, try to shop around on the online stores to find the best deal on them.
For more details on Coach shoes for men, you can visit my blog about Coach Shoes now!
Singers tend to get all of the glory. They get the applause, they get the attention and they get the awards. However, one thing that they didn't get is there on their own. In fact, the great singers always credit their singing coach with helping them to attain greatness. It is easy for anyone to claim that they are a top notch singing instructor, but what truly makes a wonderful singing coach?
Singing coaches come in a variety of different disciplines. Some of them specialize in classical techniques, while others prefer pop music, and others prefer the Broadway genre. In order to find the best one for you, you must determine what type of singer you want to be. If your dream is to sing opera working with an R&B singing coach will not necessarily prepare you for the demands of your chosen music field.
Next you will want to take a look at the educational background of your prospective singing coach. You want someone who has a technical background in music. Ideally, you want someone who has a master's degree in music. However, at the least you want someone that has a bachelor's degree in vocal performance. That degree will certify that they have gone through the necessary training to tell you what to do and how to do it safely.
Professional experience is also important in evaluating a singing coach. The old saying may say "those who can't do teach," but that is not what you want in a singing coach. Instead, you want someone who has had experience in what they are teaching you to do. Ideally, if they have had extensive performance training that is what you want. However, extensive teaching experience may be another indicator of a good teacher. See if you can get some reference letters from students or colleagues to give you an idea of their professional prowess.
How much a singing coach charges is important to many people as well. Unfortunately, we are living in difficult economic times and that means that not everyone can afford extra lessons. Generally singing lessons range from half hour sessions to a full hour. Typically singing teachers charge a dollar a minute which means that your lesson could cost you as much as $60 an hour if not more.
For some aspiring singers this is simple not possible. In those cases you may want to look for a singing coach in a setting other than a private lesson. Some teachers offer group lessons. This type of lesson includes several different people at a much more affordable lesson rate. While you will not get the individualized attention of a private lesson you will still get the education that you are looking for.
The Coach patch, creed and serial number is the number 1 topic of conversation when the authenticity of a Coach purse is being discussed. Nobody wants to buy a counterfeit bag. Everybody wants to know for sure if their bag is authentic, particularly when buying from an online auction like eBay. But is this mysterious serial number a true indicator? In a word, NO.
First, a true serial number is unique. Finding a Coach patch with an actual unique serial number is next to impossible. Coach hasn't used a true serial number for about 10 years. Sure, the older bags had true serial numbers, but not anymore. The myths , urban legends or simple un-truths surrounding "the patch" have caused many a girl to go into a panicked frenzy of sorts after receiving a bag that had a patch with no numbers or worse yet, no patch at all!
The fact is not all bags have them. Actually, most do not! Nobody really knows for certain what determines Coach's decision to place a leather creed patch with numbers in certain bags but a general rule of thumb is this: If Coach deems the purse a handbag, it will have a leather creed patch with numbers . Items not counting as handbags would include wristlets, mini skinny's, cosmetic pouch bags and other accessories. There will sometimes be leather patches with the creed, but not any numbers in these smaller accessory type products. The numbers, when present, represent the style number and a code of date of manufacture. So you will see the same style number on every bag of that style but you might find some bags with different numbers other than the style numbers. The numbers can also contain letters.
There are more than a few different creeds but the most common ones will read something like these:
THIS IS A COACH BAG. IT WAS HANDCRAFTED IN CHINA FROM THE FINEST MATERIALS TRIMMED WITH GENUINE LEATHER. ITS SUPERIOR CRAFTSMANSHIP AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL REFLECT OUR COMMITMENT TO ENDURING QUALITY.
THIS IS A COACH BAG. IT WAS HANDCRAFTED IN CHINA OF COMPLETELY NATURAL SOFT MILLED COWHIDE. THE VARIATIONS IN THE GRAIN ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF NATURAL FULL GRAIN LEATHER.
Most of the leather patches are beautifully embossed. Some of the newer bags have a metallic cursive style writing on them rather than an embossing. Some of the accessory type bags, as mentioned above, will not have any numbers but may still have a creed of sorts, usually a shorter version of the above examples.
Another misconception is that Coach bags are made in the USA and that anything made in China must be fake. This is not true and it's hard to believe so many people believe it. Coach hasn't made bags in the USA for about 10 years and 90% or more of their products are manufactured in China. There are other countries too such as Turkey, Italy, Pakistan, Mexico and India among others. You will almost always see the word China on their creed patches.
The bottom line is that just because a Coach bag is without a leather creed, does not mean it's a knockoff. Most companies manufacturing fake bags would put one in anyways. It might not be the correct style numbers. It might not be leather. It might have words spelled incorrectly. Still, it will likely be there with a fake bag. So don't get too excited by a "no patch" bag. Instead, learn the style number of your bag and if it has a patch, see that it matches the numbers on the creed. Check for incorrect spellings. Make sure the patch is actually leather. To recap, if it's a small pouch bag, cosmetic bag, wristlet or other accessory, it likely shouldn't have one in it anyway. Of course, there are exceptions to this accessories rule, but it's accurate most of the time. Some of the more expensive accessories will have the full creed in them such as limited edition items.