Hey! Hi! Hello! My name is Rebecca and I am a Mental Health Coach. Personal, educational, and work experiences with domestic violence and socio-cultural attitudes related to body standards, gender, and sexuality have influenced the integration of cognitive-behavioural and multicultural-feminist perspectives into my approach to mental health coaching. These approaches promote my values of empowerment, supportive social relationships, growth and independence, and comfort in exploring new aspects of oneself. I believe client problems (e.g. distress, self-defeating behaviours, loss of power, and marginalizing experiences) develop by neglecting one’s physical, cognitive, and emotional needs and embracing negative structures of gender, sexual orientation, race, age, etc. My integrative approach explores client experiences by attending to the internal (e.g. thoughts, feelings, values, and beliefs) and socio-cultural environments that influence behaviour, are within one’s control, and are reactions to socio-cultural pressures. My idea of living authentically is when a client can maintain awareness of, demonstrate expertise in, and balance one’s various needs, beliefs, values, and behaviours to live as one’s true self and to develop a personal identity free from socio-cultural expectations. From a multicultural-feminist perspective, I view clients’ adverse emotional and behavioural reactions as coping responses to negative socio-cultural expectations and patriarchal systems rather than personal flaws. Through a collaborative relationship, I encouraged clients to live intentionally and authentically by making responsible choices that promote positive and continual growth, personal identity and self-definition, positive social relationships, cultural meaning, sense of power and self-determination, advocacy engagement, and social justice. Clients are supported in exercising personal power and expertise in their needs, learning new knowledge and skills, gaining self-acceptance, and to search for solutions that address their needs and externalize marginalizing experiences. The integrative approach to mental health coaching can produce favourable results in managing post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and eating and body disorders and specifically address issues of domestic violence, guilt, body image, trauma, and stress.
