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BY Jlt tEtTt I Special to here

DOUGLAS ZIMMTRMAN PHOIO

Life coach Maria Felice Cunningham (left) holds a training sessioq withEve Siegel during the Bay Area Coaches, International Coach Federa-tion's workshop in San Francisco.

oR ANyoNE lvHo has spent some time on the playingfield or the hardwood as a kid, the word coach conjuresup an image of the ex-jock in sweats yelling in a voiceso thunderous it could make paint peel. Tough love wasdished out in spades in an effort to inject discipline.

Johanna Beyer might just be the antithesis of thatstereotype. The Mill Vailey mother of two is a life coach, usingher background as a management consultant and a demeanorthat has made her an informal adviser to friends and familyfor years to help people make professional and personal transi-tions in their lives. Beyer has seen a surge in demand in recentmonths as people seek a new direction after watching theirhome values plummet and their 401ks wiped out.

'hk tirht of rhat 9lll e{fect," Beyer gays. "lt'srrlr tr ne!-er to a lot of people."

Bcr€r is part of a burgeoning coaching industry,Thrb resides somewhere in the neighborhood ofpslchodrrapy but with a few faint differences.L-nbetnmnst to many,outside the coaching field,l.ledn is *re field's epiceirter. The San Rafael-tlemd Ceches Training Institute (CTl) is theterEct cerdfication program for coaches in thewfd FqrnJed inl992 by husband and wifetlEnrr and Karen KimsepHouse and Laura Whit-wd as a basic teaching program for the then-flod$ing cmching field, it has trained more thanSfinpeoele at its training centers throughoutNorfr-{m€rica-

The gcrfi isnt limited to CTI. The Interna-Ennal Cmch Federation (lCF), an industry group

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based in Lexington, Ky., boasts 17,348 members inmore than 90 countries. Membership has jumped644 percentfrom 10 years ago. Its Bav Area chap-ters just sponsored a one-day event with best-sellingauthor Debbie Ford that attracted abow225 people.

"We really didnt set out to found a global orga-nization or to launch a profession,'Karen Kimsey-House says- "lt certainly mmed into somethingbigger than we had imagined."

Much bigger indeed, but also occasionally ridi-culed. Unlike therapists and counselors, no formaleducation or license is required to be a coach ofany kind; In a 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers sur-vey of nearly 5,500 coaches, only 18.? percent saidthey had an ICF credential, which they'd obtainafter completing a training program like thoseoffered by CTI. On "The Daily Show withJon

llorkshop participantsmingle next to the Cor*Training Instituteinformat'ron table at ticworkhop at the UnitrhCenter in San Franclscalnternational CouhFederation's "learninginterlude" workshopfeatured best-sellingauthor Debbie Forddiscussing her bool"The Secret of tlnShadow," a movh andlife-coachin g uortshotOOUGLAS ZITITIERI'AX PHOTO

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I bcil it blew apad. ... lt forced me to ask some deeper questions,dEl3# c.acting does.";*r L &tu*N.RA ssT tnseiro resident on her path to helping others by becoming a l if e coach

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"lt's ftind of that 9fl1 effect. lt's nowor never to a lot of people."

"Ji iANNA BEYER, t '4 i l l Val lev l j ie coach cn the sJrqe in Jemand sre h.s: : : r 3s pecpie se€k a nevr ' d i recr icn,d: : ! l

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"When your parent or spouse tells youa truth that is hard to hear,

it's harder to receive it."ADRiAN KLAP:lAAK. Mi l l Y3i :sv l i fe coach on interact inq wi tn his c l ients

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Ste* 'art" rn \ f l rch l iC6. correspt ' ,nJeni Dimitr i\1:r ; rn n. . ,ckei rhe lucrat ive caachrns i ie l l as:aa-: . a l r - . rne' , i ' r th:n a 'E1n1,Jn anl an lnrernet

: i . .e.nnn. ' -{ . lue.Lrrch rs l ike having a real lv. \F.nsrvc inend iv i th i imiteC credent ials - andhanls," he quipped.

But rvhile the lines between coaching and the-more established field of psychotherapy are quiteblurry, some therapists see coaching as potentiallycomplementary to therapy. \fhen Dr. Heidi Min-nick, a Corte Madera-based psychologist, startedher practice in 1991, coaching was still in theu'omb. "Typically coaches tend to be more extro-verted, more action-oriented than therapists," shesays. "But it'.s hard to say - I don't even think thervord coaching was used back when I started."

Kirnsey-House proposes a distinction, butacknowiedges that there's really no definitivebi'rindary. "Coaching tends to be more forrvard-Lockir-rg an,.l more action-oriented, and therapy:-nis to l,.e mc,re pasr-looking auC tnore heaiing'

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wants to "look at the entire hfe and start from thiinside out, spending three ar four sessions reac'quainting the person rvith themselves, creating :l i fe map of their successes and challenges, thelrvaiues and purpose. Then I' l l get into the actl(-rnplan."

Manl' gsz.hes admit to finding the coachinEprofession after going through a transition the r,--selves - the coachee becornes a coach. WhenSan Anselmo resident Gaii Barrie becarne a cLr.r-: :10 years ago, her parents had died, she'd sold h.:antique business and gotten dir.orced frcm ]re rhusband, all at the age of 36. "My iife as i kn.,' . -blew apart," she says. "lt's a lot like hori'righi :-. ''

it feels like the u.orld is turning upside.1c'ri'n i. :people. It forced me to ask some deeper i lLte sli. : :and that's u'hat coaching does."

Barrie was living in N{rchigan at the tirne . '...:took CTI's courses in Chicago. She 1.,r.e.1 it . -rnuch that she becarne a teacher at CTi i i , S.'- i.Rata. l rn- ] i . n, , \ \ ' r i t r l i r \ '1\() t - in i t . ,€: i : . . - , i . :

Frcgram. Sat l : l i l : . r resi i : r , : Sha:rnon Blke: . , . .:he n', i l .t r i l l- i- i: rr ,: i r1--':. .r. i i .r r: istnr t '-.tr crni . . ; l tL: : i . - ' , - ' . ,L: . , : : - . i . l ' . t l ' . - , -sh. .:,, ' . . i .; ....1 l i I : i ::.1: , i '- ' t,-,r a' i,.ut ir, ' ,. , . .:,

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"Goaching tends to be more forward-looking and more action-oriented,and therapy tends to be more past-looking and more healing-odented."lR. HEIDI MINNICK, Corte Madera-based psychologist and l i fe coach who launched her Dract ice in 1991

finally get paid for what you've been doing for 30vears," she says.

Adrian Klaphaak was just 9 years old whenCTI was founded. Born and raised in Mill Valley,Klaphaak graduated from the University of South-ern California and took a job at a consulting firmrn San Francisco. The stint lasted just a year, as:re quir to travel throughout Southeast Asia for'rx months to "do some soul searching and medi-:arrng and have a conversation with myself in aieeper way than I ever had before about who I wasnd what I had to offer the world."

i{e launched his coaching practice upon his=turn three years ago and has never looked back.--ie credits growing up with a therapist mom and a::ichiarrisr dad. "k's kind of like the family busi-:res=-- he says. "The best training I received camear ::e dinner table growing up."

nrh Klaphaak and Barrie began setting up--e: lracrices while rhey were in the midst of the-.:::::cttion program, a common practice among.*.-:.ft:. They've both found that the key is being-*: -.i:i with their clients, which often meansr r :-; rur some hard truth. "l'm not a friend or anr: -, ::tember," Klaphaak says. "!7hen your par-:. - i :t"t'r.tS€ tells you a truth that is hard to hear,i- *,i:jer ro receive it than when you get it fromi ,Tir .r€ r'hc' is neutral and you're paying for that

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-e:: i:e some obvious patterns among Marin's*.-,::. l:.e r-ast majority of coaching is done

', :- :.*d ::"rne - Barrie says she had clients in 11|lrr -r- r:: :: , ne trme and in six countries now As

"r,: ;r r ij- ri*.,ir .rork out of their homes, providing'*- -'--:--:-ure introductory session to prospec.

r | - tr:l :, : - :€e if a rapport develops. "lt's so rich" u | - ; - : nnectwithsomeoneonthephoneir.- Lr ' - ' :. -:: jUi," Bakef SaVS.

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Life coach llaria FeliceCunningham (above,center) has a conversetiorwith an attendee whilccoach Marci Rinkoff (left)of San Rafael holds a scs-slon with Pamela llye ofMill Valley at the Bay ArerCoaches, lnternationalCoach Federation's rorl-shop in San Francisco.DOUGLAS ZIMMtRIlAN Pr J-13

Many of them repear words like "fulfillment,""traction" and "path," and both Klaphaak andBeyer include the word "path" in the name oftheir business. More than anything, they professoutright joy at finding a job that they are bothgood at and would be doing anyway for friendsand family members. Not to mention that theirfield is catching fire during the economic dorvn-Iurn.

"lt's beyond my wildest dreams," Baker says.

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