Life Coach Spotlight: Aileen Uy

Coach Spotlight is our chance to shine a light on some of the amazing graduates of Lumia's coach training program! 

Name: Aileen Uy-Gurango

Website: https://www.autherapy.life/home

1. What do you love the most about Lumia/ Why did you choose this program?

Before I entered in the program, I was a consumer and elicited the assistance of a coach to help me develop my own action plan. After seeing how much value this added to my own life, I knew that I wanted to go in the direction of adding this as a supplement to my clinical training.  

I consider myself someone who does intensive research about what I invest my time and money in. Everything about Lumia's Mission Statement resonated with my own personal beliefs about adding humanity into the healing process and creating restoration through collaboration.

As if completing the program wasn't enough, it also came with the added bonus of being welcomed into a large community of very warm, intelligent, and talented group of individuals. On a professional level, I got a chance to interface with people from other professions—former attorneys, teachers, marketing experts, yogi's, corporate executives, tech people, spiritual gurus, and parents. Professionally, this helped me grow my business significantly due to being able to learn from my peers, as well as expand my network. On a personal level, I developed a lot of lifelong friendships with people from around the globe.

2. How is life coaching complementing your therapy practice?

Coach training invited me to do something I never did while I was in graduate school; it allowed me to really get to know myself as a person with passions FIRST, before deciding how I wanted to orient myself as a therapist. It gave me a chance to really explore what impact I wanted to make and the topics I actually wanted to talk about.

Because the program encourages coaches to undergo their own personal journeys, it allowed me to explore my own pain points and acknowledge signature themes in my life that were the root cause of all of cognitions and behaviors. It also helped me recognize potential schemas that would trigger countertransference in ways that I wasn't able to explore in clinical supervision due to maintaining that boundary of limited self disclosure in a professional setting.

It also enhanced my overall self development in understanding how I would like to be recognized as a person first, before a label. This meant breaking away from the standard medical model of treating pathology that was adopted by the APA in the 1980s. Instead of strictly focusing on symptoms and illness, coaching helped me recognize the importance of capitalizing on strengths and wellness.  

3. How has coaching given you the freedom to diversify your practice?

It was a beautiful compliment to my clinical skills. Because the program is a marriage of "textbook material" and "real life material," it really opened my eyes to seeing the possibilities of integrating more modern techniques. As much as CBT and DBT have been very beneficial in my practice as a psychotherapist, I also had to be real in acknowledging that more current models for interventions that were effective in helping someone manage their moods, keep their cognitive distortions in check, and actually engage in a self care plan.  

4. How have you and your clients benefited?

Attending to the human side of working with people as a coach, it made gave me way more agency to be more personable in my approach as a psychotherapist. My clients also benefited by feeling as though they were doing something more than "just complaining." Bringing in Positive Psychology interventions and being solution-oriented significantly helped raise a lot of my client's faith in themselves.

5. How has the Lumia community impacted your confidence?

Within the community, you meet a bunch of amazing people who further your personal and professional development. Because they've all gone through the process, they're highly effective in being great listeners and also effective in helping you transition out of negative spaces and into more productive and centered spaces.

The culture within the community focuses on developing a growth mindset as well as an abundant mindset, thus promoting more collaboration and less competition. You have many people who support you on your path.  These are the people pool resources, share all of the lessons they have learned, and invest in your future by being part of your active audience.  

Starting out as a coach first before getting my foot in the door for Private Practice also gave me the opportunity to get a sample of what it would be like to do this independently. It taught me a lot about the importance of having a strong passionate platform to stand on and how to navigate the world of self promotion through marketing. The community gave me an opportunity to practice this, using my peers as participants for beta testing for any kind of technique I wanted to utilize in session and/or group programs I wanted to start running. Their feedback was as kind as it was constructive, and I can honestly say it built my confidence to pursue more things and dream bigger.  

6. What would you say to a therapist interested in taking Lumia's coach training?

If you are a grad student: If you have the emotional bandwidth to enroll in this program while concurrently attending to your obligations as a student and your other adult responsibilities... do it. You'll be doing yourself a huge favor by being a head of the game with cutting edge information about motivations, which will significantly enhance your career.  

You'll also concurrently begin understanding the business side of being a therapist that they never teach you in grad school.  You'll also have the added benefit of being able to be autonomous without being required to have a clinical supervisor and without needing clinical hours to complete before you go independent.

If you are already a therapist: The current market has shown that more and more people reject therapy due to being put off by focusing entirely on the past. With times changing, our practice is a little behind the times. This is evident in the ever growing popularity of positively minded account holders on Instagram gaining popularity by encouraging the global community to integrate the use of "coach-like" interventions into their daily lives. Although CE's are required for us to keep our licenses, we have to do more to stay relevant in this community ESPECIALLY if you are in private practice.  

For all: Clearly you were drawn to this page, this site, and this testimonial in search of something you already know the answer to. You lose nothing by scheduling a call with a member of Lumia's team to consult and determine if its right for you. I can't guarantee the outcome, but I can assure you'll obtain a lot of insight as a result.

Ready to Become A Coach?

One of our values at Lumia is that we dare to be different. Our life coaches like Aileen ignore the expectations society tries to impose on them, and seek to live from their own truth instead. If you are ready to step into your power and you’d like a partner in the process, come check out Lumia Life Coach Training. Grounded in science, our ICF accredited program features authentic instructors, a robust curriculum, and business instruction to prepare you for liftoff.

‍Lumia Coaching: Vibrant community. Evidence-based life coach training. Lifetime support.