Not just for the rich and famous, life coaches are for anyone who wants support, motivation and practical steps for steering through life’s most challenging times. For instance, coaches can help people get their lives back on track, get through a divorce with less pain, or revive a struggling career. These days, coaches are often specialists in a specific area of expertise, such as relationships, business or organizing, and can therefore provide their clients with years of wisdom as well as a road map to get them where they want to go. 

Natural Awakenings interviewed four coaches from our area to offer a glimpse of what is possible when someone has a caring and knowledgeable coach working on his or her behalf. Most coaches offer their services over the phone, making it convenient to fit sessions into a busy schedule. 

Susan Lasky, Productivity, ADHD and Organization Coach

For 25 years, Susan Lasky has helped people get things done with less of a struggle. Her clients “gain clarity about what they want, and learn practical strategies that work with the unique way they think, so they can live a life they love,” she says.

Lasky is a board-certified coach, a senior certified ADHD coach and a golden circle member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. She says her services are best suited for those who struggle with time management, organization, prioritization and activation—which is not the same as motivation, she notes. Her clients are “smart people who do some things brilliantly, but may get overwhelmed by the everyday challenges of juggling a busy life.”

An example is her client who was trying to launch a new business but was feeling overwhelmed and stuck. “We worked on how he could manage his time to accomplish the most important tasks, and delegate, delete or postpone others,” Lasky says. “We set up systems and co-created a doable plan to move forward.”

Lasky says her clients end up reaping multiple benefits: not being late anymore; managing chronic disorganization; developing routines like regular exercise; learning to self-advocate; making decisions and meeting deadlines more easily; juggling family, work and self-care better; and feeling more in control of their lives.

“My mission is to help people appreciate their unique minds, understand their challenges and work from their strengths to feel happy and successful, whether at home, in school or in the workplace,” she says.

Debbie Weinstock was trained as a strategic intervention coach by Cloe Madanes and Tony Robbins and has been doing various forms of psychotherapy and coaching for more than 20 years.

“Basically, I teach people how to get along,” she says. “Blending the best techniques and insights from clinical psychology, coaching and mindfulness, I teach effective solutions to resolve interpersonal friction and help you develop and maintain healthy relationships with family members, coworkers and intimate partners.”

Weinstock says her coaching services are best suited for “adults who are unhappy with their relationships at home or at work and are ready to look deeply at the issues that are keeping them stuck; learn new strategies and skills to let go of old, unsuccessful patterns; and find a new level of self-confidence, understanding and success in the way they relate and communicate.”

She recently founded the Dignity Initiative (DignityInitiative.com) to inform, educate and counsel people to work together with dignity, and to promote an ethic of compassion, nonviolence and respect in our families, schools and local and global communities. “The Dignity Initiative assists in conflict resolution and dignity training to help schools resolve individual student issues and create a harmonious school environment,” she says.

According to Weinstock, her clients report greater harmony and cooperation in families, deeper intimacy and fulfillment for couples and personal empowerment and improved communications at work.

Susan De Robertis, CEO, Venus in Transit Divorce Coach

Susan De Robertis is a certified divorce mediator and a life coach who was personally trained by David Dowd, a founding member of Coach University. She helps women who are going through a divorce—before, during or after—and who may be struggling emotionally to make the right choices for themselves and their families.

“In working with me, you will reclaim your peace of mind, your power and your purpose in life so you can make money, be happy and live the life you choose,” she says. “The financial decisions you make now will affect you the rest of your life.”

De Robertis says her own life experience makes her uniquely qualified to help women get their lives back on their own terms. “I’ve gone through my own divorce and know what a woman needs emotionally. My extensive background of 25 years in finance and accounting allows me to have the financial expertise to guide women through their transition to a new life where they are at peace and have the financial resources to live the life of their dreams.”

“Divorce has become so common in our society; it impacts everyone. It’s so important that a woman gets the support she needs and is empowered to ask for what she deserves. Women live longer than men and need to take care of themselves first, not last.”

She says her highest intent for each client is “that she has clarity and confidence, knows what she wants and what she needs, and is happy knowing that she can create a new life for herself and her family.”

Maureen Jacobson, CEO and Mindset Mentor, MCJ Business Advisors LLC

Maureen Jacobson has been in business development, marketing and sales for 30 years and has been a business advisor for seven years. Her typical clients are business owners and practitioners who feel unfulfilled, overwhelmed or frustrated by stagnating sales; who no longer feel engaged with their clients or their business; or who are struggling to finish a project that would boost their business to the next level.

The goal of MCJ Business Advisors, she says, is to help clients “step back into their CEO mindset by capturing all of their creative thoughts, weighing them against their goals, creating strategies for growth and placing them into an actionable plan so they can grow their businesses with confidence.”

A CEO should be a visionary, not just another employee, she explains—someone who’s working on the business and not just in the business. It’s the difference between growing a company through innovation and simply fulfilling its day-to-day functions, allowing it to become stagnant from lack of growth and visionary movement.

Jacobson is trained in energy healing, which she says helps her calm her clients and get in tune with them intuitively. And to help them move their businesses forward, she uses business astrology as a guide for product launches and email marketing campaigns.

“My highest intention for my clients is to help them embody and become the peaceful CEO that profits,” she says. “A CEO who is calm, centered, focused and peaceful can profit in so many ways. Their abundance can be measured not only in the energy of money, but also in universal, conscious energy.”

Article sources

Susan De Robertis, CEO, Venus in Transit Coaching, 914.450.9292; SusanDeRobertis.com

Maureen Jacobson, CEO & Mindset Mentor, MCJ Business Advisors; 914.815.1552; MCJBusinessAdvisors.com

Susan Lasky Productivity Solutions, 914.373.4787; SusanLasky.com

Debbie Weinstock, PhD; 914.245.9585, DebbieWeinstock.com