Kingstown College Coaching Magazine vol.5 2019/2020

www.kingstowncollege.ie
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keep up with your decision?”, “Is there
something in the way that might stop
you?”, “What else could you do?”. These
questions can help increase optimism,
self-efficacy and resilience.
To conclude, we are all heroes and
we all have calls for adventure, needs
for change, challenges to overcome,
and goals to set. In Mans’ Search for
Meaning, Victor Frankl wrote: ‘between
stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose
our response. In our response lies
our growth and freedom’. To this Bob
Dylan adds: ‘A hero is someone who
understands the responsibility that
comes with freedom’.
that would tell your dragon had been
slayed?”.
Sometimes the return can be
challenging, and might involve crossing
another type of threshold, as the hero
needs to reintegrate with life and key
relationships. There can be a fear on
our own part of getting stuck in our own
previous existence, and there can be
desire on the part of significant others
for us to stay as we were before so that
they don’t have to change in response
to our movement and growth. In the
final phase, when the hero returns
home, it is important that the coach
gently challenges the client to ensure
that the conditions ahead will support
the implementation of the changes.
Useful questions might include: “Who/
What can support you?”, “What will
you put in place to ensure that you
Considering that coaching is a
“partnering with clients in thought
provoking and creative process that
inspires them to maximise their
personal and professional potential”
(www.coachfederation.com), the Hero’s
Journey can be a very effective way
to creatively structure and inspire
our clients as they change to become
the best version of themselves.
Whether at a crossroad and looking
for direction, perhaps longing for a
career change, for improved health or
enhanced performance, coaching that
is based around the Hero’s Journey can
transform our clients, supporting and
fuelling their passion and purpose.
Zelda Di Blasi
Zelda Di Blasi, MPsychSc, PhD, is a graduate of the Kingstown College Advanced Diploma in Personal, Leadership and Executive Coaching, a
certified HeartMath coach and Strengths Coach. She is the co-founder and director of a Masters in Positive and Coaching Psychology at University
College Cork, where she lectures, coaches and conducts research. Zelda has a PhD from the University of York on the placebo effect and health
care interactions, a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the University of California San Francisco and a Diploma in Modern Dance. She lives in Kinsale
with her husband and her children Zoē and Joshua.
www.linkedin.com/in/zelda-di-blasi-b8b5944
E-mail: zeldadiblasi@yahoo.com