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The 51-year-old personal coach mostly helps college students overcome depression, learning disabilities, criminal histories and drug-use using a one-on-one confidentiality approach.
The job is a spin-off of life and entrepreneurial coaching, Harms said, but requires a referral system, a good ear and a lot of laughter and tears.
For the first year, I had academic coach on my card, and then I started getting referrals from mental health and correction agencies.
What I’ve had to learn is the whole science of neuroplasticity. … It’s the changes that occur in the organization of the brain as a result of experience — that the way we think, learn and act can actually change a brain’s functional anatomy.
Many of my clients have (attention deficit disorder). … and often times, the addictive behavior and criminal behavior (are related).
My clients range in age from 16 to 58. They come from all socioeconomic walks of life. … most are young adults.
It became really obvious early on, academic issues are only as strong as personal habits. … There may be difficulties in work life and personal life because of these habits, such drug use, learning disabilities and criminal history.
When the door is closed, I ask them what their purpose is and how they’d like to get there. That’s when the defenses come down, and I see another person who is so much more.
The critical piece is their willingness to do things differently and be completely honest with me.
I have to listen really closely to be as efficient as possible in my questioning.
These are the Einsteins and virtuosos. … often, it just needs to be harnessed through setting limits and saying no.
We usually come up with concrete goals with the purpose to become a productive member of the community and identifying things they need to work on and do less of.
We work on language like how to communicate with a boss, a roommate or a professor. We work on discretion and the timing of when and how we say things.
We get real creative and use a lot of gadgets such as cell phones for alarms — whatever visual, tactual or electronic device to remind them to do something different.
A lot of things could be the timing of exercise, education, social events and taking medication. One student learned she had to take her medication first thing in the day and swim two hours at night.
I have one college student who needs to limit his drinking. … the deal is he wears a Lance Armstrong band, and that’s his signal to call me when he reaches three drinks.
They may go in with reticence, but often times as they get going, it will work.
I read the court records and police calls first thing in the morning. Sometimes it’s not my call to say, ‘I can’t believe you did that again Saturday night,’ and I’ll remind them it’s a small town and ask them how their weekend was and if there’s something we need to talk about.
Whatever we do is tracked and charted by date so we can be as scientific as possible in determining what works and every time we meet we talk about it.
Typically, we meet for one hour a week and have two phone exchanges between that time to see how things are going.
I probably spend anywhere from 20 to 30 hours a week during the academic year.
Right now, you can go online, and there are hundreds of coaching certificates being marketed. … I recommend for someone to look at a person’s references, education and resume because there isn’t one national standard.
I was recommended to charge the same amount as a therapist in the area, and that’s $120 to $150 an hour. Because of my clientele, I charge a fraction of that.
My job is to find the best materials and resources — if that might be jobs — to help them.
I definitely need to walk the walk.
There’s no strict timeline on how these things work. … The idea over time is to build strategies so they’re doing this on their own.
This story is part of a weekly series called “On the Job” where area residents talk about their careers. Contact reporter Amber Dulek at (507) 453-3513 or amber.dulek@lee.net.
