We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Allison Parr-Plasha a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In 1997, one year out of graduate school I landed a wonderful job at Penn State University’s largest branch campus in Erie, Pa as a personal counselor/psychotherapist in their counseling department; nice salary, three months off in the summer, super cool college students and a gorgeous campus. It was a coveted job in our community and I was well aware that I was incredibly lucky to hold this position. However, as the years progressed so did my unhappiness. Burn out came upon me quickly which was starting to dip its toes in to depression. My dear college friend and several other sources suggested I look in to becoming a Life Coach. Initially, I thought Life Coaching was a bit too “woo woo” and trendy. However as I started to deepen my research and took an introductory class to learn more about Life Coaching, I quickly learned that there was nothing “woo woo” about the profession and was delightfully surprised to learn that it aligned deeply with my BA in Psychology, Masters in Social Work and my post grad training through The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. Married to an entrepreneur, we relied on the predictability of my salary and benefits. However, as I immersed myself in training to become a Life Coach moving in to certification, it became clear that I could no longer stomach working in a field that was no longer bringing me joy. At the same time, our son whom we adopted from Guatemala came in to our lives at 11 months old. And so I decided to jump. To trust. I dipped in to my 401 K 100%. I paid for my training in full, bathed in the joys of being a new mother and started my own Life Coaching Practice. Yes, I was a financial advisors worst nightmare and yet 20 years later I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions of my life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I initially became a certified Life Coach, I decided to step away completely from my role as psychotherapist. If a client was in need of a therapist due to issues related to anxiety, grief, depression, addictive tendencies, trauma ,etc. etc. I quickly referred them out in to the community. I followed this model for about four years. I am glad I did this as I was able to immerse myself in my new craft which surprisingly is quite different than the craft of a therapist. However, I noticed that when I bumped in to the clients I had referred out, many had not followed through or did have good experiences. I also recognized that I was holding a big part of my knowledge, training, experience and expertise back from my clients. Around this time, my old job through the Penn State System was in desperate need for someone to pick up the overflow of the many students who were finding their way to the counseling office. And so I said yes to picking up hours there while maintaining my private practice. It was during this three year time period that I began to bring all of me in to the sessions which eventually led to and then solidified the brand that I now offer. I identify as a Life Coach and yet I no longer refer clients out who struggle with counseling related issues. We can play in the space of moving towards what we want while addressing current or historical issues that are getting in the way of designing a life of meaning, depth and joy. As a Life Coach, I believe in walking my talk. If I am encouraging my clients to get out there, experiment and take risks, I better be doing the same. Five years ago, I decided to ditch alcohol for one year. Although I was not on the high end of the alcohol misuse spectrum, I felt like I was walking a slippery slope and my one to two glasses of wine was starting to move past weekends. I documented my experiment, which proved to be quite challenging. My experiment was especially challenging in that I could not find a “live” support system. I read everything I could that year on the alcohol free lifestyle and redesigned my life without alcohol. I received and continue to receive an infinite amount of gifts as I continue my life without alcohol. And so about three years ago, I began to offer what I so desperately wanted for myself (that I never found) to the world. My program, “Redesigning your Life with Alcohol” is about creating a conscious relationship with booze. Some of my clients completely say goodbye to alcohol where others redesign their relationship with alcohol where they feel they are in the drivers seat. Where they no longer “use” alcohol, rather they partake in a way that enhances their lives. I am blessed to work with clients all over the world. I am 100% remote and only offer appointments on the phone. I discovered over years of working with video, that our sessions were less fruitful and I was less intuitive. I love how the phone offers my clients the opportunity to go on a walk while we coach, hide out in the car away from family and/or stake out a corner of the boardroom. Oddly the phone works beautifully with the couples and teams I work with as well. We learn a listening dance that is lovely and productive. I currently work with a small company one day a week remotely. I work weekly with the CEO, have a established a leadership team and meet with the extended staff as needed. I completed a ten month Leadership Training Program six years ago and it has been a wonderful addition to my knowledge base. I also offer groups once or twice a year. I do offer this piece on zoom. I custom tailor groups to a clients request. My clients prepay for their sessions. Accountability works. My clients prepay for our initial two hour discovery session plus four 50 minute weekly coaching sessions. This ensures accountability and when the going gets tough, my clients stay committed to our highest selves. When the four sessions are completed, my clients prepay for another package of four session. Some of my clients choose to prepay for three or six months. Others have prepaid for one year to establish their true commitment to change. I am very strict about meeting with my clients at least once a week regardless of the package they choose for for at least the first three months. Once the train leaves the station, we want to the momentum to maintain and then pick up. I am 100% committed to my clients success and supporting people to get from where they are now to where they want to be efficiently. I encourage my clients to be in touch in between sessions via text or email. I want my clients to step away from reporting in our sessions before we meet so that they leave our sessions with new thoughts, ideas and action oriented items. Also, things can get hard in between sessions as we try on new ways of being in the world. Or sometimes we are in need of a huge cheer for a major win. I have a huge core value around learning and growth. I often send things to my clients throughout the week that may or may not resonate with them to further support them on a journey. It could be a quote, a picture, a podcast or book, I keep my practice boutique so I can offer all the extra TLC to my clients as they take the path of courage that many choose not to take in this lifetime.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Kindness, respect and boundaries. When anyone reaches out to me, I know they are taking a huge risk. Saying yes to being vulnerable. Saying yes to the possibility of change. Saying yes to fear. I get back to all prospective clients immediately. Usually within a few hours. I offer fifteen minute sessions at no cost to answer any questions prospective clients may have. Historically, I made the error of giving way too much of my time away for free. I learned the hard way that I invited resentment in to my space when I gave my precious time away when the individual simply wasn’t ready for coaching or I was not the right coach for them. Now I tell prospective clients ahead of time about a timeline and stick to it. I have been developing my career for thirty years and have been a life coach for twenty years. Word of mouth is definitely my main source of meeting new clients. However, I am passionate about meeting people and I do believe I am always networking. Historically I have belonged to networking groups and found them to be incredibly beneficial. I recently moved to Savannah, Georgia and I am starting to check out different groups and see if their is a resonance. It is always thrilling for me to meet new people. I have also learned over the years that what I do might never resonate with someone. Being too attached to getting new clients and pushing our own agendas can be annoying/off putting. I now step more in to a place of curiosity about other rather thank talking about what I do. If an individual ask me questions I am more than happy to answer, but I no longer have a need to talk about what I do when the question is not asked. Interestingly enough, this has led to more clients.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I received my masters in social work combined with being raised in a family system informed by the dysfunctions of alcohol misuse, I was pretty addicted to suffering. When I was introduced to the Life Coaching model, which focusses on joy, what’s going right in our lives and possibilities, I had some major unlearning to do. I was excellent at hanging out in the pain and suffering. It was the good stuff that was harder to master. My tendency was to ask questions that led back to the space and place of “what was not going right” rather than ask (even in the midst of despair) what was right with them…with the world…with the situation.

Contact Info:

• Website: vieespritcoaching.com
• Instagram: vie_esprit_coaching
• Facebook: Allison Parr-Plasha and Life Coaching with Allison Parr-Plasha
• Linkedin: Allison Parr-Plasha

Image Credits
BA Psychology, Michigan State University MSSA Social Work, Case Western Reserve University Post Grad Training, The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Certified Life Coach, The Co-Active Training Institute Leadership training, The Co-Active Training Institute