Natwest Side Hustle has provided £550 of match funding
AKA LIFE COACHING :TEAM WORK LIFE BALANCE
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Our Aim is to support All Women with their Work/Life Balance through Life Coaching , Family support and Early Intervention .
AKA Life Coaching : Transformational Life Coaching for Women
Website : https://akalifecoaching.com/
Who do we support:
WOMEN
•Parents :Co-parenting ,Divorced, Married ,Single ,Teen Parent’s
•Carers :Caring for a child with a Disability ,Caring for Relatives
•Survivors :Domestic Abuse ,Trauma
•Community Projects :Specialist support for Women Health /Care and Education: Social Care ,School Teachers etc
AKA LIFE COACHING :ALSO KNOWN AS LIFE COACHING
AKA Life Coaching is a Life Coaching , Family Support and Early Intervention Service for Women .My crowdfunding aim is to ensure all women have access to the much needed tools to help them with their Life and Work Balance . AKA Life Coaching Mission is to promote Equality ,Work & Life balance and Support in every aspect of a Woman’s life (including at work). AKA Life Coaching's Model of support allows women to access services privately ie One -One support and or Confidentially through Work packages which companies can buy into to support their Female staff.
AKA Life Coaching provides women with a safe space to discuss their reality and inequalities in a solution focused way.
Michelle is passionate about helping Women and their Families. She believes that all families no matter what their financial situation should have access to specialist support ,when and if they needs it.
The reality is that many of the support services on offer are only available during working hours which means they are not always accessible for some busy or working women.
Michelle started AKA Life Coaching in July 2019 as She noticed an increased number of working families that need support .
OUR MISSION
Our Mission is to improve Women's Lives and Work balance and support women to improve inequalities . AKA Life Coaching Aim to provide All Women with access to One -One Coaching ,Online resources /Practice tools . We Facilitate Topic based group Work shops Linked to key aspect in Women's lives. "We Empower women to share their stories so they realise that they are not alone, by providing opportunities to express their reality".
Testimonial:
Through Life Coaching Technique we ask questions and allow time for women to holistically reflect on their lives. Thus enabling women to focus on Bespoke Goals ,Solutions and Vision for their Future."Because for many women work and their home lives can never be separated."
What are we hoping to achieve ?
IMPACT
- Illicit Strategies and provide tools to improve Women's Work Life balance.
- Improved outcomes for Women and their Families.
- Improved communication and discussion related to equality I,e pay, hours, job promotions.
- Improved wellbeing at work and at home
- Early detection of Life issues and support needs to address i.e parental ,health ,debt, relationship issues etc
- Women to be Solutions focused
- Better relationships at Home and Work i.e Women to use conflict resolution skills at home at work.
- Online access to Family Support Directory and tools
WHY:AKA LIFE COACHING
My name is Michelle Alexander I am Life Coaching and Early intervention Practitioner .23 years ago no one would have believed that I would have gone to Buckingham palace ,become a Manager for 14 Years ,be working in Early Intervention and now opened my own business .
As a Teenage parent many people believed that having a baby so young meant that my life was over .But the raised eyebrows and Love for my daughter only made me more determined to achieve my goals.
It is amazing what can happen when you have Clear Goals and the right support network around you .
This is why I'm so Passionate about Transforming the lives of women ,to repay and to give back and show gratitude to the many mentors that have helped sculpture my journey over the years.
When I first became a young parent I naively thought that if I had a partner my life would have been easier and more balanced as duties would have been halved. But After 23 years working with Women & families (18 years in Early Years and Education and 5 years of working in Early intervention /Social Care) ,I have come to realise for many women this is often not the case .Even if they have a partner/Husbands this can sometimes mean they have a bit more support but often more people to care for ie Husband ,Father & Mother in laws etc.
I have spoken to Hundreds of women over the years and most continue to struggle with their Work life balance and Guilt of feeling like they are not good enough ….
Women would often ASK QUESTIONS LIKE
- "Why is the MOTHER the first person the School/Nursery calls when My child is ill ?"
- "Why am I always the person that takes the day off if my children are ill?"
- "Why do the women in my family have to do the lion share of looking after xxx sick relative's and take time off for Hospital appointments ?. " and the list could go on.
For Many women they do WANT to take time off work for a loved one but taking time off from work can also be stressful for many reasons .
- Employers are not always supportive .
- Women often feeling guilty when at home(Knowing that they have a deadline) and guilty when at work(Feeling like they are not spending enough time with their child/ren). This can mean that some women continue to be torn.
"My sister past away suddenly and I took on caring responsibilities for My niece and 2 nephews one on my nephews was 4mths at the time .My company was not understanding when I was called by the nursery when he was ill .I left in the end they just never understood. I wish there was a service like this around then ,it would have helped. My children were all grown up and I didn't know what support was out there " Miranda (SGO experience)
Michelle Alexander believes that we can support Women to achieve true Equality by providing Women with a safe space to discuss role myths ,barriers ,parenting challenging , limiting beliefs and root cause behind many of their issues.
We provide sessions Privately and we hope to provide Work benefits packages .We provide a confidential space ,free of Judgement in a Life Coaching solution focused way.
With government cuts and more services having to make difficult financial decisions, professionals are having to focus theirs support on more complex needs .This therefore means that some families no longer meet the criteria until it is too late ie number of issues presenting at the same time .
These changes have led to more working parents entering into the system and by this point they are desperate for support. These issues can range from divorce ,parental separation ,Parental /Child mental health, relationship conflict issues ,behavioural issues with their child, parents with children with a disability ,debt and Housing issues to name a few.
Michelle therefore realised that all families would benefit from family support in order for them to help their families tackle a range of issues at an earlier stage .
LOGO
"AKA" stand for Also known as “As many people don’t know what Life Coaching is”
Why the Eyes? “I believe that a woman's eyes often give away how she is truely feeling”
Supporting the Community : 2% of all Money raised will go to Supporting Teenage parents .
“Being a Teen Parent myself, I’m passionate about giving back as I realise that not everyone has been fortunate to have been blessed with a positive support network to help them reach their full potential. Families and Women need support a lot sooner, lets break the intergenerational curses today.
I want women to have a safe space to discuss silent inequalities and rectify them if they see fit “
#MichelleAlexander (Managing Director and Founder of AKA Life Coaching)
QUOTES FROM BOOK: THE MOMENT OF LIFT: HOW EMPOWERING WOMEN CHANGES THE WORLD-MELINDA GATES
Chapter The silent inequality The unequal balance of balance of unpaid work
“what do I mean by unpaid work? its work performed in the home, like childcare or other forms of caregiving, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and errands done by a family member who is not being paid .” Melinda Gates
- We can’t solve inequality in unpaid work until we see the gender bias beneath it. Exposing gender bias is a stunning experience for people who suddenly see their own blind spots it doesnt matter where on earth you live.
- On average, women around the world spend more than twice as many hours as men on unpaid work, but the range of the disparity is wide. In India, women spend 6 hours a day doing unpaid work, while men spend less than 1 .In the US women average more than 4 hours of unpaid work every day ,men average just 2.5 .In Norway, women spend 3.5 hours a day on unpaid work, while men spend about 3.There is NO COUNTRY where the GAP is ZERO .this mean that on average ,WOMEN do SEVEN YEARS MORE of UNPAID WORK than MEN over their lifetimes. That’s about the time it takes to complete a BACHELORS and a MASTERS DEGREE.
- What would you try if you know you would not fail?
Family Support /Family Life Coaching
- To provide opportunity for Mothers /Women to look at how balanced their lives are.
- Have discussions on how their current priorities maybe impacting on theirs, their child /children behaviour /finances /relationships at home /work.
- Assess if their current priorities are fundamentally impacting on theirs and their family’s outcomes for the future.
- Revise the Stigma around Parenting Programme and Self-development which labels often puts parent off.
- AKA Life Coaching hopes to rephrase / reframe the idea into Essential life skills with tools to help with any area/ aspects of women’s and family life.
- We hope to help women and Families to focus on the Solutions that are needed to help improving their emotional wellbeing. Combatting feelings of helplessness, therefore helping women to refocus their lives.
- Support Women and family sooner: At present due to funding issues even at the early intervention level support is rarely at the early intervention stages as families need to meet criteria .
- Give power back to families to access support when needed and if needed. AKA life coaching are happy to offer contracted coaching support or one off coaching sessions to meet the needs of all.
- With a real focus on practical tools and strategies to help Women and families with an ever-changing world.
We will never have more time, so it is helpful to list are priorities in life and see if our priorities match our schedules #Jayshetty
Impact
- Improved outcomes for Women, Children and Families this includes the following:
- Better attitudes to learning and focus on growth in all areas of your life .
- Improved productivity in Work and Education
- Improved Motivation impacting on their wellness to take the necessary steps to improve their mental & physical health, financial issues, Work Life Balance ,
- Improved understanding of what effective communication looks like and how to resolve conflict in a healthy way thus improving relationships.
- Explore what constitutes a Health Relationship
- Discuss there decision making processes to identify whether this strategies are working .
- Learn skills/tools to improved decision making processes in a holistic way.
- Improved understanding on how most issues are never in isolation and are interlinked.
What are the facts?
- My experience has Cemented my belief, that there is a need for more grassroots and Early stage intervention/Support.
- Where women can talk honestly about the problems without fear of judgement.
- Working in children and families / social care Arena for the past 5 years. I have been fortunate to work with families from all cultures and Economic backgrounds.
- Working with families from all backgrounds and classes has strengthened my alignment to the Coaching philosophy of Ecology that all human being are inherently the same at the core.
- No matter what your financial background we all at the root of things have the same fundamental problems.
- I have realised with a ever changing world and our lives being so busy we no longer have the time to reflect in the way we wish. This inevitably mean that we are driving on auto pilot and not seeing the problems until they arise which can be debilitating if not reframed.
- There is a growing trend for family separation ,additional caring responsibilities ( children with a disability or relatives with serious life threatening illness)and mental health issues (children and family members).This coupled with unresolved childhood issues ,inter generational issues and Severe trauma related issues ,can be a recipe for disaster.
- “We at AKA Life Coaching believe there is a need for a commitment to care givers to provide then a safe place to reflect and take action toward goals.
The role of the Woman has never been so demanding” #MichelleAlexander.
Crowdfunder Aim :Although Michelle is trained in Facilitation many parenting programmes such as Strengthening families Strengthening communities ,Mellow Parenting ,Solihull some parenting programmes such as Autistic Parenting Programme "Cygnet" require businesses to hold a licence .
Listing of Resources Michelle would like to purchase :
- Marketing and Advertising
- Parental programme /Video licence https://www.mellowparenting.org/
- Money Coaching (Made of Money)
- https://quakersocialaction.org.uk/training/financial-capability-training-professionals
- Website and website designer
- GDPR and Accounting software
- Community Work shops
- Cygnet Parenting licence
- https://b.barnardos.org.uk/cygnet.htm
- ReMoved Video Licence (Domestic abuse video)
- https://www.facebook.com/removedfilm/
- Projector
Community Support -Impact work and Professionals
Schools, Social care , Women in caring professions who are struggling with their own work life balance /Teachers /Nurses/Early years workers/social workers etc (Long hours and shift work)
How can coaching facilitate growth ?
Human beings have an innate drive to learn and grow ,but Motivation to grow can be stifled due to a bad experience, event, feedback etc. during childhood etc
It is important that we Focus on things that we are good at, this encourages you to invest in yourself and your potential.
Life Coaching can help with
- Increasing your awareness
- Finding your purpose
- Being happier
- Mindfulness
- Becoming more optimistic
- Improving your public speaking skills
- Learning how to talk to people
- Strengthening your willpower
- Living healthier
- Eating healthier
- Designing your perfect morning routine
- Understanding what really matters to you
- Productivity
- Time management
- Stopping procrastination
- Improving your focus
… And much more
Possible coaching discussion points (Please note that this list is not exhausted)
- Working /life balance (Children / family life/financial /health/relationship/growth) etc
- Tools for smooth transitions ie starting / returning to work, Divorce, separation , children with disability, school high school , nursery.
- Reframing negative Conversation about problems into solutions focused attitudes.
- Helping women and their families to reach their full potential throw a holistic approach
- Parenting- positive outcome of children / youth /disability /Social media /Technology addiction
- Healthy Relationships
- Impact of conflict on children
- Returning from Maternity leave
- Emotional well-being (Coaching tools and strategies)- future planning
- Gender pay support - Coaching (How to have important conversation with employers) ie flexible hours, legal rights , parental rights
One -One Life Coaching:
- Personal Contracted sessions (Skype/Face to Face)
- Employer -Self-care pages (Face to Face or Employee Work package)
Group Coaching Workshops:
Where will the Coaching workshops be held?
Our aim is to run Life Coaching workshops in London
- Work and school -Packages ( Team work shops ,Parent workshops, Parents evening guest speaker /workshop, Parents One -One and Help Line, teachers strategies to support parents)
- Community focused: Workshops in Community halls in Disenfranchised area's
- Employers:to work with employee though their work packages.
“I passionately believe WE need to start Early intervention at the Root ‘When it is really Early intervention “ #Michelle Alexander
On 13 July 2019 AKA LIFE COACHING held our Launch Party and Our First Annual fund raiser .
£200.00 was raised for YMCA Young Parent and Mother Baby Unit,Thanks to all who attended , celebrated and supported the great cause.
Read More
https://www.ymca.org.uk/latest-news/homeless-young-mums-break-stereotype-channel-4-documentary
Everybody is chasing some form of happiness, happiness is subjective. For this reason it is helpful to unpick what an ideal life looks like to you!
Your Coach will
- Facilitated conversation that can will help you to Laddering goals and unpick if the goal is being set from a need of Necessity or if you really what this goal. What will this give to you
- Strengthens goals
- Challenge and skills balance
- Support with Learnt optimism
- Constructive thinking
- Help you to Embrace challenges and building resilience’s
- Provide you with a space that Facilitate Gratitude
- Discuss Ideal life -what does that look life
- Support conversation that helps you to Overcome challenge
- Discuss your progress
- Dream Big
- Change unresourceful habits and Create new Habits
- Embrace reality and find solutions.
This project successfully funded on 18th December 2019