Western culture is standing on the threshold of a new era. Never before has such an abundance of free time been coupled with such an array of choices. For centuries we have adapted to a world where work predominated and all our efforts focused on this world of work. Suddenly, within the last two decades, we have had to adapt to an unforeseen world which has completely reversed itself to the degree that life away from work often now predominates to an extensive degree. This abrupt reversal has caught us unaware and precipitated a multitude of difficulties for those trying to adapt constructively to this change.

As we look toward the future, the probable impact of this shift from a work-ethic dominated society is threatening unless we are prepared to seriously examine and respond to this phenomenon and its potential side effects. One such side effect due to the dawn of increased technology and automation will be a predictably rapid increase in the abundance of free time in the 1980s. Furthermore, with the advances made in medical science. Western man's life span has increased from 47 to 67, bringing us a population explosion of retired men and women over 65 (Martin, 1975). Also foreseen is an era of increased forced leisure for the general population as a result of the rising unemployment rate and the energy crisis.

Thus, due to advances in automation, mechanization, bureaucracy, medical technology, cybernetics, and other related fields, our culture continually gives more and more leisure time. It simultaneously continues to impair our adaptive resources so that leisure time often becomes increasingly counterproductive. To contend with this rapid advancement of technology and the reversal of yesteryear's values which have combined to create a leisure void for many, there has sprung the comparatively new field of leisure counseling.

Edward Leoni is Day Treatment Coordinator at the Pulaski-Alexander Mental Health Center in Cairo, Illinois. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University and holds a double masters in Guidance Counseling and Recreation.
Marcena Berbling is an Outpatient Counselor at the Pulaski-Alexander Mental Health Center in Cairo, Illinois. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University and holds a masters in Rehabilitation Counseling.

Although a myriad of definitions exist, one of the most fitting appears to have been stated by Campbell: "Leisure counseling involves a careful examination of a person's background, beliefs, values, and attitudes and becomes a developmental education process as well as a remedial counseling service" (Kennedy & Shank, 1976). Much of the literature has dealt with the increasing amount of discretionary time a person has in their daily life and the belief that appropriate and constructive use of leisure influences positive mental health. This position has made apparent the growing need for leisure education and counseling. At the same time, although there appears to be a positive trend towards leisure counseling, there still remains a need to find more consistency in clarifying this counseling process.

In reviewing numerous articles and papers, Kennedy and Shank (1976) found that a number of issues warranted attention. An inconclusive list would include such problem areas as:

• an overload of conceptual approaches to leisure counseling but little information as to the techniques needed for operationalizing such a system

• confusion and inconsistency in the presentation of goals and objectives with a mixture of outcomes for both client and counselor

• no clear guidelines as to the type of counseling techniques most effective or the types of assessment techniques to be used

• noticeable lack of any consistent guidelines for the novice interested in starting a leisure counseling program.

The authors' view of the literature would indicate that this material has been written primarily for the professional counselor. This article and its suggested techniques are suggested for the therapeutic recreational professional and other counseling para-professionals who are frequently not qualified or experienced enough to do intensive psychotherapy. It seems a waste of manpower not to make use of this human reservoir of facilitators when there are so many human beings who are in a leisure crisis. It is also felt that due to the myriad of prob-

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lems and inconclusive results still prevalent within the field of leisure counseling that new and original approaches can be of positive value.

One such approach is leisure coaching which is a simple, structured helping process involving freeing mind blocks and motivating people toward constructive use of discretionary time. Leisure coaching is a structured self-help technique which draws on the individual's own resources and potential. Rather than trying to create a new person, this approach deals with overcoming common barriers and removing self-imposed blocks to individuals enjoying their leisure time. It is similar to counseling per se in that it acknowledges the existence of mind blocks but is more advantageous for the paraprofessional and the inexperienced clinical practitioner as it does not delve into the hidden reasons for the behavior or into the origin of the block. Emphasis is on perceiving reality objectively. Reinforcing the subjective reality of the individual is neither helpful nor desirable. If the individual strays from reality then the coach is free to question the thought process. The coach further facilitates the process by encouraging the individual to stay in a here-and-now perspective. The ability to facilitate a change in their behavior via coaching is an ability already in the repertoire of the recreator as a result of their educational experience.

A further deviation from the counseling philosophy is that the process is not couched in psychological terms, thus making it more understandable for the paraprofessional or recreator. There is also more concreteness in the approach and fewer nebulous terms as all that is required of the coach in this area is an ability to reason and use common sense.

Coaching is appreciably less restrictive than "leisure counseling" as the coach has more freedom to act immediately as he is concerned only with the objective reality of the situation and freeing the individual of those blocks which hinder constructive use of discretionary time. Coaching via modeling and encouragement to improve performance and provide motivation is an accepted and in some professions, even exalted position, which is widely accepted in our Western culture. Timothy Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Tennis, has received much recognition on television and in the press for his technique which by today's standards would be considered a psychological approach. Thus, even though his process has a counseling foundation, the method has been accepted due to the fact that he operates under the auspices of a coach. Why not use this already gained acceptance of coaching in the helping profession?

In acknowledgment of the above statement, the authors admit to a bit of semantical play in that it is felt the term "leisure coach" will not carry the stigma often associated with the entire field of counseling. It is believed the general public will accept more readily a "leisure coach" who will work with the individual on removing the discrepancies between their real and ideal leisure self as opposed to the "leisure counselor" who will work with the person on the more subjective issues such as how they arrived at this impasse.

This is a directed approach wherein the leisure coach takes an active reasoning or confrontive stance with the individual in an effort to eliminate self-imposed mind blocks. As Martin (1975) aptly states, "Everytime you hear that old question 'What should I do?', bear in mind that healthy adaptation to free time in so many instances involves undoing what you have been doing for years."

The leisure coach is encouraged to ask questions and point out discrepancies in the individual's behavior just as the athletic coach is free to point out weak points in the player's style. There is a non-acceptance of excuses or rationales for the individual's inability to change their real into the ideal leisure self. The coach may find that a written record of how often such phrases as "I'd like to, but . . . ," "I'm no good at this," "I can't," etc. are used is good in pointing out to the person the negative value of self-fulfilling prophecies and self-defeating thought processes.

The coach takes a rational-cognitive approach, building on the major premise that people make themselves miserable and thus they also have the ability to reverse this process and make themselves fulfilled. Thus, neither elaborate leisure facilities nor expensive equipment is the lone answer to the leisure void but rather utilizing the greatest asset which is the individual's inner strength and direction.

Homework assignments are of importance to the leisure coach just as they are to the athletic coach. With the former, the difference comes in that the quality of the skill or just performing the leisure activity is not the significant goal but rather the state of mind of the individual while performing the activity. Through effective coaching, the person learns that any activity, be it leisure, educational, spiritual, etc., can be enjoyable or miserable depending on the individual's perception of the activity.

This is a time-limited approach due to the fact that once the individual has learned how to deal with self-imposed mind blocks this knowledge can be applied throughout life without the active assistance of the leisure coach. Furthermore, it is self-perpetuating as it is reinforced by their own feelings of well being.

A word of caution for facilitator, though, is to be aware of the frame of reference they are working under, namely a coach, and to know the limits of their effectiveness. That is, to make referrals to the appropriate sources when it becomes apparent that the individual has some problem, be it physical, emotional, or social, etc., which the coach is not equipped to handle. The goal is not to solve all the difficulties an individual may be experiencing but rather to coach the person by a simple common sense method with an emphasis on "practice

See Coaching . . . Page 33

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Coaching . . . From Page 27

makes perfect" to remove those obstacles to their leisure time fulfillment.

In a nutshell, the authors are advocating that paraprofessionals and therapeutic recreators not try to be counselors unless they receive additional training. Rather they should use the knowledge and ability they have already acquired in such a way that individuals can still benefit from their intervention.

For those readers who are concerned with direction, the authors have purposely not advocated a rigid style which must be adhered to as it is their belief that the basic methodology of leisure coaching can be adapted to whatever style the person feels most comfortable with as long as they work under the rhetoric of a coach. This frees them to question, make suggestions, give homework assignments, point out discrepancies, and work on improvement all in a short amount of time. A synopsis of leisure coaching is that boredom and leisure voids are self-imposed, leisure coaching is self-helping, measurement is self-fulfillment, and the approach is self-directed.

REFERENCES

Gallwey, W.T. The Inner Game of Tennis. New York: Random House, 1974.

Kennedy, A.W., & Shank, J.W. Recreation and leisure counseling: A review. Rehabilitation Literature, 1976, 37(9), 258-262.

Martin, A. R. Leisure and our inner resources. Parks and Recreation, 1975, 3, 1-16.

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