By Monica Gonzalez
My name is Monica Gonzalez and I am excited to announce that I am a new health and wellness coach here at the Care 4 the Caregivers community! I wanted to take the time to introduce myself and share a little information about a tool I like to use in my coaching approach which is called VIA Character Strengths.
Before I dive into the details of the VIA Character Strengths tool I will share a little bit about myself. I live in Tucson, Az and I am a single mother with a 5-year-old son, we have 4 cats and 1 leopard gecko! I love spending time outside in nature going hiking, running, or hanging out in my backyard while my son plays. I attended a 300-hour teacher training program at The Yoga Connection in Tucson, Az in 2015. I graduated from Arizona State University in December 2021 and received a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences and completed a certificate in Healthy Lifestyles Coaching. My top 5 VIA Character Strengths are Honesty, Love of Learning, Perseverance, Self-Regulation, and Prudence. I am eager to begin working with Care 4 the Caregivers and grateful for the opportunity to create a coaching relationship with caregivers.
The VIA Strengths Survey is a free self-assessment that takes no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Once you receive your results the 24 character strengths will be ranked from 1-24 with your highly used to your least used strengths. With these results, you can take a deeper look at which skills help you in your daily activities and which skills you can build upon to enhance various areas of your life and create a more balanced way of living your best life.
24 VIA Character Strengths:
- Appreciation of Beauty
- Bravery
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Fairness
- Forgiveness
- Gratitude
- Fairness
- Forgiveness
- Gratitude
- Honesty
- Hope
- Humility
- Humor
- Judgment
- Kindness
- Leadership
- Love
- Love of Learning
- Perseverance
- Perspective
- Prudence
- Self-Regulation
- Social Intelligence
- Spirituality
- Teamwork
- Zest
This survey is one tool that I worked closely with while attending the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. In taking the survey I was able to better understand myself and learn new ways to apply my strengths in coaching and in life. I love seeing the unique survey results of each coaching partner and gaining a deeper view of their world.
To take the survey simply go to www.viacharacter.org and select “Take the Free Survey” in the top right corner. If you decide to take the survey to feel free to share your top 5 strengths in the comments below!
Once you have your results you can download a PDF copy of them to save for your personal records. Before I meet with a client for a coaching session I love to have a copy of these results emailed to me to get a sense of their strengths and character style for our initial session.
If you are interested in participating in Care 4 the Caregiver’s free life coaching sessions you can take advantage of the feedback the VIA Character Strengths website has to offer and dig deeper in the sessions. It is a uniquely insightful experience that helps us to take a deeper look into who we are and how we function from day to day.
Once you start working closely with your core character strengths you will recognize yourself becoming more comfortable in understanding and evaluating your actions. You will recognize a boost in your confidence and self-esteem. As a caregiver, you will be able to identify the strengths within yourself and build upon them. With the use of the free VIA Strengths survey, you will be able to recognize room for growth within yourself and when caring for others.
If you take the survey and have any questions regarding your results please feel free to reach out to me and/or schedule a session for the life coaching program being offered by Care 4 the Caregivers.
