Coaching Methods

In working with each individual's process, I balance honoring resistance and gently encouraging movement into new terrain. I employ a collaborative approach with clients, drawing on an eclectic mix of approaches:

Inner Parts Work (Voice Dialog & Journaling)

Cognitive/Behavioral

In addition, for clients who wish to do more in-depth work, I draw on approaches that facilitate having powerful insights emerge. That occurs when the unconscious mind is engaged at a level that bypasses conscious awareness. These include:

Spiritual Psychology

Expressive Therapies

Dreamwork

I have facilitated important client experiences working with Shadow aspects and Archetypes. I heartily support clients to take practical and intentional action back into their everyday lives and to reinforce their insights and experience using expressive means.

Inner Parts Work (Voice Dialog & Journaling)

An important process in working with clients is to identify where certain talents, beliefs and behaviors reside in the client's psyche. We have many inner parts. Some are very appropriate and support our healthy relating and dealing with the world and our lives. For example, an Inner Dancer will help us access our joy in moving our bodies; an Inner Chef will be drawn on to create a fabulous dinner; or, an Inner Athlete will encourage us to exercise and experience the benefits of maintaining our fitness.

However, an inner part can bring us relational challenges. Many times there is a "Inner Child" who might carry any number of child-like states that don't serve well in adult relations. And, that same client may also have internalized some parental voice, like a "Critical or Judgmental Parent" which often creates challenges as well.

So, voice dialog work aims to uncover the inner parts that contribute to healthy and unhealthy relational dynamics with self and others. Our "Inner Family", as it were, becomes a resource and a guide for understanding the self.

Inner Parts Work often can be quite liberating and refreshing--allowing a client to develop a compassionate and lovingly humorous attitude toward one's self and others.

Cognitive/Behavioral

Behind most clients' challenges in relating to themselves and others is an internal chatterbox --which holds their beliefs and cognitions -- that needs to be heard, yet is in need of gentle but intentional managing. I work with clients to restructure their internal voices of judgment, blame and shame--of self and others.

Moreover, getting into right relationship with self includes taking self-supportive and self-nurturing action--making choices about behaviors that increase self-esteem and self-trust. I work with clients to build foundations of self-trust with intention-setting and one-foot-in-front-of-the-other action plans for co-creating their relationships and their lives.

Spiritual Psychology

In Spiritual Psychology, wellness derives from focus on the whole person. Spiritual psychology has emerged as an important psychological approach in the last two decades. In its treatment model, it considers the sum of all four levels of a person's experience: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Moreover, the spiritual realm is distinguished from religious, in that it includes any experience that gives a sense of purpose and meaning and supports devotion to a larger force (religious, artistic, social) beyond oneself.

Expressive Therapies

I believe that artistic, musical, writing, poetic, and movement expression can contribute to a client's psycho-spiritual well-being. Through creative expression one can plumb emotional, mental, spiritual and physical ground in non-verbal ways that can facilitate connection with self.

My commitment to my clients is to assist them on their own expressive healing journey, should they be so inclined.

Dreamwork

Clients who have a rich dream-life or just occasional dreams--it doesn't matter-- may wish to bring their dreams in for process work. Our unconscious communicates with us through our dreams; and, when we honor its messages profound insights can occur. Dream-work is a sacred, collaborative journey that it would be my profound privilege to accompany you on.