FAQ
My most frequent questions and answers.
My clients are seeking support that is outside the medical and clinical setting. They are looking for a trusted partner to guide them through a challenge or transition, not a diagnosis or prescribe a solution. My clients are motivated for change and open to exploring possibilities to help enhance their relationships or a specific aspect of health and wellness. My clients are interested in applying attachment science to foster security and long term mental health for themselves and those they love. My clients are also interested in holistic health and complements to conventional healthcare.
If you work with the right coach, the process should be therapeutic. This is to say you should benefit from the positive changes that are made, simply through the relationship you develop with your coach. This is a relationship based on mutual respect and trust. Unlike therapy, or mental health counseling, coaches do not diagnose or treatment mental illness. The positive outcomes of the coaching process are determined by you, and your commitment to the change process. The goals you set are forward focused and wellness based.
There are many roads to becoming a coach, which to date, is not a professional field governed by a centralized accrediting body. I decided to move from psychotherapy into coaching after my graduate internship providing mental health and substance abuse treatment at an out patient opioid recovery clinic. I wanted to make an impact early in life, by helping parents understand how to shape their child’s health that would be preventative of later struggles with depression, anxiety, and addiction. I wanted to work with people who were self motivated and resourced enough to begin taking action steps towards positive change. I was lucky enough to live within driving distance to Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham, NC and complete their professional certification program for coaches. I continued to build my skills as a coach-mentor to their classes of new coach students. A unifying professional organization was forming right around the time I was completing my certification which opened up a new credentialing standard – this is The National Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaches. I was within their first cohort of National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC) having passed an exam and meeting their criteria for experience and professionalism. Through his organization I am required to take continuing education specific for coaches and recertify every 3 years.
Coaches serve a special role in partnering with people who want to make positive impacts on their lives. Partnering implies that there is no power differential between coach and coahee; a coach is trained to ask powerful questions and provide reflection to empower someone to connect with and trust their own wisdom. Coaches help you feel into your own expertise.Consultants, on the other hand, are hired to be the expert in position to advise or direct a client.
Let’s start with a quick phone call so we can see if we are a good fit for each other. I am happy to provide recommendations to help guide your journey if it is clear you would be better served by another discipline or personality. I can suggest a program or plan for you based on your goals. Typically, after we agree to get going, I’ll have you complete the registration form available here, we will schedule your first session or class, and you’ll be provided a zoom link or appointment time in which I will call you. You may choose to pay as you go or invest in a short term package to meet your goals within a short period of time. Unlike mental health counseling, my goal is not to have you rescheduled on a weekly basis for an undefined period of time. I want to get you going, moving out into your life with a renewed perspective and clearly defined steps towards achieving your goal. Come back and work with me whenever you’d like through another drop in session or package renewal. Stay a part of the community and join in my special offerings or share all you have learned with the Facebook community group.
My intention is to build a supportive relationship with you, to be available to you, and empower you to make change through simple life experiments. Lots of insight can happen within a coaching session or class; but, real changes happen in the day to day act of trusting yourself to move forward when you hit your edges. And I want to hear about that! My clients can text and e-mail me between sessions to get immediate feedback and build trust in themselves.
I have found this process most impactful for helping you get where you want to be.
Of course I work with men. I will work with anyone regardless of their gender orientation, as long as they are motivated to achieve their goals through the framework I am skilled inattachment relationships.
