For the one
Coaching with Counsel
Coaching with Counsel is a relational alliance between two people—the Coach-Counselor (me) and the Client-Friend (you)—in a prayerful, Spirit-led, querying and creative process. As the word implies, “Coaching” (sometimes called “life coaching”) is about moving forward flourishingly and successfully. “Counsel” refers to one of the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, in which both the coach-counselor and the client-friend listen with the ear of the heart for the benefit and flourishing of the client-friend’s greatest good.
This is an accompaniment-based relationship geared toward whole-person growth with a privileged place given to the spiritual life, and a sympathetic eye toward whichever area(s) you seek to develop at your discretion and with you in the “driver’s seat”. According to your expressed needs, desires, and consent, I incorporate fundamental elements of coaching, pastoral counseling, and spiritual direction into my accompaniment.
Coaching with Counsel is not psychotherapy, mentoring, or consultation, although certain elements of all of these helping, healing, and growing modalities are sometimes referentially touched upon at the client-friend’s discretion.
Coaching with Counsel is not a dynamic in which you are told what, how, or when to do something. It is an equally partnered relationship wherein your own “answers” and insights are discovered from within yourself. The coach-counselor simply helps the process to unfold with a “footprint” that remains very light.
Coaching with Counsel is a “space” where:
- The “whole person” is our focus: An integral approach is pursued which combines and aligns your spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual, intrapersonal, interpersonal, vocational, and professional dimensions. You “drive” the conversation, choosing and bringing forward which one or combination of these themes to focus upon in any given session according to your own self-determined vision, priorities, needs, hopes, and areas of growth.
- Success is pursued: In all of the above-mentioned dimensions, “success”—its measures, its barriers, and its ultimate achievement—is a primary focus of the process. Through long and short-term goal-setting, an environment is fostered wherein your progress is tracked, accountability is provided, and feedback is given with gentle honesty and clarity.
- Courageous exploration is encouraged: The willingness to go beyond current thought, emotional, or behavioral patterns can be difficult, and requires courage. But oftentimes, this courageous exploration is precisely the journey we need in order to be the person we are seeking to be.
- Uniqueness is encouraged: You have your own unique talents, insights, and treasures. All of it belongs, and any or all of it can be brought forward in the Coaching with Counsel relationship for greater development, exploration, and self-awareness.
- A place of empathy and confidentiality (a “safe space”) is sacrosanct: Genuine partnership between us can only happen in an environment founded upon trust, honesty, and affirmation. This fundamental trust is geared toward your wholeness.
- Scope for the expression of feelings, perceptions, values, and beliefs is assured: These are key—yet often unspoken, and even unrecognized—elements which potentially drive or inhibit our growth. These elements can be explored in the Coaching with Counsel relationship to see more clearly the way they bear upon your deeper vision, goals, and aspirations.
If you’re interested in understanding more about the mutual commitment involved in Coaching with Counsel, please see here.
If you’re interested in ways to prepare for a session with me, consider the guidance prompts and questions here.
Fees and charges
As befitting a monk's life, I subsist on donations. All aspects of my service are mutually shared expressions of a Truth that has no price, and so I do not charge for my individual accompaniment. Donations may be given through PayPal or Venmo via sahajaministries@gmail.com (for Zelle, I use a different address which I am happy to provide upon request).
