I’m depressed. Can you help me?
A common reason people start coaching is that they feel stuck, and that feeling of being stuck can be a real downer. We definitely work with individuals who feel the blues and experience anxiety. These are common emotions to feeling like life is not going as planned.
On the other hand, if you are struggling with persistent feelings of sadness, loss of interest in the things that once made you happy or excited you, or you are suicidal, psychotherapy or psychiatry would better serve you. As coaches, we are not trained to treat or work with clinical depression or any other mental illnesses.
If you’d like a referral, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Do you work with couples?
Yes we do, but you should know that we’re not your typical couple’s counselors. The primary job of a typical couple’s therapist is to act as a parent, judge and communication arbiter, all-in-one. After years of trial and error in my professional practice, we’ve found this approach superficial at best. Learning tips and tricks to communicate is like putting a band-aid on the problem. It temporarily helps, but eventually, all couples go back to their default, unconscious ways of communicating. Additionally, the couple becomes dependent on the counselor to act as the referee or parent in their relationship.
True healing in any relationship is actually personal. Even though both people are at odds with one another, the real issues that create conflict are peculiar to the individuals in the relationship. By addressing the personal, underlying factors, we get to the root of the problem.
When we work with clients, one partner receives coaching one week, and the other partner receives coaching the following week. The partner not receiving coaching provides the role of being the witness to their partner’s coaching. The partner witnessing develops a profound appreciation of their significant other's struggles and naturally senses who they need to be to be the kind of partner that is safe and dependable. This methodology creates the kind of empathy that strengthens relational bonds.
Do you accept insurance?
Unfortunately, we do not accept insurance.
How long are sessions, and what will we be covering?
Each session lasts 1.5 hours. We spend the first 15-minutes dropping below the surface layer of the mind with a guided meditation, one that is pertinent to the perspective we will be exploring in that session. In the remaining hour, we will explore obstacles and challenges you’re facing through the lens of mindfulness. You’ll learn how to discern when you’re in reactivity, how to work with it, and how to see options and make choices that align with your higher self.
What responsibilities or commitments would I have between sessions?
This is not a passive process. Each client is required to meditate a minimum of 10 minutes per day but is supported with guided meditations in audio format and a daily check-in by your coach over text. In preparation for each session, clients have about 40 pages of reading to do and about an hour to two of journaling questions.
Do we meet in person, by phone or over video conferencing?
If you live locally, we can meet in-person at our office in Noe Valley. If you don’t or prefer to meet in the comfort of your home or at your office, we can meet over Zoom or Skype.
How often do we meet?
We meet every two weeks.
How long will it take complete your program?
If you’d like to do Mind/Body Foundations, the course is eight sessions. This take somewhere between four and six months to complete. If you choose Mind/Body Leadership, we work over 12 sessions. This takes somewhere between six and eight months to complete.
I’m only interested in strengthening my ability to lead and communicate more effectively. Why do I have to complete Mind/Body Foundations before I can move on to Mind/Body Leadership?
Without a strong foundation of self-awareness, which is at the heart of Mind/Body Foundations, how can you expect to be aware of others? So we start with developing personal mastery before developing the tools needed to build and strengthen connections with others.
What do clients who we work with commonly say they need help with?
• "I am unhappy and unsettled in my job to the point where I'm waking up almost nightly in a panic."
• "I am grappling with a lack of productivity and sense of purpose in such a dysfunctional organization."
• "I still want to know what I ultimately want to do with my life?"
• "I am faced with all these different negative emotions, and it is impacting my daily life. They come and go like a rollercoaster, and I am unsure how to control them."
• "I have been an incredibly hard worker my entire life but my ability to manage stress is not so great, and it is contributing to hypertension that recently sent me to the hospital."
• "My boss is incredibly difficult to deal with, and my day is at the whim of his moods."
• "I put an incredible amount of pressure on myself, to the point where it affects my happiness and my ability to see the ‘good' in the situation that I am in."
• "I commit to things and then don't follow through."
• "I am struggling with impostor syndrome and a lot of negative self-talk."
• "I want to be able to lead a project and a team better."
• "I don’t feel as confident as I would like to at work. I’d like to be able to act and feel like a leader."
• "I struggle with what I perceive as injustices or frustrations when my managers do not meet my expectations."