Livelihood Coaching

Create Life-giving change

We live in a performance-driven, isolated culture that ignores the rhythms and needs of life: our personal health, our communities, and our biosphere. I support professionals like you who feel called to create life-giving change and reconnect with themselves, their communities, and the natural world. We will work together to tap into your creativity, the intelligence of your body, and the natural world to guide you toward an embodied life that is aligned with what serves you, our communities, and our living planet. Our work together will help you discover, as Quaker elder Parker Palmer so elegantly puts it, your role and your soul.

Here are some ways to know if you could benefit from my support:

• You feel overwhelmed and too busy

• You yearn for deeper connections with people

• You feel isolated

• You feel disconnected from the natural world

• You are overwhelmed by the challenge that is climate change, and you want to do your part!

• You are chronically overworked

• You feel dehumanized at work

• You want to get out of your head and into your body

• You feel stuck

• You feel like you are living someone else’s life

We are likely a good fit for each other if one or more on the list below sounds like you!

• You are committed to creative change in your life, willing to do hard work and take risks, and willing to be held accountable

• You believe that sustainable change comes from the inside.

• You are deeply inspired by nature and care deeply about how humans impact our biosphere

• You enjoy playfulness, creativity, and depth

• You love to bring seemingly disparate ideas together.

• You like to move your body

• You are driven and thoughtful.

• You are turned off by busyness as a status symbol

Embodying a life that is aligned with role and soul is different for everyone. Past clients have discovered and committed to a creative calling, stemmed overwork to have more intimate time with family, deeply owned their sense of purpose, created ways of working that provides a regular income and time with their family, and realized they don't have to go back to school to do work they value — just to name a few. The work is challenging and a great privilege: you will need the time, the money, and the commitment to see it through. I’m not promising you that your life will be perfect, but I do know this work can lead to a good life that serves you, your community, and our planet.

Working Together

Here's how it works: Contact me via the web-form below to set up a time to talk on the phone, and I’ll also send you an agreement for you to review before out session to get a sense of the commitment involved. If we feel mutual resonance after the first 30 minutes of our conversation, we can schedule our first session. We’ll discuss packages, payment and signing the agreement at that time as well. I will never pressure you.

COACHING, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND CONSULTING: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Typically the difference between a coach and a therapist is that coaches focus on moving forward toward a desired change, and psychotherapists focus on healing the wounds of the past, with both practices utilizing knowledge of human behavior, motivation, behavioral change, and interactive counseling techniques. People who seek coaching are generally in good health, or already under the care of a mental health provider, and want to deepen their relationship with their inner guidance and move forward accordingly. In contrast, psychotherapy is a health care service people seek out to restore their emotional selves back to health, and frequently reimbursable by insurance. Consultants are experts in a particular field who you hire to help you solve specific problems. A coach will never presume to be an expert on your life.  

ETHICS

Coaches are not subject to government oversight. As a commitment to my clients and my integrity I keep my accreditation up-to-date and adhere to the International Coaching Federation's Code of Ethics. 

Learn more about coaching ethics >>

Take the Next Step

If you have gotten this far, why not drop me a line to learn more. My goal is to find out if we are meant to co-create together. I will never pressure you. I look forward to connecting!

About Me

My vision is a world where people can sustain creative and fulfilling lives guided by the embodied knowledge of what matters most to them and their limits. I believe following this way of life not only has a profound personal impact, but it will also affect our economy, and our biosphere in positive ways. When you are guided by what matters most to you, you look for meaningful experiences rather than superfluous consumption, status seeking, and distractions. Coaching is a powerful tool to bring this vision to life, a vision I have come to via a series of profound reckonings with what it means to be successful.

When I was young, I was a classic overachiever. I got the good grades, did all the right extracurricular activities, and got into all the right schools. I was on track to be medical doctor. And then I wasn’t. I became wracked with anxiety and depression, and my plans had to change. I regrouped and made my way back into the world, and I found myself on the path to become an academic. Just as I was about to enter McGill University in Canada to pursue my Ph.D., I could barely muster enough energy to make it through the day. It turns out I had thyroid cancer. I pulled out of the Ph.D. position and focused on my health.

My recovery from cancer took nearly four years, and I was rocked to the depths of my soul. During this time I managed to hold onto a job, but it was nothing like what I had originally planned for myself. At this point I was still holding on to many of the external trappings of what it meant to be successful, and my career track left me feeling dissatisfied at best, and worthless at my lowest points. Fortunately, I met the man who became my husband just as I was beginning to feel better. He demonstrated the deep healing power of love. I found satisfying work that was challenging and — I thought — impressive enough.

About three years into our marriage my husband and I decided to start a family. It was easy for us to get pregnant, and we anticipated the birth of our first child with nervousness and profound joy. At 35 weeks of pregnancy, the doctors discovered the baby I was carrying had died. To say we were devastated is an understatement. Everything that was once important to me, no longer mattered. Going back to work seemed utterly meaningless. Eventually I did go back to work, and I did have another baby, who is now happy and healthy.

However, the death of my first son forever changed my life. I no longer wanted to do something simply because it was impressive. I wanted to do work that complimented the life I was given, a life fulls of contradictions, tragedy, and great beauty. When I discovered coaching, I knew I had found a path that would allow me to do what matters to me: create deep connections, move my body, care for my family, serve people and the planet.

I completed my ICF certified training with Master Coach Patrician Burgin in 2016 and gained my coaching accreditation (ACC) in 2019. I also work with the ThirdPath Institute as an Integrated Life Advocate to support people with the ongoing process of integrating work and life.

I have my ups and downs just like you, but I do know that I am embody a path that is true to myself, and for that I am profoundly grateful.

A few other pieces about me not related to coaching:

Originally from the Black Hills and the Upper Great Plains, I have called Seattle my home for over 20 years. I have Master's Degree in Comparative Religion from the University of Washington, and I have worked in writing, editing, and research development, helping to raise nearly $15 million for projects and programs.

What I Believe

Here are several of my core beliefs to help to get you to know me better. We don't have to agree on these to co-create.

• I believe the the current state of our biosphere in the Anthropocene demands that humans learn to create cultures and economies where people thrive and simultaneously respect our limits and the limits of the natural world.

• I believe that creativity is comprised of the small decisions you make every day. The smallest embodied changes pack the biggest punch.

• I believe in the inherent intelligence of the body.

• I don't believe everyone has one calling. Some people have one; some people have many.

• I believe that meaning and fulfillment are inside jobs.

• I believe God is love and also the great allower (see the contemporary Franciscan mystic Richard Rohr for a more thoughtful take on that statement). I identify with being a contemplative mystic.

• I believe we can tap into a life energy beyond the analytical mind to help guide our lives more intelligently than our analytical mind ever could (see God, above). Many indigenous traditions exemplify this understanding. However, I firmly believe the analytical mind has a very important place in our life.

• I love this Arab proverb: Trust in Allah, but tie your camel.

• I don't believe everything happens for a reason.

• I believe when you know what you are looking for it is easier to find.

• I believe privilege really matters. Structural racism, classicism, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism are painful and real obstacles.

• I don't believe we treat families well in the United States. We need policy- and corporate-level change to improve the integration of our work and lives.