I started my career as a psychotherapist, working in a hospital setting for 10 years prior to seeking specialty training to become a coach. I chose to change careers as I believed coaching would allow me to serve my clients more effectively than I could through the medical (pathology-based) model under which the field of psychology currently operates. I established my first company, Wellspring Coaching, in 1999. With a foot in both worlds, I have observed a gap between the services of mental health practitioners and life coaches where many of my clients, especially those in mid-life, seemed to fall.
While many of the individuals I have spoken with in the past decade have not required a psychologist to navigate their challenges, they did need more assistance than most life coaches were prepared (or quite frankly, qualified) to give. As a coach, I have provided support and guidance to individuals facing a number of very difficult life transitions including but not limited to: loss of a significant relationship, forced and chosen career changes, coping with ill, debilitated or otherwise unavailable significant others, facing the impact of alternative lifestyles and gender identity concerns on established and new relationships, transitioning to the "empty nest" (including those who wished for but did not have children), dealing with "sandwich generation" issues, significant illnesses and bereavement.
For those of you interested in particulars, I did my doctoral work in Counseling Psychology through the University of Notre Dame, completing all but my dissertation. I did my residency at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago. My coach training was completed through Coach U. I have studied martial arts, yoga and meditation and am an avid student of human potential, continually immersed in the transdisciplinary study of such fields as psychology, philosophy, esoterica and spirituality.
PLEASE NOTE: Beginning November 2009, I am no longer accepting individual coaching clients. Details here.
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