Coach or Councilor?
Why I picked coaching and why it might be right for you
Why I’m a Coach
Two factors drew me to Coaching (rather than Clinical Counseling).
Firstly, I was looking for a way to partner with people that doesn’t focus solely on the distress or illness, but instead focuses on the journey of personal growth. Anxiety and depression can seem to dominate your life, but I want to help people see these things in the wider tapestry of their life.
Secondly, having worked for Island Crisis Care Society for over 24 years, I saw the depth of human suffering, especially as related to mental health and addiction. In that setting the value of a clinical diagnosis and assessment can not be overstated. Clinical care is offered at a very high level and clinical requirements in Canada are rightfully high as well. So I recognize it’s value, but I’m not drawn to be a clinician. It requires a large amount of academic knowledge about mental illness and high level of responsibility when designing or overseeing treatment. My personality and interests mean I’m better suited to supporting someone after they have stabilized from a crisis, or when they realize that want a deeper journey. I chose to include “work” in the name of my coaching business, because the journey I’m interested in helping you with requires some preparation and training.
As a point of reassurance, I am trauma informed, and believe that everyone has experienced some sort of trauma in their life, but I’m not a trauma counselor. Likewise I love to explore people’s symptoms as a doorway into what their true Self is calling them to, but I try not to offer advice or direction. The knowledge and wisdom you discover for yourself has the most lasting impact.
I also bring a wealth of specialized information to the table, as well as a lifetime of experience, and I do offer perspectives and feedback when I think it might be helpful.
What is Jungian Coaching?
Like Counseling, Jungian Coaching is a therapeutic relationship. It can reduce distress, anxiety, and depression through a kind presence and specific methods learned from the Jungian tradition.
Instead of offering counsel or the problem solving often associated with other forms of coaching, Jungian Coaching uses curiosity, sensitivity to the unconscious, and experiential exercises to explore your symptoms for a deeper calling. Often this is described as finding out what your unconscious is trying to tell you. The unconscious speaks in symbols. Some are universal, such as the stories in myths and the imagery in religious traditions, and some very specific to you and your life experience. As I get to know you, I listen for your specific language of symbols and emotions as we look at things like your dreams, meaningful events and memories, conflicts, triggers, and images from your drawing, writing, and active imagination.
Is Coaching for you?
Most people benefit from seeing a counselor or coach or both. Which practitioner you choose depends on your needs, your goals, and your level of stability. Here is a table I created to give a general overview of all the different types of therapeutic practitioners.
To see a list of specific areas where Stream Work coaching can help, see Is Stream Work Right for me? — you can also set up a free investigation call from that page.
Can I see you if I have a Mental Illness?
Coaches can not and do not diagnose or treat serious mental illness. Such conditions benefit most from the highly specialized support of a clinician. If you have a serious mental illness and are interested in seeing me, ask your primary clinician (doctor, psychologist, social worker, clinical counselor, psychiatrist) what they recommend. They are best qualified to determine how to include Jungian Coaching in your overall treatment plan.
Jungian Coaching can uncover unknown (shadow) sides to yourself that you might find unsettling or discouraging and your clinician will determine if and when to start the coaching relationship. Often this is done through an assessment of your emotional stability, ego strength, and general readiness to expose yourself to deeper questions of meaning, purpose, and personal growth.