For Coaches, Counselors, Psychotherapists
The Basics
I enjoy then experience of supervising and mentoring coaches and counselors and have been providing this service for over 30 years. Four decades of experience as a psychotherapist, and two as a coach are the basis for what is provided in these consultations. In addition I have over forty years of continuing education and professional training, I am currently in training to become a Certified Somatic Experiencing Professional. Previous continuing education and professional training have been in the areas of: addictions, children and families, men and men’s groups, life coaching, executive coaching, meditation and mindfulness, sexual harassment, critical incident stress debriefing, diversity, the Enneagram, New Equations, 9Energies, The Body of 9, the Ennead Method and 9 Life Energies.
The Process
I use a coaching approach to engage professionals in co-designing and co-defining our alliance. The person being supervised or coached defines their goals, and together we create the path towards accomplishment. As needed the process shifts from personal/professional growth work to consultation around specific cases. Other topics that come up are: use-of-self, business set up, ethics, risk management and other life or business circumstances.
Professional Training and Experience
My BA in Psychology was earned at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, where the orientation was experimental and behavioral psychology. The cooperative work placements were in the Danvers State Hospital facility. Two and a half years were devoted to the study of photography and graphic design at the Montserrat School or Visual Art, Beverly, MA. Later, I worked/trained on the in-patient mental health unit at Beverly Hospital for three and a half years before attending Boston College Graduate School of Social Work to earn a Masters degree in clinical Social Work. There the courses of most interest to me were addictions, children and adolescents, group, family and organizational work.
My second year internship became my first professional job as a psychotherapist at the Family Counseling and Guidance Centers a Catholic counseling center in Danvers, MA where the orientation and supervision was strictly psychodynamic. After three and a half years there, I moved into a group private practice and a part time psychotherapist at the Landmark School in Beverly, MA. I have been in private practice ever since.
Personal Philosophical Beliefs
People change, for the better or worse. As individuals we have the power and responsibility to influence the changes within us. Control is an illusion and we are responsible to use our mind, body and spirit to bring about a harmony within these three spheres of being. The more we are able to establish and sustain this harmony, the more we find ourselves at peace, in the flow, creating the potential for contagious joy, inspiration, harmony and positive development moving into the lives of those around us.
The human body influences our purpose for being. The body needs to be understood and cared for. The body is the temple for that animating and divinely connected energy that is called soul, the source of intuition, the higher self, the observing-self or simply the Self. The human body is the temple for the soul.
The word spiritual for me connotes a sense of self-purpose and meaning for existence. This encompasses the integration of cognitive understanding with a profound awareness of the embodied intuitive-self. The notion of intuitive-self might be another way of referencing the soul, and could also be ones connection to collective consciousness. These are what generates a sense oneness of being. Oneness of being feels like a collective connection to the Creator of the universe, the Universe, the Source, Tao, the Divine, God, Holy Spirit, Christ consciousness, Allah, Jehovah and any of the other names for this inexplicable higher power beyond our comprehension.
My role in the world is to be an instrument of the divine force in nature and all things, to witness, experience, engage, love and be in harmony with all that is. Like everyone else, I do the best I can.
I have come to understand that there is only one human race, and there are nine different kinds of human beings. There are nine physiologically different kinds of human beings. The all exist in a family of nine. Smaller families possess a fraction of the possibilities. Each kind or type of physiological human possesses a set of innate talents or gifts that are an integral part of their purpose in life.