NURTURING SPIRITUAL AND PERSONAL GROWTH

Simply put, the soul is the essence of who we are. It consists of the immaterial parts of each of us: our mind, will, and emotions. It is also where God’s Spirit breathes inspiration and conviction. This can propel a person toward greater understanding of who they are and what they do. Why play around the edges of behavior when we can go right to the core and let God do his transformative work?

The challenge is that the soul is a vulnerable, mysterious, and elusive part of us. It is not always a team player and often prefers to stay in the shadows. Parker Palmer’s description can be helpful as we approach this deeper work:

“The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wildness we seek.” - Parker Palmer - author and educator

For this reason, SoulFriend is a trauma-informed approach that brings a respectful support to this soul work.

Life Coaching is a personalized way of coming alongside a person for the purpose of listening to the Holy Spirit, discovering new insights, and taking steps to integrate life decisions with greater purpose and effectiveness.

The coaching relationship is expected to produce insights, greater personal awareness, and changed behaviors that bring desired results. The coach is a guide and workout partner, while the client is expected to engage, evaluate, reason, imagine, decide, and implement their specific course of action.

Coaching is About You – your goals, your learning, and your growth. Together you and your coach will listen to the Holy Spirit to hear His voice about you.

Coaching is About Learning – rather than teaching. You are the expert on your life. Coaching uses techniques such as active listening, open questions, encouragement, challenging a bit, and always remaining supportive. All to assist you in discovering insights and taking next steps.

Coaching is About Action – your action and growth. Each session you will determine action steps you aim to work on prior to your next session.

Coaching is About All of You – not just your work or ministry. Changing old habits and thought patterns is difficult. Your coach recognizes these patterns and will support you as you grow and change.

Coaching is NOT the following –

It’s not Therapy. Although many of the communication techniques are similar, like active listening, reflecting, use of questions, limited advice giving, etc., therapy focuses on going back to understand and reconcile the past to heal and unblock a person. Coaching is more applying present awareness to the future and being more action-oriented. A coach may recommend a person seek out a professional therapist if a need arises for more focused work on trauma, psychological and/or emotional support.

It’s not Mentoring. Mentors are experts in a particular field who seek to pass on their expertise to a person. Mentors provide knowledge, advice, guidance, correction, and encouragement to people who are newer and/or junior. Mentors usually play the roles of advisor and teacher to guide and impart knowledge and wisdom.

It’s not Training. In training, the trainer sets the agenda. Change comes from outside the participant, via the trainer. In coaching, you set the agenda. Coaches use adult learning principles of self-discovery to motivate changes from within toward specific action.

It’s not Authoritarian. Did you have a tough sports coach who used to yell at you and make you do a million push-ups if you made a mistake? That’s not coaching. Coaching will push you beyond what you might think you can do, but will always be supportive. You are in control. The responsibility to decide and take specific action is up to you.

The reasons people want coaching are endless, and as unique as the person.

Spiritual direction is a ministry serving a person’s desire to walk in greater awareness and intimacy with God. Essentially it focuses on who we are rather than what we do. A Spiritual Director plays a listening and discerning support role to help a person recognize and respond to the Holy Spirit’s promptings in everyday life. Similar to coaching, Spiritual Direction is an ongoing conversation between you, the director, and the Holy Spirit to promote greater engagement with God. While Coaching is more about taking active steps, Spiritual Direction is more about how you can know, love, and follow Christ more fully.

A good Spiritual Director is an excellent listener who knows how to discern the movement of the Spirit. They know how to nurture trust while creating a safe environment for a person to be transparent and vulnerable with the most sacred parts of their life. The goal of spiritual direction is to cultivate a slower and intensional way of paying attention to the work of the Holy Spirit.

SoulFriend is a blend of Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction practices. This aims to draw out and support clients as they grow and integrate who they are in cooperation with their personal calling.

Life Coaching facilitates greater effectiveness in doing, Spiritual Direction facilitates greater awareness of being.

Depending on a client’s needs, the tools and approach are adapted to partner with how God is inviting a person to grow. The goal is to help increase a person’s God-awareness, self-awareness and other-awareness.

Rather than a one-off session, coaching/spiritual direction is a series of ongoing conversations to move a person toward their goals. Though completely customizable, a good starting place can be meeting one or two times per month for 4-6 months.

Sessions are typically 60-minutes. Depending on the needs and availability of each client, sessions can be facilitated in person, by phone, or on Zoom.

The fee is based on the needs and frequency of sessions for each client. Payment plans can be arranged per session, by series, or on a monthly basis.