“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
-Mary Oliver
Virtual, relational, trauma, & sex coaching with a trained therapist available anywhere
Are you highly motivated and ready to make tangible changes in your life?
Coaching is for you!
Coaching is more directive and action-oriented than therapy, while still being grounded in ethics, liberation, and participant-autonomy. Coaching is not diagnosis-focused and as such, is able to incorporate more holistic and participant-centered care than a therapeutic relationship is able to encompass. We are here to work on what you want to work on, the goals you want to achieve, and to get you growing and healing in the direction you want your life to go.
Coaching is…
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In a coaching model, we are able to incorporate more of you into the process and address the multitudes within you. Want to bring in your witchiness, love of nature, or unique sensory stims? We have room for that! I love to tailor our work to your interests and create systems that really work for your unique needs and lifestyle. Coaching addresses much more than your mental health—we can work towards a goal together, get through a life transition, connect back to food and the earth, explore art or values, break down internalized bias or shame, explore new realms of pleasure and sexuality in your life-the possibilities are limitless and driven entirely by you!
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Trauma can make us feel incredibly disempowered, hopeless, and a lot like we just need someone to come along and save us. The truth is, you already possess what it takes to heal and make desired changes in your life. I rely on a strengths-based model of coaching which empowers participants to use tools, skills, and experiences they already possess to heal themselves and work towards the change they want to see in their lives and in the world.
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Do you dream of more but struggle with bringing your desires to fruition? Our work will focus on taking small, manageable steps towards the big changes you want to make. We will put the skills you already possess to use in accomplishing your goals.
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Coaching is designed to get you in the driver’s seat of your life and to work towards specific goals together. Using a solution-focused approach, once you are confidently on your way to meeting your goals, we no longer need to continue meeting. The goal is for you to be able to take flight as soon as you are ready.
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As a trained relational therapist, I abide by the Code of Ethics set forth by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT) with all of my coaching participants. Coaching is a largely unregulated field with pretty much anyone able to call themselves a “coach.” At the Black Sheep Collective we believe that our commitment to standards of ethicality within the field sets us apart.
Learn more about the AAMFT Code of Ethics here.
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As stated above the field of coaching is largely unregulated and as such, almost anyone can claim the title of “coach” with little to no professional training. When folx are working with your mental health, it’s helpful if they have been trained to do so! I hold two master’s degrees in Education (UW-Seattle) as well as Marriage and Family Therapy (Antioch Seattle). I use reliable, proven, evidence-based modalities to help you achieve your goals.
Coaching Specialties
Relational Coaching:
Communication skills
Conflict resolution
Emotional awareness
Change management
Monogamous <—> Polyamourous
Neurodivergent/Chronic Illness/Disability needs balancing in relationships
Dating after relational violence
Adult child/parent relational skill building for repair & connection
Sex Coaching:
Exploring sexuality, gender, sex, or kink identities
Empowerment after purity culture
Improving and emboldening sexual communication
Learning anatomy or new sexual skills
Desire discrepancy
Building intimacy
Sexual practices after trauma
Sensory sensitivities/disabilities & sex
Fat sex
Body, fat, & sex liberation work
Trauma Coaching:
Development & maintenance of values-aligned coping strategies
Practicing emotional awareness & behavioral change in your life
Moving out of protection-oriented responses into connection-oriented responses
Eating disorder recovery maintenance for folx in large/fat bodies
Using new relationship skills after relational violence
Better understanding & working with your “parts” (IFS) in daily life
Navigating systemic barriers
Working towards conflict security
Somatic coaching for embodiment and rootedness
Why coaching & not therapy?
FAQs about Coaching
What is the difference in focus?
Therapy:
Healing past trauma & emotional regulation
Healing relational wounds
Mental health conditions/symptoms like anxiety or an active eating disorder
Diagnosis-based
Coaching:
Action-planning for growth and development
Identifying and achieving goals
Making change manageable
Building new skills and awareness
Creating habits that serve you and are values-aligned
Learning & practicing
Which one is right for me?
Therapy:
If you are dealing with significant emotional distress, active mental health conditions, healing trauma, or have unresolved past issues that are impacting your ability to function in your daily life. If you have any “symptoms” like low mood, sleeplessness, mania, suicidality, active substance use, etc., or are seeking a diagnosis of any sort, you should focus on therapeutic work.
Coaching:
If you are generally functioning well and want to make positive changes, achieve a specific goal, or work on a particular area or topic, learn new skills, explore a new identity, etc., you should explore coaching and see what it has to offer you!
How do coaching and therapy differ in their approach?
Therapy:
Sessions are often more exploratory, open-ended, and focused on understanding the "why" behind emotions and behaviors. Sessions may focus on identifying patterns or breaking cycles of dysfunction, reparenting an inner wounded child, healing relational issues, reducing symptoms, improving daily functioning, building self-care/self-compassion practices, etc.
Coaching:
Sessions are typically more structured, goal-oriented, and focused on accountability for taking action toward a specific outcome that you have identified for yourself. We will trouble-shoot together, get creative, learn and practice new skills, address barriers together, develop routines that work for your unique needs and values, explore new ways of relating to others and yourself, helping you work consistently towards your goals in a manageable way.
Are you licensed?
Therapy:
Yes, I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate (LMFTA).
Coaching:
Coaching does not require a license! Since there is no official license or regulatory body for coaching, I am able to coach at any time, in any state or country. Although no particular license or certification is required, I hold two master’s degrees in Education and Marriage and Family Therapy as well as certificates in Sex Therapy and Trauma Therapy, so coaching clients reap the benefits of my extensive training.
When should I choose therapy over coaching?
Therapy:
Therapy is the best option if you are dealing with diagnosable symptoms like feeling persistently down, anxiety that interferes with functioning, trauma responses, or safety issues like suicidality and relational violence. These concerns warrant clinical assessment and a potential diagnosis. Licensed mental health professionals should be utilized for their highly specific training in these circumstances.
Coaching:
However, if you mostly wish to clarify or work towards goals, build skills, explore a new interest or identity, etc, coaching is well suited to that.
Can I do both therapy and coaching?
Therapy and coaching have the potential to work well together sequenced properly, or balanced in the right parallel work with solid boundaries and goals defined. For example, therapeutic focus can be on emotional stability and insight, and coaching can then translate that stability into concrete behavioral changes like becoming conflict secure or using new leadership skills. This integrated model has the ability to maintain clinical safeguards while using coaching to accelerate real-world application of therapeutic gains. Interested? Let’s talk!
Can I participate in coaching sessions from outside of WA State?
Yes! I can coach* folx from anywhere! (Therapy participants must be located in WA State.)
*Please note that if you reside outside the state of WA and I identify a clinical need that falls outside of the realm of coaching, I must refer you to a clinician in your state for treatment. This may or may not mean that we can continue our coaching work together depending on the exact circumstances. Example: If we are working on body liberation once you are in recovery from an eating disorder, and the eating disorder becomes active again, I must refer you to a licensed provider in your state for treatment of the acute symptoms.