For Professionals - Healing Talks Back

Helping You Help Others

Within a field like this one, it’s pretty impossible to truly “know it all.” I’ll be the first to raise my hand and admit “I DON’T know everything about anything.”

Because of that, I do the next best thing: I lean into the learning curves as deeply as I can, networking with some of the best, most progressive and most experienced colleagues within our field of practice.

Funny thing is? The longer I work and grow my own my professional skillset, I find my colleagues are reaching out and leaning back in my direction, too.

C-Spheres

In addition to my work with individual clients, I’m honored-yet-humbled to provide professional mentor coaching, consultation and supervision to colleagues within five distinct “c-spheres,” circles that comprise my network of professional influence:

clergy
clinicians
coaches
community leaders
counselors

Consultation

Sometimes professional consultation is a “one and done” dynamic, a powerful conversation that quickly conquers some oddly-nuanced layer of a case that’s otherwise comfortably in-hand. Other times, consultation is a series of evolving conversations, helping colleagues to improve their acuity when navigating tricky topics, circumstances or complications. Occasionally, I’m honored to provide the kind of long-term coaching that empowers colleagues to feel supported across periods of months or years, often while advancing their own professional credentials or expanding their growing repertoire of specializations.

Whatever the substance and scope of our professional consultation, I offer you the same guarantee I give my non-colleague clients: if you’re not satisfied after your first paid session, I will happily refund you the cost of my fees paid to date. I also maintain my commitment to be honest about what I know and and what I don’t; if my qualifications do not ethically and effectively position me to help you, I consider it my responsibility to communicate that from the outset.

Mentor Coaching, Coaching Supervision and APSATS Consultation Supervision

If you hang around coaches long enough, you’ll likely hear one of us say, “All great coaches have great coaches!” Not only is that a lovely turn of phrase, it’s also a time-honored principle undergirding ethical practice for professional coaches.

As coaches, we often secure Mentor Coaching and/or Coaching Supervision for the sake of our professional depth and development.

Mentor Coaching is a skills-based requirement for most coaching credentials, designed to ensure consistency and competency among practicing coaches. I’ve been registered as an ICF Mentor Coach since 2020, and it’s grown into one of my favorite projects! Within this deeply rewarding capacity, I support emerging coaches seeking to evolve and improve their coaching skillset; most prolifically, I specialize in mentor coaching for colleagues seeking to work within the mental-health field—helping them to navigate the complex applications and challenges that arise when coaching within a traditionally clinical context.
In contrast to the skills-based nature of mentor coaching, Coaching Supervision is a newer, separate and fast-advancing field of practice; it’s the coaching modality that most closely parallels clinical supervision, designed to support coaches through challenges that arise from an evolving professional caseload. According to the ICF, “Coaching Supervision focuses on… a richer and broader opportunity… a safe environment for [coaches] to share their successes and failures in becoming masterful in the way they work with their clients.”
Last but DEFINITELY not least, we have APSATS Consultation Supervision. Yes, I know that’s a jumble of terminology—which is actually quite fitting for the scope of the role in which I utilize it! In early 2023, I proudly joined the ranks of APSATS Consultation Supervisors, a group of eleven practitioners who support individuals seeking an APSATS credential. In this capacity, I explore myriad topics with APSATS candidates—focused on helping practitioners to integrate APSATS’ Multidimensional Partner Trauma Model (MPTM) into their work with clients. After nearly a decade of work as an APSATS practitioner, it’s a tremendous honor to continue growing this organization “behind the scenes,” rallying to support future generations of partner trauma specialists.

Training Workshops for Helping Professionals

Occasionally I provide training workshops, webinars and other offerings for professional colleagues. Here’s what’s coming up on the calendar:

SAVE THE DATE! June 2, 2023
Alone in the Aftermath: Using the MPTM with Survivors of Betrayal-Related Divorce

On June 2nd, I’ll be teaching a short, intro-level workshop on trauma-informed care for survivors of betrayal-related separation and divorce. All proceeds go to support the work of APSATS (The Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists). Please consider yourselves warmly invited! Full details here.

Topics of Expertise (below)

BETRAYAL, ADDICTION, TRAUMA AND SEXUAL HEALTH (BATS)

For newly-trained or newly-transitioning life coaches, entering the high-stakes arena of betrayal, addiction, trauma and sexual health, I’m gonna be blunt: it takes a lot of time, training and application to anchor our proficiency and professional repertoire. After 20 years of personal experience, 13 years of personal healing, 10 years of client coaching and nearly 1000 hours of specialized training, mentor coaching and case consultation—I STILL feel like I’m barely scratching the surface of what it takes to do my job well.

The truth is, this isn’t a field wherein practitioners can simply “fake it ‘til we make it.” Because of that reality, we owe it to ourselves, our clients and world to take our professional development seriously. If you’re planning to grow into work within the BATS community, consider investing some time, money and energy into consultation with me; you deserve the assurance of knowing that whatever new situations you encounter with your BATS client cases, I’m here to help you with resources and reinforcement.

BETRAYAL-RELATED DIVORCE SUPPORT

Supporting clients through separation and divorce is about SO MUCH MORE than lawyers and mediators—especially when it’s precipitated by sexual and relational betrayal. As an “equal-yet-opposite” counterpart to the complexities of couples work, divorce support requires a mature and nuanced skillset, one that (a) avoids even inadvertent projections or presumptions of failure, and (b) facilitates the forward-facing momentum necessary to help clients rebuild a shattered existence from the inside out.

As a credentialed divorce recovery coach since 2014, I’ve companioned literally hundreds of divorced, divorcing and/or permanently separated survivors of sexual betrayal. Along the way, I’ve picked up a passion for this poignantly underserved demographic—along with a whole lot of “whatever you do, don’t (fill in the blank)” bits of insight and expertise. Perhaps you need a second opinion on one tough case, or maybe you’re considering a sub-specialty in the bigger picture of divorce-related work. Either way, please look me up and let’s chat about it! I’ll ask and answer some key questions, pointing you in a supportive and productive direction. Bonus: If you haven’t yet done so, please navigate over to my page, Alone in the Aftermath. At the bottom, you’ll find links to some of my favorite betrayal-related divorce support resources.

In addition to one-on-one consultation, I’m grateful to offer occasional trainings about betrayal-related divorce for professional colleagues.

BETRAYAL-RELATED LOSS, GRIEF AND MOURNING

Betrayal-Related Grief (TM) is a complex form of traumatic loss, impacting ALL parties (not just the betrayed individual) in profound, compound and confounding ways. Equipped with extensive training from experts Dr. Alan Wolfelt (centerforloss.com), Susan Anderson (abandonment.net) and Heather Plett (heatherplett.com), I seek to help colleagues deepen your grasp on the vastly different types of grief your clients may be facing in response to relational trauma—especially at specific junctures when they (and perhaps you) feel decidedly “stuck.” From little known constructs for loss-and-grief literacy to underused applications, interventions and a fresh new vocabulary, I‘m eager to empower you with next-level tools that reach beyond the bedrock provided by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her classic work, “On Death and Dying.” In addition to one-on-one consultation, I’m grateful to offer occasional trainings about betrayal-related grief for professional colleagues.

SUPPORT GROUP DYNAMICS: NO DUMB QUESTIONS

Working with individual clients is one thing; working with multiple clients is a very different (and exponentially challenging) thing. From flooded participants to facilitator faux pas, professionals can be unexpectedly underprepared for the challenges involved in creating and maintaining a support group. As you bring your support group ideas, hopes and fears to the table, I’ll welcome you with my conviction that, when it comes to something as complex as support group dynamics, there are NO stupid questions!