a therapist or executive coach?

I like to say that there are excellent individuals in all lines of the helping professions. I’ve met well-trained and talented psychiatrists, energy healers, executive coaches, clergy, and therapists. I’ve met people with these titles that I would NEVER work with too. For me, it’s less about the title and more about the training and the way problems are viewed by the professional offering the service.

I chose systemic counseling/therapy for my training because I have found that trauma is unavoidable and we all experience it to varying degrees. What happens to our lives after traumatic events is shaped by the family we were raised with, culture/society, workplace/school communities, coping skills, religious/cultural influences, beliefs/values, biology/genetics, friends/peers, ancestors, and the uniqueness of each of us. At some point in adulthood, many of us ‘hit a wall’ and need help gaining perspective on all of these outside factors. Integrative Systemic Therapy is the most efficient and evidence-based way to ‘unpack’ all of this and to quickly get to the core issues for my clients. We don’t need to do a deep dive in every area, but when we view your issues from this holistic perspective we have a better chance of treating your complaints effectively. In my experience, when not done from a systemic approach, healing can feel like a ‘whac-a-mole game’ with problems ‘popping up’ again and again — or worse once you learn to cope with one issue a new one pops up you’ve never dealt with before.

Based on my background as a global executive, Nashville Business Journal 40 under 40, and two-time Billboard magazine Power Player list, many people urged me to pursue executive coaching. But it just didn’t feel right to me. Then I read this article from HBR and it articulated so well what I sensed were the potential pitfalls in executive coaching that I wanted to avoid. In my career, I saw many people improve professionally but continue to suffer in their personal lives. Or watched others have a breakthrough year at work, but cry privately about not feeling fulfilled. I don’t really buy into the cliche of ‘work-life-balance’ but I do think that people can lead lives more full of authenticity and integrity. And to do that, it takes some therapeutic work on what is ‘underneath’ some of your personal challenges and patterns. If you’ve done well in business, you're an expert at pushing through, overcoming, and problem-solving. That’s what is familiar and to try to do something different feels weird. Yet, if you’re here it’s likely because you have tried many things and are at a loss for what to do next. I tell my clients all the time ‘if you could have, you would have solved it by now.” That doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It means you need therapy. In my opinion, we all do at certain points in our life.