My Past Experiences Coaching Couples & Families

Couples Experience

As of 2024, I mainly work with individuals one-on-one. Of course individuals have relationships and many people want to improve their relationships with their family members or partners. Please read on if you are curious about my past experiences coaching couples and families.

Learning to have a long-term relationship has been a goal of mine since I was little. Relationships can be tough! My parents experienced divorce seven times (with multiple partners) and I knew there had to be an easier way. Early on in my own partnership, I participated in and then facilitated several couples courses taught by Rich and Char Tosi, founders of The Mankind Project and Woman Within. I then got certified in the first level of the work of Drs. John and Julie Gottman.

My husband and I have now been together for 38 years (with 34 years of marriage), and have two grown children, ages 30 and 32. I continue to work with couples using my hard-won experience/wisdom as well as the many coaching tools and resources (such as the Enneagram and Character Strengths) that I have found and cultivated along the way. I have also worked with couples in more clinical settings at The Northwest Wellness & Memory Center in Ashland, Oregon, helping both patients who are experiencing cognitive decline and their care partners. I love learning about communication and supporting people to relate in new ways as they grow and develop.

Family Experience

I have successfully worked with many families—on Zoom and in person—who want to find new ways to relate. We creatively use the Enneagram, the Awareness Wheel, the Drama Triangle, Character Strengths and Family Meetings to establish new ways of understanding and ways of being together. Each family is different: I may do one-on-one sessions with some family members and also facilitate group sessions with the whole family so that safety can be created and each member of the family can be seen. I’ve even done cookie decorating, painting, or camping as family activities. After our sessions, families appreciate one another more and communicate with greater ease.

For ten years on my own and through Rogue Valley Mentoring, I developed girls circles and involved the whole family when planning potlucks, mother/daughter sessions, father/daughter sessions, sleepovers (for girls) and camping/raft trips, and planning sessions. I have worked with blended families with younger children, and older families with college-aged “children” who lived on the East Coast and their parents, who lived on the West Coast. Creating new ways of listening to each other, and hearing one another helps families stay strong and gain a renewed sense of belonging.

I can help you relate to your loved ones in new and creative ways.

How might your relationships be different?