Many people confuse relationship coaching with relationship counseling. Although the modalities can and do overlap, there are some key differences.
What is my role as an Open Relationship Coach?
Simply put, I am a professional relationship coach. I work with individuals and couples in all kinds of relationships. I specialize in open relationships because I have real-life experience in the practice of ethical non-monogamy. I know what it’s like to move from having one committed partner to having multiple loving relationships. I’m familiar with the territory. I know the emotional challenges because I have faced them and I have learned tools to work through them in healthy ways. It is with this experience that I offer support to others on the path so that they can learn how to create healthy and sustainable open relationships.
What makes me different than a Relationship Counselor?
For starters, I am a coach, not a counselor and not a psychotherapist. I completed an intensive two-year coaching program that gave me tools to work through unconscious beliefs and patterns that kept me in unhealthy relationships. During the training, I was both a participant and facilitator of some very powerful transformative work. Our team held weekend immersions to create space for people see for themselves how their limiting beliefs contributed to unhealthy behaviors and how those unhealthy behaviors kept them stuck in painful patterns. With that awareness, participants were able to see they had a choice in whether to engage in an unhealthy behavior or choose something different. From there, participants learned and practiced simple, powerful and effective tools that led to dramatic positive shifts in all areas of their life. This two-year coaching training gave me insights and taught me incredible self-empowerment skills. This coaching program, coupled with my experience in ethical non-monogamy, opened the door for me help an underserved niche.
My approach is similar to relationship counseling in that my intention is to help people work through challenging situations in order to feel more ease in their lives and in their relationships. My approach is different from counseling in that I do not specialize in the treatment of psychological disorders, addictions, mental health issues and trauma-related illnesses. I am action based where counseling tends to be more process based. I can legally share my personal experience with my clients when it is in service to help them gain perspective on a given situation. This is something licensed counselors cannot do.
Finding the right person to work with is incredibly important. I encourage people to do their research, take time to have consultations, and ask questions. You will know when you find the right person to help you work through your personal situation.
To learn more about how I use an open relationship counseling approach in my coaching and to see if working together is the best fit for you, contact me and schedule a Poly-Coach Session today!
