What is a coach? a chaplain? an educator?
Part 1: Coaching as Architecture
Building the Future You Envision
When you are in the middle of a health crisis or navigating the complexities of communication with dementia, it often feels like you are standing in a clearing during a storm. You know you need shelter, but you aren’t sure how to start building it.
Coaching is Architecture. (While therapy can be like archaeology—digging into the past to uncover, diagnose, and treat old wounds) Coaching is about the professional "build." It is future-focused and action-oriented. As a coach, I partner with you in a creative process designed to pull your dreams and your needs into daily reality.
Why Architecture? A house isn't just a roof; it’s a structure designed to support the life happening inside it. In our coaching sessions, we look at the structural integrity of your current life:
The Foundation: Your innate wisdom and values.
The Walls: The boundaries and communication styles that protect your energy.
The View: The future potential you want to maximize, even amidst transition.
As a professional coach, my goal is to help you find the "authority in your devotion." You are already a leader in your family; coaching simply provides the tools to build a life that will support and shelter you through every coming challenge.
Part 2: Chaplaincy as Sanctuary
Finding the Sacred in the Storm
In the world of healthcare and hospice care, the focus is often (rightly) on the physical. But what happens to the spirit during a "messy" transition? Where do the grief, anger, and fear go?
Chaplaincy is Sanctuary.
The Association of Professional Chaplains defines this role as providing spiritual, emotional, and existential support. To me, it means creating a "sacred space" where you don't have to have it all together. In this sanctuary, we welcome spirituality into the healthcare journey—not as a set of rigid rules, but as a way to explore deeper meaning and purpose. To move through the pain and confusion towards meaning, hope, and peace.
Listening for the Best of People As a board-certified chaplain, I have spent years in hospitals, hospice and senior living communities listening for the "best of people" during their hardest times. I have learned that:
Grief and Joy can coexist. They are two rooms in the same house.
Presence is a form of care. Sometimes, "finding the North Star" isn't about moving; it's about standing still long enough to see the light.
Authenticity is healing. Being honest about your fear is the first step toward gratitude.
If coaching builds the house, Chaplaincy ensures there is a quiet, comforting room inside where your soul can rest and find its footing again.
Part 3: Education as the Blueprint
The Cycle of Growth and Best Practice
If we are building a life of care, we cannot rely on instinct alone. Relational dynamics are complex. Caring for an aging parent, an ill spouse, or a family wandering through dementia requires more than just a good heart—it requires a "Blueprint for Growth."
Education is the Blueprint.
As an ACPE Educator, I use the clinical method of learning: a continuous cycle of Action, Reflection, and New Action. This isn't just theory found in a textbook; it is a lived practice that informs how we show up for the people we love – and for ourselves.
Using Theory to Inform Heart-Centered Care Education builds upon the gifts you already bring to the table—your compassion, your history, your devotion—and adds:
New Concepts: Understanding the "why" behind difficult behaviors or family dynamics.
Best Practices: Learning how to communicate clearly and lovingly when the stakes are high.
Possibilities: Seeing the ever-present potential for growth in yourself and your loved ones, no matter the age or illness.
By treating every challenge as an opportunity for "New Action," we turn the fog of uncertainty into a clear path forward. The blueprint ensures that your growth is intentional, sustainable, and grounded in excellence.
Together, my training as a Coach, Chaplain and Educator create a powerhouse of opportunities for me to support you wherever you are in the caregiving or dementia journey.
