Courageous, Compassionate, Creative Coaching

Sometimes we come to a point in life when we are clear that support is needed. Maybe we are working to cultivate change, find ourselves in the midst of changes we aren’t comfortable with – or somewhere in between. Maybe the suffering we are experiencing has reached a tipping point where we are finally ready to reach out for support to relieve the suffering in healthy ways. Courageous, compassionate, creative coaching offers the opportunity to meet whatever arises with trauma sensitive awareness, reflection and intuitive insights to support anchoring into your own intuition, truth and care. Ultimately, opening space to nurture the life you’re living, one moment, one choice at a time.

We meet here and now, wherever you are on your path.

Amy Phoenix standing by tree.

Deep, reflective listening and mindfulness practice are the heart of this work. Gently and gradually these practices yield much needed solace, space to bring compassion and care, so we can learn to integrate experience and reflective insights to carry forward.

When we meet for a private session, first and foremost, we create space for you to openly share your experience. As you’re ready, we explore what’s surfacing to become clear inside, notice what’s not working, what is working, what options you have to address challenges and how you can proceed forward one moment at a time. Strengthen your ability to choose your response when challenges feel intense and discover clarity, courage and strength within the difficulties.

Amy has a way of letting me talk about my experience without judgment. I find that every time I face a challenging situation and talk about it during a session, it automatically becomes less of a challenge.

— Annie Bourgault

Coaching Specialties

Currently, Coaching may include the following, but is not limited to these focuses.

  • Conscious Parenting – Create a unique approach to parenting based on your values, learn to respond instead of react, move forward from childhood trauma, embrace punishment free parenting, support kids who are struggling, strengthen self care and enjoy parenting
  • Co-Parent Coaching – Priotitize the needs of your children through coming together in parenting, even when separate or approaching the role differently
  • Communication & Relationship Coaching – Learn how to navigate emotions skillfully, listen well, speak your needs respectfully, advocate for yourself as well as the relationship, discover collaborative solutions, repair and respectfully release relationships
  • Relationship Abuse Recovery Coaching – Working with long respected models of abuse to fully acknowledge and understand the impact of the abuse on your life, develop skills to restore intuition, work through difficult feelings and grief in all of the areas they touch your life, create a new vision for yourself in your relationships based on healthy relationship dynamics and take action in restoring yourself while you create healthy, sustainable relationships
  • Mindfulness Coaching – Develop mindfulness meditation practice to enhance focus, emotional regulation, stress management and inner clarity
  • Change Coaching – Create individual or collaborative change with others through intentional communication and action for sustainable transformation
  • Down-to-Earth Spiritual Coaching – Deepen intuition, establish and strengthen meditation and prayer practices, learn to trust the process of your life, support for processing and integration of spiritual experiences
  • Trauma Recovery – Address mind, body and nervous system interference created by trauma with compassion and practices to support welllbeing
  • Emotion Coaching – Build emotional intelligence, awareness and responsibility; transform anger into healthy power, purpose and advocacy
  • Nurturing Presence – Deepen the ability to be present with yourself and others through meditative awareness, gentle inquiry and affirmation of who you are
  • Somatic Parts Work – Welcome lost aspects of you fully home; honor protective and exiled parts, deepen the ability to be in your body

When an issue is outside of my skillset, I’ll do my best to connect with you with other supportive resources if you would find that helpful.

Thank you for a glorious session. Not knowing what to expect, you listened fully, you were warm, compassionate and tuned into the issues concerning my children and helped me clarify my vision of parenting in the most supportive way! My heart and soul felt full of blessings after the call.

— Deborah

Coaching vs. Therapy

Coaching sessions provide support for learning and practicing skills to navigate and process emotions, deepen awareness, grow through challenges, create connected and collaborative relationships, cultivate healing habits, honor and live from values, grow spiritually and increase awareness of wholeness of mind, heart and body. While coaching can have a therapeutic impact, it is not the same as therapy. Coaching allows client intentions to lead, within the framework of a coach’s skills.

Coaching often works well for people who have a clear sense of their struggles and goals, while therapy can work well for people who may need the support of medication, crisis services or in depth knowledge of mental health disorders. Coaching may compliment therapy and offers an alternative for people who are interested in exploring challenges through mindfulness, support and accountability to learn and implement new thoughts, skills and behaviors.

My background includes undergraduate studies in social work and philosophy with a completed bachelor degree focused in psychology and human services. Along with formal education, the heart of my coaching skills come through lived experience and training in parent education, mindfulness meditation, somatic regulation practices, collaborative communication, domestic relations mediation, conscious change through story and trauma sensitive awareness practices to nurture well being.

Since 2002, I have been working with parents, children, teens, teachers and women to support mindfulness in everyday life and education, healthy communication, spiritual growth, change from the inside and healing from the effects of trauma in the body, heart and mind as well as in relationships. My personal experience includes a deep commitment and determination to live with awareness, courage, compassion, connection and collaboration day by day. For a few years I’ve been pondering the completion of a masters in social work, largely to increase accessibility to services. Currently the masters is on hold as I’m devoting my energy to a blend of family, focusing on health and supporting people directly with coaching alongside part time work in my local community.

For me, the nurturing presence session was very therapeutic, and I came out of it feeling a bit like I would after a counseling session with my therapist. I think I felt that way simply because that was what I needed out of the session that particular day: it could’ve just as easily felt more like parent coaching or life/career coaching if that is what I had needed out of the experience in that moment. I think that’s the beauty of this type of nurturing presence session: Amy holds the space for you to take exactly what you need out of it in any given moment. — Amy Rhime

Session Options

Coaching sessions are often facilitated online or outdoors. We can also meet in a mutually agreeable public location (i.e. coffee house, restaurant, etc.) or your home.

  • Walk & Talk Coaching – When we are processing through experience, nature offers fresh air and space for us to move with whatever is coming up to share or discuss. Walk & Talk coaching sessions are available in Mid Michigan and surrounding areas at mutually agreeable public locations.
  • Movement Coaching – We meet while engaging in nourishing movement (i.e. roller skating, at a gym, on the treadmill or bike at home). Coaching while moving the body allows for physical processing of emotions and addresses health in two ways at the same time. Movement Coaching sessions are available in Mid Michigan and via video.
  • Distance Sessions – We meet by phone, video or messaging. If you are in the U.S. or Canada, I will call you for our session. If you are in another part of the world I will provide a number for you to call or we can schedule a video session.

After the session I felt clean – light – crisp – and brimming with energy and love. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really enjoyed talking to a real live person who understood what I was going through, who wanted to help me, and who could help me in a way I wanted to be helped!

— Lisa

Schedule a Complimentary Consultation – Based on availability, please email for openings.

Please schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss coaching, rates and how it may benefit you at this time. Sessions are scheduled in US Eastern time generally during the weekdays, however we can find other mutually agreeable times as needed. When learning new skills, repetition is part of the process. While meeting once or twice can be very helpful, continued support may assist you in making lasting changes. Coaching packages and sliding scale fees are available.

Learn to Respond Lovingly to Distractions

Home with the kids? We can still have a session if you are home caring for your children!

Child hands holding butterfly.

Sometimes distractions arise – a child crying, knock on the door, dog barking. Life calls, we get to choose how we respond. While I work to cultivate a quiet space for sessions when working from home, sometimes the need to assist one of my children or pets may arise. Distractions for either of us can serve as opportunities to deepen and nurture the ability to respond to such interruptions with love.

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