More than Just Therapy

#lifecoaching

Years ago, during my counseling field placement as a drug and alcohol therapist, my supervisor took me aside to give me advice on my future, knowing that I was working on two master’s degrees at the same time—one to become a pastor, the other to become a therapist. She said, adamantly, “Graham, at some point soon you’re going to have to choose either to be a pastor or a therapist. You can’t do both!”

 “Why not?” I asked. She replied, “You just can’t. You have to choose one or the other” The conversation has stayed with me all these years later because I never did choose. I became a pastor. And a therapist. And a spiritual director. And a clergy coach. And a teacher. And a writer. And much more.

I realized something back then that took me a long time to put into words: there isn’t just ONE approach to being mentally and spiritually healthy in life. The healthiest lives are those that integrate insights from many different areas of life. Counseling can be incredible in helping people craft better lives, but mental health requires more than just what counseling offers. Counseling is great at helping people progress from deep difficulties to healthy functioning in life. But there’s a wide gap between merely functioning well in life and flourishing psychologically, emotionally, and relationally.

Counseling will always be Samaritan’s foundation, but over the years we’ve slowly added other services that help people do more than function in life. I began by offering spiritual direction and clergy coaching in 2017. In January of 2022 we added a life coach, Rachel Fagan. In January of 2023 we added a second spiritual director, Amy Armanious. The purpose of bringing them on board was to help people grow through many phases of life by offering them help that fits what they’re seeking.

Here, I want to specifically focus on how our life coaching can enhance your life by sharing what our life coach, Rachel Fagan (pictured below, right) does, and how it enhances life.

Rachel is a trained life coach who embarked on this vocation after having been a schoolteacher for many years. She felt a call to do more to help parents and adults navigate the difficulties of life she saw reflected so much in her conversations with them. So, she became trained as a life coach to help otherwise healthy people navigate the confusing twists and turns of life. That’s what life coaches do. They help us sift through life’s confusion by helping us build skills that allow us to thrive.

Life coaches partner with clients, helping them think through their lives and find ways to reach previously blocked personal and professional potentials. The coaching process often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership in ways that lead to greater personal and professional fulfillment. In short, they help us find better ways of living our lives.

More specifically, life coaches help people:

• boost confidence;

• become clearer about their goals, outcomes, or plans;

• find ways to manage time and energy more efficiently;

• improve relationships; feel less overwhelmed and stressed;

• explore options when trying to make decisions;

• overcome barriers to happiness and success;

• navigate major life transitions;

• develop a better work/life harmony;

• figure out how to live out their core selves, values, and beliefs in a world that drives us to live another way;

• overcome life’s obstacles, and

• transform negative thoughts by adopting more positive perspective and behaviors.

So many of the problems we face in life don’t rise to the level of needing deeper therapy, although the therapists we have are among the best in Western Pennsylvania for anyone seeking that. The problems most of us face are life issues that confound or confuse us. We offer coaching and mental fitness to help people find better ways to live.

If you are struggling to some extent on how to craft a better life, I encourage you to consider life coaching. Many people have and they have benefitted greatly.

Blessings,

The Rev. N. Graham Standish, PhD, MSW, MDiv, MA

Executive Director