life coaching, business coaching, psychotherapy services - center for work and life

Coaching will benefit you if:
You understand that life/work needs are connected.
You are ready to move forward.
You are ready to do the work.
You are ready to face fears and tackle challenges.
You are willing to use a coach as a mentor/guide.
You are able to invest in coachings solid benefits for yourself and your business.

I have extensive knowledge and experience in systemic change and interpersonal dynamics.
I am able to develop strong collaborative partnerships, fostering solid growth and change.
I am straightforward, clear, and patient.
I believe in the powers of articulation, acknowledgement, and humor.
I work consistently out of my values and have no agenda except client growth.
I am non-threatening and encourage safe exploration, discovery, and development.

Clients have three to four coaching sessions per month, by telephone, in my office or in your office. Clients come to the meeting with their agenda and the focus is on sorting through desires and goals and making a plan for change. As a coach, I ask my clients to dig down deep and make changes that will move them forward.

Yes. The definition of an extraordinary life is personal and varies from one person to the next. Coaching can help you determine what your extraordinary life and/or business looks like and help you take the steps to achieve it.

Coaching focuses on the present helping the client develop the future they desire. Therapy looks to the past for patterns and unresolved issues that are impacting the present. In both situations, the client’s needs and goals are the focus.

In 2000, I took a two-year training program through Coach University. I bring to my coaching practice twenty-seven years of clinical expertise in human behavior and change. My background of coach training and twenty-seven years of experience helping people change is a fantastic combination enabling practical focused and supportive change.

I have practiced clinical social work for twenty-seven years and have had a private practice for twenty-four years. Initially trained as a family sysems therapist, I use a wide range of therapy models in my practice including; Cogniitve Behavorial Therapy, DBT, Mindfulness, Stress Management, Psychodynamic and Grief and Loss. I am continually updating my skills through workshops and conferences.

Chris vision is grandly expansive, yet startlingly simple: To help each person and business discover their essence and to develop their full potential. Her inherent wisdom, hard-earned clarity, and unwavering belief in her fellow humans allows her to get to the core of things quickly, to ask insightful (and sometimes, unsettling) questions, and to gently provoke discovery, determination to change, development of possibilities, and creation of new, true, and do-able strategies that can be applied again and again to achieve each and every goal. It is a process of empowerment, through re-discovery of power that was already there. Chris simply teaches the tools to help clients mine their riches.

The change process is an active, purposeful, and continual process, requiring thought, decision, action, evaluation, and reflection. It is greatly facilitated by an interactive relationship such as that created in coaching, or psychotherapy. The mentor/helper serves as a sounding board, someone who can hear and reflect back verbalized thoughts and decisions, question and encourage positive actions, and assist evaluation and reflection. The coach/mentor acts as a “change agent” holding the client accountable for their progress and celebrating with them their transformation.

Humans are inherently social beings. We seek connection, affirmation, sometimes even completion with others. Our words, our stories are amplified in the telling. We are more daring, more courageous and adventuresome with a trusted other sharing our steps. Relationship somehow makes more manageable the potential risks of the journey, and reassures us that we have the power to cope with the unknown that lies ahead.

My clients are entrepreneurs, soloprenuers and small business owners. In the course of the coaching we focus on individual coaching, which often leads to team building and strategic planning.

She founded the Center for Work and Life in 2003 to better serve her growing client base and to express her vision for the helping arts.The Center allows Chris to expand her business mission and services, and embodies the values and skills, which have made her practice so effectively transforming. The Center will allow her to tap into the wisdom and expertise of other professionals to provide an ever-broadening network of support and knowledge to individual clients, professionals, business executives, and organizations of all types and sizes.

I take the following insurances: Blue Care Network, State of Michigan BC/BS, Magellan, ValueOptions, Aetna, LifeSynch, and United Behavioral Health. If your insurance is not on this list, I suggest that you call your insurance company and ask if they reimburse for private practice social workers (that is me).
My fees are reimbursable by flexible spending accounts.
I do offer a sliding scale when appropriate.

Insurance companies often require their subscribers to pay a portion of the session charge. The co-pay amount varies with insurance policies. Please check your policy for your co-pay. This amount is due at each session.

Not at this time. Life and business coaching is a great investment in your future. People are used to updating homes, cars and other household items. It is a shift in perspective to remember that it is not only okay, but fundementaly essential to invest in oneself.