Meet Deb
"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
— Socrates
Approaches
My work as a COACH for over 20 years is based on an Integral approach to human development. It is holistic and complete by including:
- Your personal values, perspectives, and insights
- Actions in real life to test assumptions and build new skills
- A supportive and guiding relationship with me
- Your context: workplace, home, community and culture
Coaching has a clear and effective architecture of conversations, homework practices and reflection questions designed to:
- Leverage your current capacities that serve you well
- Incrementally loosen habits and mindsets which get in your way
- Build new more effective and fulfilling ways of thinking, being and doing
- Fine-tune and iterate given arising opportunities and challenges
I have over 1700 hours of experience coaching within the private, medical, government, and academic sectors. Common topics included:
- Nurturing emotional resilience in tough times
- Establishing and maintaining boundaries and habits to support work-life integration, meaning, and connection
- Building vitality through steady health and wellness habits
- Gaining clarity, courage and direction for facing a big challenge, transition or decision in life
- Improving personal or workplace communication: listening/expressing, difficult conversations, giving and receiving boundaries, appreciation and feedback
Qualifications
I completed over 550 hours of specialized training with Integral Coaching Canada in 2005 through to 2008 to become certified as an Integral Master Coach™. This training program exceeds the accreditation requirements of the International Coaching Federation; with its completion and over 1000 hours of coaching experience, I also earned their designation of Professional Certified Coach. In 2020, I completed training to become certified as a Resilience Coach.
Previously, I earned my PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1994, and completed extensive written and oral licensing exams to become registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario in 1995. I worked in various institutions prior to owning my own practice from 1998-2023 when I retired from being a therapist. As a coach, I will continue to bring my embodied wisdom and warmth to my clients, and have retained my license so that my coaching fees can be reimbursed under benefit plans.
Personal
People and the ups and downs of life have fascinated me since I was a kid pouring over ‘triumph of the human spirit’ books from my small town library. It touched my heart how ordinary people got through and emerged from tough times with courage, resilience, compassion, generosity, gratitude and connection. My belief in cultivating these core values continues to ground my work to this day. It’s the foundation of my life’s intention to help heal human suffering and support growth and flourishing… one client at a time.
Outside work, I enjoy spending time with my friends, three adult children, partners and a grand-puppies, as well as my elderly parents. I still love to read and write, and have recently been having fun re-exploring visual art and spirituality. Making music playlists, teaching groove fitness, cycling, running, hiking, skiing and otherwise being in nature also make for a more vibrant and joyful me.
Integral Coach ™ is a trademark in Canada owned by Integral Coaching Canada Inc. and licensed to Deb Thompson.