Frequently Asked Questions
Please contact me at stell@pobox.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
A: "In the year that I have been coached by Stell, I have experienced incredible professional growth and much greater personal freedom. I am in awe of the safe space she creates and her ability to be with me wherever I am. Her mentoring and beautiful way of of helping me connect with all the clues carried within my body has allowed me to connect with myself in deeper ways, garner my own wisdom and show up differently in relation to others. I continue to be grateful for Stell's support."
-Mary Alice McPherson, Marketing/Communications Consultant and Leadership Coach
A: Working with Stell has been a gift. Through her powerful listening and questioning, I have been able to move out of my busy and challenging thoughts into the wisdom of my body by using my breath. The practices I have put in place to connect to the present all came from my coaching with Stell. She didn’t “advise” me about how or what to do, she moved me forward with guidance and care. Learning to quiet my stories has opened up new possibilities and clarity for me to take actions in my life that were not available to me before our work together.”
-Patricia McNamee, Real Estate Broker
A: A thought-provoking and creative process that inspires the client to maximize their personal and/or professional potential. Coaching allows for a pause; to observe, reflect, inquire, learn and transform enabling new actions and realities to emerge by choice.
A: Consulting refers to someone engaged in the business of giving expert advice to people working in a professional or technical field.
A: Stell’s approach uses both coaching and consulting as a template for working together. She draws on her 30+ years of studies, trainings and experience to share her knowledge and wisdom thus allowing her client to see from a different perspective. From there, new actions, practices and ways of being are set in motion.
A: No, coaching is not therapy or counseling. Coaches acquire training from schools or organizations, and often seek credentialing from the International Coach Federation (ICF). Therapists and counselors follow a distinctly different educational path and must be licensed in specific states or countries. One useful way to look at it is the following: In general, therapy is focussed on the past, whereas coaching is oriented toward the future. While coaching is not therapy, it can be therapeutic!
A: Transformational coaching happens when a client becomes aware of something about themselves which then allows for a different way of being, acting and/or understanding.
A: With transactional coaching, the focus is on engaging in a new action. It’s a mental process by which the client learns a new tool and engages the intellect to perform in a new way.
A: Multiple studies over the decades have determined 70-93% of communication is non-verbal, yet our body (soma) may often be largely left out of our awareness. Having studied with giants in the field: Richard Strozzi Heckler and Stuart Heller, Stell's coaching includes Somatics as an offer for clients interested in facilitating faster and more sustainable results.
A: Engaging in and relating to the nature of being (as humans). The specific Ontological Coaching Stell studied was coined by Philosopher, Visionary, Author, Fernando Flores who ultimately understood being effective in the workplace or in life wasn’t all about Language and Action. More recently much has been discovered about the importance of somatics, neural pathways and the processes of human mutability. Now inclusive of these studies, Stell incorporates all of these ways of looking using Julio Olalla's Body, Emotion and Language (BEL) Model. This is Stell’s expertise though rarely uses the word “Ontological” due to general misunderstandings.
Embodying Change: A Whole Systems Approach
By Victoria Castle
"Somatics is a whole systems view that addresses the nature of how we operate and what shapes our perceptions, opinions, and actions."