Story Work Coaching
You Were Her Confidante at 14
At 14, you became your mother’s confidante. You still are. She tells you about her latest argument with your father, and your job is to listen and to comfort her, the way it’s always been.
You dread being alone with her, because there’s always one more secret she wants you to hold. Resentment comes with the dread, and you’d give it back if you could. You made yourself small to keep her from becoming upset, and you still do.
You lack any sensation when your partner initiates physical intimacy, and your mind drifts somewhere else. When a voice climbs in an argument, you’re scanning faces for subtle signs of what comes next.
You Still Hold It the Way a Child Held It
Your role has stayed the same. Your partner gets the careful daughter who listens first and says little. So does your closest friend, and so does whoever sits nearest you at work.
You hold it as a scene: faces in it, an order of events, a point where you stopped talking and the trouble passed. That’s the shape a child stores things in, and a scene is something you write down. That’s why writing is where this starts.
What Story Work Coaching Asks of You
Unlike counseling or therapy, story work coaching is short-term and involves exploration of your written story as it relates to heartache and trauma. Before your first session, I’ll ask you to write out a story from your childhood, 500 to 800 words, in as much detail as you remember. Write about a harm that’s still confusing, that needs further healing, or that reminds you of present-day dynamics in your life.
There’s a reason the page comes before the room. You decide which details go in and in what order, with nobody watching your face while you do it. Then you read it aloud to me, and because the telling is already decided, you get to listen to yourself say it.
As a compassionate witness, I help you name the unnamed themes, relational dynamics, and patterns that still have a hold on your life today. Each story is read over one or two sessions, and re-reading the same one brings up more. Sessions run 50 minutes.
Because coaching isn’t counseling, it’s available to you virtually in all 50 states, and at the Traverse City office if you’d rather be in the room. Story work builds on the foundational model of Dan Allender, founder of the Allender Center, who believes healing is possible during trauma and abuse recovery.
You Stop Holding What Was Never Yours
The secrets have somewhere else to go, back to the people they belong to. Your mother’s marriage becomes your mother’s, and you get to be her daughter with no second job attached.
Closeness stops costing you your own body, and a tense room stops needing you to scan it. What becomes possible instead is a greater capacity for life-giving relationships with yourself and others.
Say One True Thing Aloud
The consultation runs 20 minutes and costs nothing, and you can ask whatever questions you need.
Your story is waiting to be told: (231) 268-4301
It’s Time to Heal Your Heartache
You’ve kept company with this pain long enough.
I’ll accompany you into the painful places, where you can feel truly seen, and together we’ll clear a way through, one step at a time.
Ready to begin restoring your relationships and finding your full self again? Schedule your free consultation today.