Coaching with Spirit

Coaching with Spirit Program Overview

This popular coach training teaches students how to become effective coaches by learning a transformative way of being while in relationship with others. Coaching with Spirit (CWS) is a client-centered coaching model that facilitates the unfolding of the client’s own inner strengths and potential. This is a 2-part program.

These programs are now offered at Copper Beech Institute. At this time, both programs are being held in live virtual classrooms due to Covid-19 precautions.

Coaching with Spirit 1: How to Co-Create Transformation

CWS 1 is a unique 6-month program held over six two-day weekends. The goal of CWS 1 is to integrate the adult developmental growth theories of transformative change with a robust coaching methodology and practice.

Who Should Attend

• Those who are interested in becoming a coach. Specialties include life, career, relationship, executive, and spiritual coaching.

• Those who have an interest in their own inner transformation and are seeking to manifest their vision, goals, and dreams.

• Those who are interested in the development and evolution of human consciousness as it pertains to increasing its capacity and potential.

• Wounded healers, that is, those who sense a vocation in helping others heal but are unable to freely offer their gifts fully.

Coaching with Spirit 1 is pending ICF approval as a Level 1 Coach Training Program.

Coaching with Spirit 2: Using Internal Family Systems to Co-Create Transformation

CWS 2 is for coaches who have completed CWS 1 or have graduated from an ICF-Approved Coach Training Program of at least 60 hours, coaches who hold a current ICF credential, and psychotherapists, licensed counselors, and spiritual directors who want to incorporate this coaching model into their offering. It is held over six 2-day weekends over the course of 6 months.

CWS 2 goes deeper into the skills of personal awareness and transformational coaching. The course begins with a review of the CWS model and then focuses on Parts Work, an adaptation for coaches of Internal Family Systems, a powerful, non-pathologizing healing model originated by Richard Schwartz. CWS 2 is a coach training that will transform you and your clients. It will help you heal old wounds and awaken to your full potential as both a human and a spiritual being. And that will empower you to participate in your clients’ healing and awakeningz

CWS 2 is in renewal by the ICF for CCE hours. We expect that we will be approved for a minimum of 40 CCE hours and will keep all applicants and participants apprised.

Our Unique Philosophy

Coaches facilitate transformation in others. Yet coaches, too, must find their own inner wisdom both for their own growth and also to more keenly help others. Coaching with Spirit trains coaches in finding their own natural way of helping others through lessons learned in their own personal transformation.
Coaching with Spirit takes coaches on a spiritual journey during which time the coach matures emotionally and evolves spiritually. The coach begins to heal pain or hurt; to grow and gain confidence in taking risks; and to wake up to more awareness and intuitive insight — so they are prepared to support others fully on their transformational journey.
Coaching with Spirit is both practical and profound. The program arms coaches with a map of the human psyche while teaching the skills and strategies to work effectively with clients. At the heart of the model is Self, the divine core of every human being. This sacred essence of each human is more easily accessed than most spiritual traditions recognize.
This core in each of us is naturally whole, wise, loving, and good. Coaching with Spirit helps coaches access their Self energy so they can clients support their clients in gaining access to their own Self energy. Because the Self inside each of us is naturally resourceful, creative, and confident, once clients get even a taste of it, they can begin to more easily discover the solutions, directions and meaning they seek. - Guthrie Sayen, PhD, PCC

Guthrie Sayen, PhD, PCC

Guthrie is the Lead Trainer and the Coaching with Spirit creator.
He is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation.

Guthrie Sayen, Ph.D., PCC - Lead Trainer

Guthrie created and leads Coaching with Spirit, Parts 1 and 2. He created and leads Parts Work, a yearlong training in Internal Family Systems for coaches. He co-created and co-led Coaching for Self-Leadership, which was offered through the IFS Institute and had more than one thousand participants. He has created and led trainings for other institutions, including chapters of the International Coaching Federation, the True Purpose Institute, and the ManKind Project. Guthrie mentors coaches at all levels of their careers from beginners to masters. In his private practice, he works with wounded healers, helping them do for themselves what they are called to do for others. He also helps seekers come into the presence of the Divine, so that they can live their soul's purpose. His mission is to end suffering on this planet. www.BridgetotheDivine.com.

Barti Bourgault, MA, PCC, CMT-P - Associate Trainer, Mentor Coach, and Program Administrator

Barti Bourgault, MA, PCC Barti has been supporting the Coaching with Spirit Program since 2018. In addition, she offers individual coaching, mindfulness trainings, and mentoring through her private practice. Barti was a member of the ICF New England Board of Directors from 2018-2020. She also works closely with The Engaged Mindfulness Institute providing ongoing classes in social meditation. Her work (facilitating insight, healing, and awakening) combines mindfulness practices and Parts Work, a coaching model inspired by Internal Family Systems. Her clients and students span the globe, and her intention is to play her part in shifting the consciousness of the planet. Her passion is supporting seekers in creating meaningful change in their lives—transforming from being bound by perceived limitations to fully participating in an authentic life. www.movebeyondtheedge.com.

The Coaching with Spirit 1 curriculum incorporates the development of the ICF Core Competencies, with special attention given to the client setting the agenda, presence-based coaching, developing trust, asking powerful questions, direct communication, and the management of progress and accountability. The coach learns to enter a client’s inner system respectfully and to cooperate with its innate wisdom and its natural ability to heal. The curriculum consists of seven modules of coach trainings.

Coaching with Spirit 1 provides:

A deep understanding of the theories and processes that lead to transformative growth.
Excellence in the training of the:
- International Coaching Federation (ICF) Core Competencies,
- ICF Code of Ethics,
- ICF Definition of Coaching,
- Foundations of coaching,
- Establishment of the coaching relationship,
- Communications skills,
- Design of effective change processes.

The Coaching with Spirit program is comprised of the following 89 training hours:

72 hours of live class time including at least 7 hours of group mentoring.
14 hours of independent study related to the ICF Core Competencies.
3 hours of individual mentor coaching.

Module 1: Fundamentals: An Introduction to Coaching with Spirit

This course presents the ICF core competencies, the ICF code of ethics, the definition of coaching, and the four cornerstones of coaching. The four cornerstones are that people are naturally creative, all parts of a client are welcome, the client sets the agenda, and coaching focuses on the client not the problem. The concept of the presenting agenda and deeper agenda are described. You will learn and practice the three levels of listening and powerful questions. Lastly, you will learn the outline of a basic coaching session, including establishing the coaching agreement, establishing trust, maintaining presence, and direct communication, followed by coaching practice in dyads.

Module 2: Happiness: A Pathway to Transformation

After you learn the fundamentals, the coach trainer describes three pathways of coaching. The first pathway is that of Happiness. You learn the concept of fulfillment in life and how it relates to inner passion, vision, and overcoming challenges and obstacles. The steps in this process are to (1) connect clients to their vision; (2) set a resonant goal that draws the client into their vision and making those steps resonant and accountable; and (3) help the client to welcome the inner protectors who have reservations about change, uncovering what is getting in the way of manifesting the vision. This course presents a visualization exercise showing you how to connect with your vision and passion. Included in this course are the topics of designing action, planning and goal setting, managing progress and accountability, and asking powerful questions among others.

Module 3: Now: A Pathway to Transformation

The core question in coaching with the Now pathway is what is true in the present moment; how can we accept ourselves as we are right now. In Now, the focus is on the client’s internal experience in the present moment. You learn to create awareness by noticing and naming something in the client’s experience. With the client’s permission, the coach asks powerful questions to allow the client to fully experience what is arising in the moment. In this process, when the client fully accepts and experiences what is arising, and can accept that just as it is, a shift in energy and consciousness may occur. With this shift, the coach integrates this new experience with insight. Holding silence, awareness of the wisdom of the body, and connecting to source are important components of this process.

Module 4: Perspectives: A Pathway to Transformation

The core idea of this course is that we always are in a perspective; other perspectives are available, and we are always at choice in the perspective we live from. You learn how to work with your clients to explore multiple perspectives. You learn definitions of perspective, how it relates to physical expression, emotion, worldview, and energy. You learn how to work with clients to find the topic, explore at least three perspectives, chose a perspective to create from utilizing powerful questions, and brainstorm possible actions with a commitment to one, with accountability specified. The instructor demonstrates the use of a three-by-three grid for the client to physically move to a different geographic location when exploring a different perspective, generating new perspectives, and leading to greater awareness. You also begin to learn to design actions and set up accountability.

Module 5: Final Review of the Principles and Pathways of Coaching

This course reviews all the principles, competencies, and pathways of coaching. Included is the decision point as to which path to take, and, by dancing in the moment, how to transition to a different pathway as the session evolves. The students review Happiness, Now, and Perspectives as it relates to coaching.

Module 6: Group and Individual Mentoring

Group mentoring takes place in class. You and your fellow students take turns coaching in front of small breakout groups. After the coaching, the mentor coach first elicits feedback from you, the coach, and then from a designated observer. Finally, the mentor coach provides feedback. All present benefit from the feedback offered during this course. Individual mentoring takes place outside of class after the final weekend. Each student receives three individual mentoring sessions with a mentor coach. The student provides a 30-minute recording of their coaching for the mentor coach to assess, then the two of you meet to review feedback.

Module 7: Independent Study – Mastering the Core Competencies

Students are required to engage in 14 hours of independent self-study. To fulfill this requirement, students are to read and study documents on core competencies. Examples are:

Required Reading:
1. Happier, Tal Ben Shahar
2. Your Body Knows the Answer, David Rome.
Listening to ICF Core Competency conference calls – links will be provided.

The Coaching with Spirit 2 curriculum provides 72 hours of study over six weekends.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to Internal Family Systems, a powerful model for healing and awakening. Coaching with Spirit 2 (CWS 2) is both an extension of CWS 1 and a standalone program for coaches, spiritual directors, counselors, therapists, and others with training in the healing professions.

CWS 2 will transform you and your clients. It will help you heal old wounds and awaken to your full potential as both a human and a spiritual being. And that will empower you to facilitate your clients’ healing and awakening.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is simple in concept but complex in practice. The big ideas are easy to grasp, and it takes study and practice to apply those ideas effectively with clients. Nonetheless, just knowing the ideas begins to change you and how you work.

The three big ideas are:

Multiplicity: We humans have many parts, or subpersonalities. This multiplicity is universal, normal, and beneficial. To transform yourself and to help others transform, you must recognize and work compassionately with those parts—like the critic, the pleaser, and the avoider—who are stuck in old survival patterns, patterns that were once adaptive but no longer work.
Self: Every human has Self, an enlightened core. Called by different names, Self is recognized by every major spiritual tradition. And it is more easily accessed than people realize. By asking our parts to step back, we can access this calm, confident, and compassionate center, this source of all we yearn for.
Systems thinking: The internal realm is a system, comprising Self and parts that interact in patterned ways. Parts Work recognizes, explains, and works with those internal relationships. A single change can ripple through the whole system.

The Coaching with Spirit 2 provides:

A coaching model that honors and leverages the client’s inner wisdom.
A collaborative, non-pathologizing method of working with clients’ protective parts, like the inner critic, the achiever, the pleaser, and the distractor.
Accessing and coaching from a deep core of calm, clarity, and confidence.
Creating a safe coaching environment for doing courageous work.
Getting a contract for every coaching session.
Building an honest and trusting relationship with the client’s protective parts.
Holding the client’s vulnerable parts as sacred.
Helping vulnerable parts unburden painful feelings and limiting beliefs.
Helping protective parts find new strategies for helping the client.
Applying systems thinking and complexity theory to the inner world.
Accessing spiritual guides and using their wisdom.
Integrating learning through deepening awareness, designing actions, and setting up accountability.

Module 1: The Basics

The Basics introduces the three major concepts: multiplicity (parts), Self (our true nature), and system (how it all works together). This series will also ground you in the two principal methods of working with parts and Self.

Here is what you will learn:

The four dimensions of IFS: a map of the human psyche, a method of working with the psyche, a transforming way of life, and a program for healing the world.
The six assumptions: the reality of human multiplicity, the goodness of all parts, the centrality of Self, the goal of all coaching, the systemic nature of the internal realm, and the most vulnerable parts as the ones with power.
The flow of the model: a multistep approach that helps you manage complexity by focusing on one step at a time.
The three messages for protectors: how to negotiate with protective parts to gain safe access to vulnerable parts who need your love and hold the keys to healing.
The two methods of working with parts: direct access and in-sight.

Module 2: More Basics

More Basics deepens your knowledge, your skill, and your confidence in taking your clients inside to work with their parts. It explores the burdens that parts take on and that govern their behavior. When the burdens are released, you and your clients will gain more access to Self, the creative life force within everyone.

Here is what you will learn:

The three-group system: how to distinguish among and work with the three kinds of parts that need healing—managers, firefighters, and exiles.
The four functions of healthy human systems: development, balance, harmony, and Self leadership.
How to deal with polarizations, that is, with protectors who have opposite strategies for keeping us safe and, thus, create conflicts within us.
How to address the seven most common fears of protectors.
The two kinds of burdens: personal pain based on direct experience and inherited pain from family, ethnic group, or culture.

Module 3: The Coach

The Coach focuses on parts of the coach that block access to Self, best practices, how to deal with Self-like parts, and the key difference between compassion and empathy.

Here is what you will learn:

How to deal with parts that think they are Self: these are manager parts and are among the trickiest to work with.
Why some unburdenings need to be repeated. (You have not failed!)
The power of going inside, as opposed to staying on the outside and talking about parts or the situation.
The importance of continuity from one coaching session to the next, that is, linking sessions to create a chain of healing.
The crucial difference between empathy, which can be fatiguing, and compassion, which is not fulfilling.
The parts of you when you are coaching that are most likely to block your access to Self.

Module 4: The Body

The Body emphasizes the role of the body in the coach’s awareness and in the client’s healing and awakening. Self needs access to the body for its fullest expression. A master coach needs to attune to their own systemand attune and resonate with their client’s system.

Here is what you will learn:

The three commandants for care of your body: enough sleep, good food, and mindful movement.
Parts Work is a body-centered approach to health, healing, and awakening.
Embodiment is critical to presence and masterly coaching.
Somatic awareness increases your knowledge of your client: your body is a consultant.
Conscious breathing supports presence and connection.
Relational resonance is the interaction between your system and your client’s system. When you learn to tune into that resonance, you increase your presence and your impact exponentially.

Module 5: Spirit

Spirit explores the spiritual dimension of Parts Work. It considers the many wisdom channels of Self, how to access and work with spiritual guides, and how to manage past lives when they appear.

Here is what you will learn:

The multiplicity of Self: the many ways of accessing Self and the many different aspects of Self.
How to work with spiritual guides.
How to work with a client’s family members, who have passed from this realm, for healing all concerned.
How to work with past (or parallel) lives.
How complexity theory and holons explain things that we know intuitively.

Module 6: Integration

Integration is a time to metabolize and consolidate your learning. We will review the key concepts, answer questions, consult on cases, and practice with feedback from the instructors. We will also make suggestions on how you can carry your learning forward as part of your personal journey and your professional practice.