Who Are We
Enlightened Transitions provides therapeutically oriented life and career coaching and consulting services to individuals seeking to make positive changes and navigate the transitions of life. Coaches are commonly defined as therapeutic professionals within the larger mental health continuum trained to help individuals by offering guidance to healthy individuals. Services are rooted in positive psychology, mindfulness, the therapeutic alliance, and supported by evidence-based interventions. Interventions assist clients to manage and alter negative emotional, cognitive, and behavioral patterns that inhibit personal wellbeing. The coaching process is collaborative with the coach serving in a supportive role. Clients and coaches discuss personal concerns, identify strengths and limitations, and develop an individualized action plan to reach future life-enhancing goals.
Our Philosophy
Enlightened Transitions reflects the philosophical notion that the process of life involves a series of fluid transitions. Rooted in Gestalt and Existential psychological philosophy, services are designed to help individuals navigate difficult life transitions. Services connect with the client by offering support, insight, and direction while respecting the autonomy of choice. Creating a therapeutic alliance establishes social connections that form the basis of humanistic psychology and wellness.
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The need for belonging and social acceptance is paramount to the human experience while simultaneously producing emotional distress. Understanding the social influences on self-concept and belonging provides a context to develop meaning in life transitions. Psychology acknowledges that human behavior, personal identity, and life outcomes are influenced by social parameters and the basic need for belonging.
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A basic duality between the individual and their larger environment exists in which the individual’s internal experiences are linked with their external world. This serves as the basis for motivation and emotion. The guiding Gestalt concept of ‘wholeness’ theorizes that an object, idea, or person is more than the sum of its parts by being both part of and different then its parts. The concept emphasizes an individual’s self-awareness in reciprocity to the environment. This removes the existing isolation between human behaviors, consciousness, and the psyche, and allows the mind to become an organizing principle.
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In essence, the internal and external experiences blend together to allow the individual’s mind to perceive its experiences, process feedback, and shape self-concept. Self-concept severs as the organizing structure for beliefs surrounding personal attributes, values, and actions. Developing a healthy self-concept that is flexible, incorporates, and critically reflects on permeations form the external into the internal increases enables the individual to more easily more through life transitions.
Transitions in life
Role based and stress-based transitions refer to the concept that each of us adopt social roles and behaviors that reflect our social roles. These roles are based on a series of intersecting influences that are linked to our personal identity and sense of purpose. Our role is never stagnant, instead it is a series of fluid transitions that we must navigate. The process involves both self-doubt and creation, with the emergence resulting in new opportunities and an improved sense of self.
Transitions in career
Vocational and career coaching have direct ties to historical events and cultural trends. The notion that we dedicate a large amount of time to work is a testament to the socio-cultural importance of work. This was recognized by a handful of psychologists during the second industrial revolution in the early 1900s. These ideas emphasized work and career as a core component of our personal wellbeing during a time of increased urbanization, transition, and a culture consisting of extremes.
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In a postmodern work environment, we often seek opportunities that reflect the existential pillars of purpose and meaning. Here a reciprocity occurs in which the we as individuals, our employers, and the work we do interact for a larger benefit. However, tension may also occur, and the point at which we as a person stops and our work environment begins is often blurred. This makes it difficult to create personal meaning and motivation. As a result, we enter a period of transition that can be riddled with stress and anxiety. Coaching serves to help you overcome barriers, identify strengths and limitations, and provide additional motivation to move through these difficult transitions.
