I have been in private practice as a professional coach since 2006, working primarily with staff and volunteer leaders of non-profit organizations. My clients are individuals, primary partnerships (i.e., an executive director and a board Chair), and groups (staff teams, departments, board of directors). I have taken the coaching experience, tools, and techniques, honed over years of meaningful work, and adapted them to coaching individuals, primary partnerships, and families and groups who are navigating the impact of aging.

My approach is to create and deepen conversations on the topics you bring to coaching. I will listen to you, expand and clarify what’s important to you in the moment, challenge and unpack your assumptions, and help to design a path forward. I will inspire you. I will celebrate you. I will hold you accountable. And we will work together to enhance the quality of your life, your performance, your work and professional goals, and your relationships.

You will complete coaching better at your life than when you began!

After making the decision to become a coach, I did an extensive amount of research about professional coach training and certification programs, and the coaching industry, to learn where I would launch and grow my coaching business. I also networked with many coaches to learn about their professional journeys and see what aligned with my interests. Ultimately, I chose to attend the certification program at the Co-Active Training Institute and received advanced training in Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching from the Center for Right Relationship. Each program is accredited by the International Coaching Federation. I added the leadership assessment tools of The Leadership Circle to my coaching practice; TLC is also accredited by the ICF. Genarian was launched after I earned a mid-life MS in gerontology.

And, I am middle-aged, a dad, a husband, a brother, a son, an in-law, an uncle, a college graduate, a gerontologist, a friend, a caregiver, a neighbor, a Jew, a gay man, an activist, and…each is core to my identity—who I am—not what I do.

I collect vintage record albums, snowboard, travel and work remotely around the US in my RV, learn to cook ethnic foods, walk at least 10,000 steps a day, run in 5 and 10K races, donate to a wide range of charities, and try to stay on top of filing and paperwork in my home office. Each is an example of what I do—important to me, pleasurable or important—yet, not core to my purpose, my identity.

My style meets my clients where they are. I listen deeply to language and values and tone and align my style with my client’s. I am thoughtful, courageous, and unafraid of my client’s topics. I am a truth-teller. I am kind. I speak of goal setting and purpose, and I speak of love, kindness, and self-care. I can be very playful and very “by the (coaching or gerontology) book” depending on the moment. And I draw from my life experience to inform my coaching stance and style. Believe me, there is nothing wrong with reflective quiet meditation or developing complex multi-level planning strategies in coaching. We’ll find what works best for you!

Everything is possible in coaching. We take notes. We brainstorm. We rank and prioritize. We test. We role-play. We practice. We set goals. We celebrate successes and unpack disappointments. We talk resources, tools, and supports helpful to your issues. We debate. Our coaching partnership will become the laboratory for your goal fulfillment—you can do it in the safety of our coaching partnership and then take it into your life, practiced and ready!

Genarian is a coaching practice about aging. I am a coach with expertise to coach individuals, primary partnerships and relationships, and families who are faced with the complex issues about aging. Training in individual coaching and specialized advanced training in organization and relationship systems has prepared me as a professional coach. Obtaining a master’s degree in aging systems has prepared me as a gerontologist. When combined, my clients receive dynamic, thoughtful, and experienced partnership toward their goals.

At the same time, I am gaining a deeper understanding of you, who you are and what the topics are that you will be bringing to coaching. I strive to learn about your goals, your values, and your life story that will help round out our coaching engagement.

Coaching sessions are full of powerful questions and exercises and processes that deepen your learning so you can forward your action. Sessions include homework activities and thoughtful inquiries to either practice the session learning or to carry the learning forward into your life. You will find the coaching work invigorating and challenging, and you will notice applicability in many areas of your life.

Yes! I am trained and certified to coach individuals, partnerships and key relationships, groups, and families. This is what I do, and I love it! I have spent the past 15 years coaching great people in non-profit organizations—executive directors, founders, director level personnel, as well as boards of directors, community groups, neighborhood groups, staffs/departments, key partnerships (for example, I have coached several board president and executive director partnerships). In the aging space, I coach individual family members, key partnerships (for example, I have often coached an adult child and an elderly parent), and entire family systems. Not every coach has the skills to work with more than one client at a time. I can!

I am a certified practitioner of The Leadership Circle assessment tool called the Leadership Circle Profile. It is an instrument that serves beautifully in the organization leadership space, for both individuals and groups or teams. I have also seen its great value for individuals in a family setting (leadership in life is the issue!). If this instrument has value to advancing your coaching agenda, I will raise the topic.

The elegance and ease of the Wheel of Life instrument cannot be overlooked. Sometimes the tool is just that simple! It’s available to you on this website. Try it.

Also, I have gold standard coaching industry education, training, and credentials; nearly 20 years’ experience as a professional coach; hold an advanced professional coaching credential; have relevant non-coaching work experience, education, and life experience that inform my coaching. I believe in people and the personal power they have to transform their own lives—coaching does this, I do this, I have seen this transformation, and I am passionate about the results my clients achieve.

The testimonials on this website are real and I am grateful for the clients who have provided them so you can get a sense of what I am about from people who have benefitted from my coaching skills.

In short: Coaches focus on the future. Therapists focus on the past. Coaches center their work around the belief that clients are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. Therapists utilize a framework that is based on pathology and illness. Coaches work with the conscious mind. Therapists work with the unconscious mind. Coaches’ work is often time-limited with specific desired outcomes. Therapists’ work is open-ended with “understanding” as the primary objective. Coaches work in person and more often virtually (phone or online). Therapists usually work in person.

Having a consultant, mentor, teacher, social worker, athletic coach, and best friend are all excellent means to receive information and support but they are not coaches. Each comes with an agenda, a set of tools and an answer whereas a coach comes with no agenda and believes the client ultimately has the answers. A coach has a set of tools to help the client identify and articulate these answers.

At Genarian, we bring a different bearing (a different energy, our stance) to the client that is developing a plan for the retirement of an executive director or a group of adult children struggling with an elderly parent who refuses to stop driving after several age-related car accidents. Both scenarios, both agendas, are aging-related to be sure, but would likely demand a variation in the spirit of the coaching practice while the coaching tools are very similar.

Through dynamic coaching conversations, interactive exercises, and post-session homework, you will learn new ways of thinking, explore new perceptions and behaviors, create focus and clarity, explore personal potential, improve your circumstances, and meet your goals.

Coaching topics are varied but the goal is always the same—to bring fulfillment and balance to you. You may show up with a specific topic of the day and I will be sure to link that topic to your largest personal goals and vision. I am trained to coach my client’s whole life, and my client’s whole life benefits from the engagement.

I coach my clients to improve or enhance their relationships, careers, and day-to-day lives. I will help you clarify your goals, identify the barriers that hold you back, and we will co-create the strategies for overcoming each obstacle. In creating these strategies, I target your unique skills and gifts. By helping you to make the most of your strengths, I will provide the support you need to achieve long-lasting change.

As a coach, I have the skill to help you gain a fresh, informed perspective on the problems that you face. In addition to offering new insight into challenges, I can help you to zero in on negative patterns that might be standing in the way of your success.

Many people view working with a professional coach as a means of bridging the gap between your current circumstances and the life you’d like to have. I can work with that! That’s’ where we begin.

I am responsible for offering my clients excellent professional coaching services, learned from institutions accredited by the International Coaching Federation, and honed over years of practice with real clients. I am responsible for upholding the full content of the ICF Code of Ethics. I am responsible for coaching my client, not providing consultation or therapy. I am responsible for determining if coaching in general, and my coaching specifically, is a good fit for any client and making a referral if necessary.

The coaching client is responsible for doing their due diligence about coaching in general and Genarian coaching specifically to determine proper fit. The client is responsible for fully engaging with the coach on the topics raised and embracing the coaching process. The client will meet the agreements made about fees, scheduling, length of coaching service, and other items enumerated on the coaching agreement document. The client is responsible for participating in the coaching engagement coming to a place of completion at the agreed to time.

People hire coaches because they come to know or believe something in their lives is not right, out of balance, and yet they know they have the capacity to sort it out but do not have the clarity. They know they don’t have a trauma to unpack; they need to examine purpose, direction, strategies, outcomes. Coaching smooths out the wrinkles, calms the waters, clarifies the murky, empowers the tired, resources the solutions.

Genarian coaching can make aging and the impact of aging clearer, more fulfilling.

It is common practice that professional coaches will offer a free, no obligation, “sample coaching session” so you can meet the coach and “test” their skills and style.

And there are as many coaches with specialties as there are clients with needs. Really! I coach people who are being impacted by aging—individuals, couples and partnerships, whole families. Every good coach can be of value to any client because we don’t coach the client’s circumstances—or story—but, rather, we coach what’s beneath the story. The specifics of the topic are not the driver for the coach. However, I have found having a common experience, knowledge base, and language can be useful around a specific topic. For me, as a coach, that topic is aging, presented in innumerable ways.

Don’t expect immediate results. Your coach can help you make plans, address problems, and work toward achieving your goals, but it is important to remember that these things take time. If may be helpful if you set some short-term and long-term goals to work toward. The results of coaching happen in between sessions and in your life—not necessarily in coaching sessions.

Consider if your coach is suited to your needs. Not all coaches take the same approach to a problem, so what you get out of the process may have a lot to do with the type of relationship you have with your coach. Look for a coach that is suited to working with your personality type and approach to solving problems.

Don’t see a coach to address serious mental health issues. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety, you should talk to your doctor or therapist to discuss your treatment options. Coaches can offer advice that can improve your well-being, but they cannot provide mental health advice or treatment.

If you’re thinking of working with a coach, keep in mind that it’s up to you to decide what you’d like to focus on in your coaching sessions. Each session should leave you feeling empowered and uplifted, so it’s critical to find a coach whose style and philosophy resonate with you.

Anyone can call themselves a coach and there are many people who “coach” as part of their regular jobs. The field is unregulated (sadly) and there is a broad spectrum of what’s allowed in the coaching industry.

So yes, there is a huge benefit to working with a coach who has completed their education and earned a certification from a training program accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and who is also a member of the ICF. I am both!

ICF-credentialed coaches are professional coaches who have met stringent education and experience requirements and have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the coaching competencies that set the standard in the profession.

In addition, ICF-credentialed coaches adhere to strict ethical guidelines as part of ICF’s mission to protect and serve coaching consumers.

Hire a coach who has invested in becoming a coach!

The client’s agenda dictates the length of time they will work with a coach. When the agenda includes many people and complicated topics, engagements can take longer for everyone to be present, heard, and action plans developed. Some coaching engagements can be three sessions and other engagements can be one year of regular sessions. We’ll figure it out together!

I once heard someone say, coaching works when “shift happens!” You’ll know—we’ll know—coaching is working when you experience the shifts in your life (your agenda) you are working for.

The fact that several popular television programs and movies have written coaching into plot lines has helped bring attention to the field.

Coaching is successful because clients want success. Coaching clients are generally very clear, focused, and motivated to address their personal topics and make change. Coaching clients do not look backward and process trauma; they look forward and equip themselves with tools that propel them into the life they dream of.

Life coaching formally emerged during the 1980s and grew in popularity throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Some of the earliest life coaches focused on life planning, but the field eventually grew to encompass other life areas including relationships, finances, careers, health, and overall well-being.

The coaching industry has expanded into a global phenomenon with coaches specializing in innumerable areas of interest. Coaching niches include career advancement, relationships, divorce, money and finance, LGBT, sobriety, artists/creatives, retirees, weight loss or wellness, and aging.

I am a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and hold the advanced coaching designation of Professional Certified Coach (PCC). As a PCC and member of ICF, I proudly abide by the ICF Code of Ethics which includes the ICF core values, ethical principles, and ethical standards of behavior for all ICF Professionals. Links to these documents are included on this website.

The length and frequency of coaching sessions are determined when we establish the coaching agreement and are frequently determined by the number of participants and the depth or content of the client agenda. In general, 30–60-minute sessions can be very effective.

If coaching is anything, it is certainly about being asked a lot of questions. A coach’s primary role (and skill) is to be deeply curious about your topics and engage you in solution-finding. And every coach asks a lot of questions in their own style, from their own perspective and background. It’s really wonderful! Here are some examples:

• What’s your dream/goal?
• You’ve described your goal; what are the barriers to you reaching it right now?
• Name the strengths you bring to the pursuit of your goal.
• What would your life look like if you achieved your goal?
• What makes you most happy?
• What is it about you and your approach that stands in the way of achieving the goal you describe?
• How okay are you with being just okay?
• What you are doing appears to be incongruous with what you want; what gives?
• You often say “I don’t know”…tell me what you do know about the situation.

It is said (and believed) the most value from coaching happens in between coaching sessions! Of course, the content and energy of the coaching session itself can be transformative, but it’s the commitments you make for what you will do between sessions where the work truly happens. Some clients call this “coaching homework” or “accountability” or “commitments” or “agenda advancement.” Whatever you call that which inspires you and reminds you and advances your agenda is fine with me!

I am available to meet with clients in between sessions for quick check-ins or an additional session. Clients often stay connected—and accountable to their agenda—by phone, email, text messages, or additional sessions.

Coaching is a very engaged partnership!

Coaching homework looks like a lot of different things to different clients…and is core to the coaching partnership. You can call “homework” what you’d like (some clients dislike the notion of “homework” and have renamed the effort) which is a nice way of co-creating the process of the work clients agree to do in between actual coaching sessions. For example, coaching homework can be to have a difficult conversation with a sibling, or to gather the siblings in a mini family “retreat” to discuss nursing home placement, or to brainstorm goals and a bucket list for retirement. Whatever your homework is called, the effort in between sessions is meant to advance the client agenda.

I try to meet with clients once a week. Through many years of experience and testing of different time frames, I’ve found that this frequency yields the greatest return in terms of change. Meeting once a week offers time for reflection and application of learning between sessions, while maintaining the momentum of our work together. We will work together to define your coaching agenda and the amount of time it could take to meet your goals will become clear in this process.

Your agenda will determine the need for a genarian to participate in the coaching. We will also consider the mental capacity of the genarian, the ability to connect via technology or in person, and their ability to fully participate in the coaching. But successful coaching can happen when there is an absent family member. We will co-create the arrangement that is best at the beginning of the coaching engagement.

Families and how and when they show up vary, and successful coaching can occur when there are family members absent from the coaching engagement. I can offer many effective tools for advancing the important coaching agenda with any kind of family structure and presence.

You may choose to terminate coaching at any time, although it is helpful for me to have some notice in order to prepare a final session that focuses on review and closure. Ultimately, that decision is up to you.

I do not guarantee specific results but I guarantee you will receive my professional skills and presence as a coach so you can articulate your agenda and goals, develop a strategy for achieving these goals, and you might even take the steps necessary to meet your goals. I guarantee professional, thoughtful, skilled coaching tools and process; you guarantee your commitment to the agenda and to the results and impact on your life.

This is a perfect coaching topic for session #1: What is the failure that underlies the question? How much of your life is guided by should? What does it mean to ask for help? Describe on our own? Describe the difference between reaching goals and doing important (and essential) activities.

Coaching will deconstruct questions like this and co-create meaning the client can use in pursuit of a goal.

And, there’s nothing wrong with seeking help from a professional coach who can partner with you to reach your goals.

In person is always an option if logistics allow. Virtual sessions (by video) are best, and we can use any number of after-market platforms (Zoom, Skype, Facetime, etc.) to make the connection. Telephone coaching (voice only) is very effective. We will make this decision when we design the engagement.

In person. Online. Telephone. Some participants in person with others on virtual. Some methods may take some getting used to while others may be preferred. It can all work just fine.

There are the buttons to schedule a complimentary coaching session throughout genarian.com. After I receive your inquiry, I will be in touch with you by email or telephone. You can call or send me an email as well.

Give me a call. Send me an email. I am happy to answer your questions. I get it, sometimes a website may not have all the answers or sometimes a personal connection is what’s needed. I’m around!

I will reach out to you within days of receiving your inquiry so we can set up a time and method to talk about your goals.

The pro-bono coaching I offer, when I am able to, is usually for an individual who is unable to pay for coaching services and who is in an emergency situation and can get to a meaningful solution in one or two sessions. If an ongoing engagement is more useful to the person, I would discuss with them an adjusted fee.

The coaching I offer is excellent and an excellent value. Fees are not only related to what the market for coaching services will bear, but what it takes to bring real value to my client. I work hard to balance my values of making coaching available to those who need it with having earned the fees I charge.

While I cannot categorically say it is not, I do not know of any insurance providers who pay for coaching services. There may be some. I encourage you to check with your provider. Flexible Spending Account funds are often used for by clients to pay for coaching services. Again, check with your provider.

I am happy to speak with any client about ways to make coaching services available to them.

When receiving funds electronically, I prefer to use apps and web sites where there is no transaction fee.

I send a detailed invoice on a regular basis that enumerates coaching services provided.

Genarian provides a written outline of policies and procedures, agreements, and expectations at the beginning of each coaching engagement. It is provided by email to the primary point of contact in the engagement. It includes some legal language about payment agreements and confidentiality but is primarily a recap of the agreements discussed in the initial points of contact. I do require a signed copy to be kept on file.

Clients of Genarian review and sign a document that defines coaching practices, policies, and agreements including fees, session cancellations, payment, confidentiality, and other issues germane to a coaching engagement. There is no contract for a coaching engagement.

Genarian coaching is expert at providing service to individuals, key partnerships, and families/groups. Each is billed similarly and will be outlined in the coaching agreement document. Genarian will accept full payment from one identified person within a group via an agreed to method and timeline. It is the family/group’s responsibility to identify a “lead” person who collects funds from individuals and/or pays the coaching invoice. Genarian does not contract with a group of individuals; rather, Genarian will transact the business of the coaching agreement with one member of a family/group entity only.

I work extremely hard to be flexible with clients. I am a firm believer that “real life” happens, and shifts need to be made, often without notice. I get it! In general, I ask for 24 hours’ notice to cancel or change an appointment time. In the real world, let me know with as much notice as possible, and we will work from there! While somewhat subjective, as long as my time is respected and an unplanned schedule modification enables me to make other plans, I am happy to accommodate last minute requests. And in the spirit of reciprocity, there may be times when I also ask for an adjustment in a scheduled appointment. Coaching is a relationship.

Coaching is effective virtually and in person and Genarian conducts individual, relationship and group coaching by video, telephone, and in person. Believe me, clients can get real value from the coaching work using any method of connection! Connectivity does not stand in the way of good coaching and engaged clients working together on the client agenda.

I fully understand the value of your trust, and I take every precaution to safeguard it. I will provide you with a detailed description of the ICF Code of Ethics that governs every client-coach relationship Genarian enters. This document not only places professional coaching standards before you in plain text, but also codifies my commitment to you.

We co-create very specific agreements about the practice of confidentiality when we begin the engagement (i.e. location of video participants, information sharing with family members not engaged in the coaching, group email and message forwarding, social media usage).

Client files are kept in a locked file cabinet, or a password protected computer. Client calls are always made while in a private setting.

Genarian acknowledges family structures are different and the structure and participants will be a natural part of the coaching engagement. One member of a family is typically the first point of contact with Genarian. Often after a brief introductory contact is made with a family member, the remaining family members are engaged in deepening the coaching conversation and shaping the client agenda. The coaching engagement will define roles and responsibilities for individuals engaged in the coaching (who is lead contact person for coaching logistics, who manages invoice payment, what are agreements for contact in-between sessions.)

There is no contract for a certain number of sessions. However, we will design in the coaching engagement process an agreement to a minimum number of sessions (usually 6). The truest value of coaching develops over a few sessions, after the agenda is clear, the goals are set, and the hard work begins. It takes time to determine the value of a relationship and to work out any unexpected issues that arise. An agreement to a minimum number of sessions is fair to you and me.

I am happy to discuss and design any coaching engagement. I believe in coaching and its transformative powers. If we can agree to an engagement that serves your agenda and honors the skill I can bring, let’s discuss it!