Welcome
Welcome to the Coaching Collaborative where we provide a balance of compassionate understanding and science-based approaches to helping you develop realistic and challenging personal and professional goals.
As the founder of the Come Alive Collaborative,
I am passionate about walking alongside others as they explore their curiosities, interests, dreams and goals. My strength is creating a safe space by listening as you share your experiences and then collaborating with you to brainstorm ideas and design a desired path forward.
You are in the driver's seat of your own life adventure. You know yourself better than anyone else. And you are also the only one ultimately able and responsible to set the course of where you want to go. As a coach, I am in the passenger's seat as a co-adventurer to help you explore the open road, enjoy the journey along the way, and navigate the landscape to a more fulfilling life.
"For what it is worth, it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be.
There's no time limit; stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same; there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it.
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And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before.
I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of.
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If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."
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From the movie: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Core Themes of Coaching
At the Coaching Collaborative, we focus on three main themes and areas of specialty within the field of coaching, including understanding and building healthier relationships, exploring transcendence and our spiritual journeys, and clarifying our purpose, meaning, and calling in life. Research has shown that as we invest our efforts in enhancing our connections, our experience of transcendence in the world and our purpose in life, that we live happier, healthier and even longer lives.
While these three themes are primary emphases of individual and group experiences at the Coaching Collaborative, coaching can involve almost any aspect of your life that you want to understand more fully and make changes.
Individual Coaching
Fully alive and focused people, professional athletes for example, have a coach by their side to listen, encourage, challenge, champion, and keep them accountable and on track in order to reach their goals and full potential in life.
By partnering with a coach, you can gain insight and clarity about what you truly want, your meaning and purpose in life, and who you want to become. Coaching helps you assess where you are now, discover and define your goals for the future, and then create a path to direct your actions, awareness and energy towards.
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Consider your career, your relationships, health and personal growth, and imagine what a difference a personal coach can make in helping you achieve your goals, deepen meaning and navigate challenging transitions in life.
Group Coaching Collaborative
At the Coaching Collaborative, we offer several group coaching experiences, or what we call collaboratives, where we explore issues of connection, transcendence and purpose among other concepts, dynamics and tools. Many groups are offered over a period of several weeks and include discussion as well as structured and regular assignments to accompany individualized coaching plans.
Testimonials
“Over the years, I have accomplished goals I regard as significant. Dr. Stefan has been instrumental on my journey toward these goals. I began working with Dave while an undergraduate. At the time, I wanted to pursue teaching, but I needed direction. Dave helped me clarify my goals, organize my steps, and follow through for success.
Today I am the first in my immediate family to have a college degree. I have also completed a Master’s in Public Administration and an MDIV from Princeton Seminary.
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Academia is only one area of my life that Dave has greatly impacted. He has helped me to understand what I want from life and how to get it; this has had ramifications on the personal, physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of my life. Dave has consistently dared me to desire a journey of wholeness and encouraged me to pursue it. On this road, I have experienced freedom, love and fulfillment.”
- Steve
“In my life, I found Dave to be that rare combination of not only a mentor, but also a friend and an ally. Not only is he somebody I can receive great counsel from, but also someone with whom I feel very safe in sharing my heart and being myself. Over the years, Dave has always called me to go deeper—whether that means in my own personal journey or simply living outside the status quo and mundane. In the midst of this, he has also challenged me to get in touch with my “adventurous” side on more than one occasion (which is not something that has always come easy to me).
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All of this has taken place in the process of pursuing my educational goals, moving from an associate’s degree to a bachelor’s, and now towards my master’s degree. Without a doubt, Dave has left a strong and positive mark on my educational progression. I cannot say enough about him and the influence he has had, and I would definitely recommend his services and influence to anybody.” - Nick
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"Dave has a special gift of connecting with people at their level, walking with them, and challenging them to become more. His natural skill at being an active listener draws people out to open their hearts in a way that helps them discover for themselves who they are and what steps would be good for them to take next in life. His nonjudgmental ear and nods of compassionate understanding have a way of instilling value to people.
He has been careful to be a non-biased sounding board helping me to look deep into my desires in life and then pointing me toward paths and opportunities to pursue them." - Jeff
“Dave possesses an inherent blend of qualities that have served to affirm and challenge me, ultimately resulting in a greater sense of clarity and fulfillment as I press on toward my goals.
Dave’s attentiveness, compassion, introspection, and gentle prodding were pivotal in enabling me to breach distinct mental and emotional boundaries that had been preventing me from cultivating my largely un-pursued passion. During the course of our conversations, he helped me identify my core values as well as inhibitors to attaining this passion--nonjudgmental, unhurried, and supportive, he quite naturally brought out in me the desire to confront unresolved hurts that had been restraining me. Tap finally opened, Dave has subsequently proven tireless not only in encouragement, but also in presenting me with opportunities to be accountable and achieve my goals. I am most thankful for his presence in my life as a friend and mentor.”
- Nadine
