Consulting & Coaching

Professional Coaching & Consulting

It’s such an honor to be an ally to someone in their journey toward living an amazing life.

Coaching is one part of what I do – and my dynamic life feeds my evolving coaching practice. I love inspiring people to step into their greatness and become their brightest, truest selves.

I got into coaching because I was living my own dream of creating a program to celebrate sexual maturity in a healthy, vibrant way. This grew from humble beginnings: gathering a few friends to discuss and contribute to my vision – to a full-fledged nonprofit over a decade. It was thrilling.

Along the way, our organization started hosting a few events a year, and I was on stage a lot – in front of people talking earnestly and openly about love and relationships. Then, they started coming. Folks would quietly find me to ask privately, “Would you talk with me about these things one-on-one?”. I began consulting with individuals, business and organization leaders… men, women, teens, parents, young adults, couples, elders.

Because I love staying active in many aspects of career, I chose Professional Coach Certification (instead of counselor training), so I could maintain an inspired life of my own, while bringing a positive, forward-focus to my work with people.

What makes my coaching unique?

I specialize in helping socially-conscious people grow into their strongest selves, while thriving in relationships – both to their purpose and to the people they love and work with.

I offer insights from a life path that has had so many changes and new beginnings – all for the sake of vastly improving my life. I can sense that spark in people, the part that is committed to making a better life for themselves. I know how to encourage that energy forward to beautiful fruition.

I’ve moved a remarkable number of times in my life; I’ve left unhealthy relationships and/or situations for something far better over and over again. I trust in the urge to go past what we previously thought was possible. I love walking people to the door of their next highest level.

My Experience

Before my years of nonprofit leadership and consulting/coaching/teaching, I was a birth doula – so I know how to be with people when they are scared or facing major doubts. I can be a calm, reassuring and uplifting force when things are hard.

I know how to meet people where they are and help them stick with it until they bring forth something new and amazing. I see birth metaphors everywhere.

I’ve supported myself financially through businesses and nonprofits I’ve created multiple times, for decades, and from a very young age. So, I appreciate the elements of risk, connection, and commitment in all successful creation. I have an innate sense of how to build something that has not yet existed. I’ve also published two books (2020, 2022). I seem to naturally inspire people.

I also have decades of experience in activism, organizing, and social justice work. I am passionate about environmental preservation, gender justice, and indigenous rights. These have been the steady undercurrent in my life for nearly thirty years. I am trained in Talking Circles, an alternative form of conflict resolution and healing, and in The Groundwater Approach to understanding structural inequities through the Racial Equity Institute. My educational focus was in Sociology, Humanities, Ecology, and Gender. I bring a cultural sensitivity to all of my work and strive to become increasingly aware of the larger systems that steer human events, in North America especially.

Credentials & Certification

I am a member of the International Coach Federation and abide by their Code of Ethics, Bylaws and Professional Standards.

To better understand the Coaching modality, you may like to view these Core Competencies as taught and evaluated by my professor at the Relationship Coaching Institute, an ICF-approved program. I have been a Certified Professional Coach, CPC, for about five years.

I meet all of the ICF Professional Standards criteria, in addition to my own personal & Professional Guiding Principles:
* Integrity – speaking truth and living by a consistency of thought, emotion, word and action in line with one’s highest values
* Confidentiality – holding absolutely sacred the trust one gives and the information shared
* Optimism – believing anything is possible and insisting on reaching past previous limitations
* Self-Awareness & Self-Love – honoring our primary relationship through ongoing discovery, so that all other great relationships are possible
* Personal Responsibility – the foundation of empowerment, owning what is ours and therefore knowing where our agency lies
* Healthy Boundaries – inversely, knowing what is not ours, and how to set healthy limits
* Inspiration – understanding how a connection to something greater fuels our life purpose and energizes our whole world
* Loving Relationships as Priority – the wisdom that structures our life and time around love as a primary force and celebrated privilege of being human
My work is body-positive, sex-positive and inclusive. All services are LGBTQ+ friendly and welcoming.

Free Call!

I am trained as a Certified Sexuality Educator through Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Boston.

I’ve had the joy and honor of working with people of all genders and orientations, ages 4 – 90. My educational philosophy is most in line with that of Comprehensive Sexuality Education, which is evidence-based information that integrates lessons about forming healthy relationships. Please enjoy this wonderful article, by PBS, on the Benefits of Starting Sex Ed in Kindergarten. Most encouraging are the statistics on positive outcomes over time, as seen in this data from Advocates for Youth.

This means I bring a comfort and willingness to discuss intimate situations in your relationship, from my twelve years of professional experience in sexual health work. Whether this is your primary concern or not, you have the option of gaining evidence-based support here too.

I am a member of the Seattle chapter of Ellevate Professional Women’s Network, a global network that is intentional about changing the statistics on women in business, and doing the work to make it happen.

Here, I benefit from consultation with professional women from around the world, learning and lifting one another up, together.

I am also proud to be a founding member of The Change Makers Alliance, based in my hometown of Bellingham, Washington. Look for more information in the coming months!

I am grateful to be part of a local Sexual Health Advocates Group (SHAG). Even as I evolve my professional focus toward writing and social justice, I stay connected to my colleagues through regular gatherings. Here, I collaborate and network with professionals in various branches of sexual health. These include physical therapists, counselors, social workers, homeopaths, urologists, podcasters, energy healers, and more. I am happy to make a referral when a client’s needs would be better suited in a different modality.

Again, all new clients are welcome to a Free 20-Minute Call to ask questions and get a feel for how we would work together.

Your Free Call

What are the benefits of working with me as a coach or consultant?

Please see the Impact page to hear from clients who have enjoyed this kind of coaching…

To learn more about my writing and work in activism for positive social change, please visit Vanessa Osage Author Website, for interviews, articles, and more.

You may also enjoy reading Vanessa’s Story, to see the quality of work I have achieved over the last decade through the nonprofit Rooted Emerging and other professional endeavors.

In-Person or Online?

I see clients from around the world, by appointment. Someday, I may resume in-person sessions as the post-pandemic world unfolds…

For now, I use a secure, HIPPA-compliant video software called Doxy.me to see clients remotely. Because Confidentiality is one of my highest principles, I have researched to find the most secure platform (which does not sync with Google services) to meet with clients online. This is medical-grade video conferencing that meets the strictest standards for protection of privacy.

WHAT ELSE CAN I EXPECT?

I believe in accountability and lifting people to their highest selves through mutual truth-telling. So, I call on validation, reflection, inspiration, and giving the gift of my sight of you in your absolute radiance.

I also offer Session Notes to clients, to recap and organize specific progress made. I include points of strengths, new awareness, powerful truths, and action steps in a written reflection. These are about a page long, and often include links to any resources mentioned. My clients tell me they cherish these notes as part of their coaching journey. These are included in all Coaching Packages.

For clients investing in the Deep Dive (four month) or Flourishing (six month) level packages, I also offer a written overview at the conclusion of our time. As a natural writer and storyteller, I love to put your life’s journey into a context that lets you see how far you have truly come. These overview narratives are anywhere from 4-8 pages in length, written in the style of an empowered story – the story that is Your Life Right Now.

I look forward to the next level of greatness that awaits!
Visit  Getting Started in Five Easy Steps  or use the contact form below.

    Love & Truth Rising
    PO Box 1559
    Bellingham, WA 98227
    USA

    VEOConsulting.LLC@gmail.com