Greetings! I am the founder of Benedictus Wellness for Life and a Catholic, Christian Life Coach. We share one main thing in common….we all experience dreams, joys, achievements, sufferings, hardships, anxieties, and uncertainties. Although the degree of these life experiences may be different from one person to the next, we all experience them in one form or another. As an educational psychologist, professional counselor, university professor, and life coach, I have over forty years’ experience helping people of all ages to achieve their life goals, but also to effectively deal with life challenges and trials.  But how did I get to this point of my professional practice? There were several reasons that contributed to who I am as a professional and my desire to help people as a Catholic, Christian Life Coach.

First, and most importantly, my Catholic faith... I was born and raised Catholic in a near west suburb of Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s attending Catholic high school and then off to Dallas, Texas to attend a wonderful Catholic university. So, one would assume that I was a solid practicing Catholic. However, as a young adult and on more than one occasion I fell---and fell hard….basically I was a luke-warm Catholic Christian just going through the “faith motions”.

However, looking back, I know that God was watching over me, despite my protests and unfaithfulness----pulling me through my sinfulness and spiritual  neglect as I dragged my  feet along the way. There were a few events, however, that brought me back to my senses and back to being a seriously practicing Catholic. One of these events was when I spent a semester at the University of Dallas Rome Campus  where,  being able to travel throughout Italy and Greece, I was able to walk in the footsteps of some of greatest saints like St. Peter, St. Fracis Assisi, and St. Paul. I was blessed to be in Rome during the election, coronation, and death of Pope John Paul I and the election and coronation of his successor, Pope John Paul II.  It was my studies in Rome and Europe that I experienced the beauty and  richness of the Catholic faith and tradition. The semester was truly a life changing experience.

Second, my father introduced me to the stories of converts to the Catholic faith including Scot Hahn, John Henry Newman, Edith Stein, Elizabeth Ann Seton,  and G.K. Chesterton where I learned the zeal to which these converts practiced their new-found faith. Converts really see the unique beauty and truth of the faith (that many times us “cradle Catholics” take for granted) and that really lit a spiritual fire within me. Third, my re-discovery of the Traditional Latin Mass---the Mass of Ages----through St Mary’s Oratory in Wausau, Wisconsin. There I encountered truly faithful Catholic teaching, excellent catechesis that had been missing in my life,  and the opportunity to attend the same Mass in which our greatest saints attended and assisted for centuries.

Fourth, over many years I have had faithful Catholics and other Christians express their frustration that it is very difficult to find excellent mental health professionals who are faithful and adhere to Catholic, Christian teachings and the Bible. Many people expressed their dreadful feelings of having to take a risk seeking mental health assistance from someone who did not take the faith seriously, did not have a faith of his/her own, or even one who tries to disparage the faith. It was obvious to me that I needed to help fill this void by giving people a clear and reliable  choice and opportunity to work with someone who they can trust to help them while not only respecting their Catholic, Christian faith, but in actually using the faith as part of their growing and healing process.   The above spiritual events helped me appreciate the goodness, beauty, and truth of the Catholic faith which affected every part of my life----including my professional  life. I knew that I had to somehow incorporate my faith into my practice of helping people.

The second  influence in my life that affected my professional practice occurred during my many years of being an educational psychologist and professional counselor. I shared many situations and  cases with other professionals who frequently focused too narrowly on diagnoses or labels in treating people----a very myopic view of seeing an individual.  I encountered situations where professionals in  the medical and mental health communities with whom I shared cases missed critical areas of what may contribute to a person’s strengths and weaknesses….often overlooking the obvious and not thoroughly investigating the in-depth questions. Such important possible contributing factors such as dietary, lifestyle, historical, and environmental  variables were not taken seriously or simply  ignored. It was through these experiences that I made a commitment to focus my practice on a holistic and integrative approach to working with people---- recognizing and using a person’s strengths/blessings as part of helping the person and thoroughly investigating all variables and characteristics that may contribute to the whole person.

The third influence that contributed to my professional approach to helping  others is a personal experience. Sometime in my mid-thirties, I was experiencing strange and unexplained sensations and symptoms. I sought assistance from several physicians who put me through very extensive and sometimes invasive tests… all with the same result---nothing wrong….and then I had to endure hearing the classic comment when they cannot figure out one’s concerns…. “It must in your head.” Their approaches to my concerns looked at only the most serious explanations without looking at any other possible reasons. Feeling my frustration, my father recommended that I see a naturopathic doctor  in Chicago who took  a vastly different  approach---the naturopathic physician  looked at all possible explanations and initiated a very thorough, yet non-invasive assessment of examining my diet, lifestyle, and habits---and found that I indeed had some environmental and diet sensitivities and allergies that were making me feel these strange symptoms. Once I eliminated those invasive dietary and environmental factors and unhealthy habits, the symptoms vanished. This experience taught me the value of truly listening to our bodies and what the body is trying to say when we feel symptomology that negatively affects our lives---looking at the whole person, integrating all possible preventions and interventions, and investigating our daily routines and habits that hinder healthy psychological, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual growth and well-being.

Thus, my personal, spiritual, and professional experiences have all contributed in forming the practitioner that I am today…one who is dedicated to investigating all aspects of a person’s spiritual, emotional, physical, and behavioral parts of life to assist clients in achieving  their current and future life goals and coping with and even overcoming our  trials and hardships. If you are looking for someone who will not categorize you into a label, but truly listens to you and works with you within our beautiful faith to help you achieve current and future life goals, in family, marriage, relationship, work/career, life transitions, and spiritual matters, give me a call, send me an email, or simply click on the inquiry button throughout this web site. I invite you to join me in this exciting journey in becoming all we can be in a faithful, healthy manner and as St. Benedict exhorts us---to always begin again!

Be faithful. Be blessed. Be well.