Coaching for Intentional Living and Healthy Relationships

A conversational, one-on-one process to help you discern where Jesus is inviting you deeper into healing and apprenticeship with him.

Coaching and pastoral counseling are offered to help you find direction and healing in your life with Jesus. While I am prepared to explore the deepest parts of your story, this is not the same as clinical therapy. It always starts with a free conversation so, together, we can discern what's right for you.

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Coaching and pastoral counseling

Coaching is for when something has come up, often through Guided Apprenticeship, that you need more help understanding and digging into. Pastoral counseling is for the things that run particularly deep, like trauma, deep anxiety, marriages in crisis and profound grief.

Does this sound familiar?

Life can get confusing, lonely, and discouraging. There are seasons of exhaustion, grief, transition, or emotional pain that can leave you disoriented and feeling stuck. You want to love deeply and show up well for the people in your life, but you're unsure how to move forward.

What coaching is

Coaching isn't primarily advice-giving, behavior management, or a rigid program. Sessions create space for listening, reflection, conversation, healing prayer, and discernment as together we seek the leading of Jesus in your story. Jesus is the healer. My role is not to "fix" you, but to walk alongside you as a guide and companion.

I bring many years of pastoral counseling experience, spiritual guidance, and my own story as a father, husband, and apprentice of Jesus to help you:

Understand and embrace your true identity
Walk intimately with God as a beloved son or daughter
Find your way forward into God’s promise of healing and transformation
Live emotionally healthy
Build deeper relationships with your spouse and kids built on trust and mutual respect
Cultivate a home environment where you and your family thrive

What to expect

After that, I most often recommend 2-hour sessions every other week.

For individuals and couples, and premarital counseling is available too. Sessions meet by Zoom, by phone, or in person in Dexter, Michigan.

View What to Expect (PDF)

A little about Aric

Pastoral counseling has been a big part of my life in ministry for many years. I've walked with people through some of the hardest things a person can carry, and I'm equipped to walk into very deep places with you.

I also want to be honest about what I am and what I'm not. What I offer is pastoral counseling, not clinical counseling. I'm not a licensed clinical counselor. I also know my limits: if what you're facing needs medical or clinical care, I'll tell you, and I'm glad to work alongside a licensed counselor or a doctor who's caring for you.

From the Guided Apprenticeship orientation

A word about coaching and pastoral counseling

Read the transcript

Apprenticeship with Jesus inevitably takes us into our pain. It’s part of the healing journey. It’s part of how he Fathers us.

So, for those times when Jesus leads you into those places, there’s coaching and pastoral counseling. Coaching is really for those who’ve come to something through Guided Apprenticeship that they need more help understanding and digging into. Pastoral counseling is about addressing things that run particularly deep.

Maybe something came up in a reflection. Maybe something surfaced when you looked at your family story, or maybe it’s one of those four questions, “How are you being fathered?” And honestly, you just don’t know how to answer it yet. Maybe the journey has uncovered wounds that have been there a long time. Those are tender places. They deserve care, time, someone to walk with you through them.

Now, the two overlap a lot, and here’s the good news. You don’t have to figure out which one you need, really. It’s not your job, and both are scheduled the same way, simply under Coaching. One place to reach out. We’ll start with a conversation and sort out the rest together.

Either way, it’s not advice-giving. It’s listening, reflection, conversation, prayer, discernment. Together we’ll explore your story, discover how you’re being fathered, and discern his invitations for life, for healing, growth, and your relationships.

It’s something available for individuals or couples, and premarital counseling is available too. Pastoral counseling has been a big part of my life in ministry for many years now. I’ve walked with people through some of the hardest things a person can carry: trauma, deep anxiety, marriages in crisis, profound grief. And I bring my own story too, as a father, a husband, as an apprentice of Jesus. Like you, I’m still learning, still being fathered.

And I also want to be honest with you about what I am and what I’m not. What I offer is pastoral counseling, not clinical counseling. I’m not a licensed clinical counselor, and I don’t have the letters after my name. What I do have is many years of experience counseling people, and I’m equipped to walk into very deep places with you. I also know my limits. If what you’re facing needs medical or clinical care, I’ll tell you, and I am glad to work alongside a licensed counselor or a doctor who’s caring for you. And if you or someone, this is important, someone you love, is in crisis, please call your emergency number or a crisis line right away.

So none of this is required. It’s simply here for when you need a guide, because this journey was never meant to be walked alone. Remember, you are loved, you belong, you’re chosen, and you have nothing to prove. It’s true in the hard places, too. Maybe especially there.