What Drives - and Defines - My Coaching Practice?
There’s a moment in every coaching relationship when someone stops pretending and starts being real. It’s the moment when the mask comes off, the facade crumbles and authentic transformation becomes possible. I live for those moments - and I remember so clearly when I had my own.
What Drives Me: From Rock Bottom to Solid Ground
My coaching practice isn’t built on theory or textbook knowledge, though I value both. It’s built on the lived reality of walking through crisis, grief, burnout and major life transitions. And it's built on the excitement of discovering that a person's deepest struggles can also become their greatest sources of wisdom and strength.
In 2001, I hit what I call my “rock bottom.” As the founding pastor of a growing church, I was the person everyone came to for guidance and support. I had built my identity around having it (fairly) together and being the helper/spiritual leader who could navigate life’s challenges with grace and wisdom.
Until the day I realized I had been fooling myself.
That crisis - involving what the church called my “moral failure” - pretty much ended my pastoral career as I knew it. But something else began to grow in its place. It's there that my real education in what it means to be human, to struggle, to need support and ultimately, to grow alongside others in ways I never thought possible.
Over the following years, I would experience multiple types of death and losses: friends, parents, a marriage, career transitions and a complete reconstruction of my worldview. Each loss was devastating. But each one was also a teacher.
So this is what drives my coaching practice: the deep knowing that our wounds, losses and setbacks - when properly integrated - can become our wisdom. Our struggles, when met with the right support, become our strengths. Our crises, when navigated with courage and community, become our greatest opportunities for authentic transformation.
What Defines My Practice: The Integration Approach
Most helping approaches focus on fixing, eliminating or 'getting over' our struggles. My approach is different. I help people integrate their experiences - the good, the painful, the difficult - into a more authentic, resilient and even compassionate way of living.
This integration approach is built on what I call “The Keith Way” - my P.A.C.T.S. Methodology:
Professionalism: I bring competence, respect and clear boundaries to every interaction. You deserve to work with someone who takes both your journey and their responsibility seriously.
Acceptance: I meet you exactly where you are, not where you think you should be or where others expect you to be. There’s no judgment here, only understanding and support.
Clarity: Together we create clear understanding about your situation, your goals and the steps forward. No confusion, no overwhelming pressure - just clear guidance toward the change you want to see and the actions you believe you can take.
Truthfulness: I offer honest feedback with compassion. Sometimes this means saying things that are difficult to hear, but always with care and respect for who you are and where you are.
Sensitivity: I understand that everyone comes with their own story, trauma and tender places. My approach is highly attuned, emotionally sensitive and deeply respectful of your individual experience.
Real Transformation: What This Looks Like in Practice
Let me share some examples of the transformations I’ve witnessed (details changed to protect privacy):
Finding Courage for Authentic Relationships: A Christian professional struggled with their sexual orientation for years, living in fear and shame. Through our work together, they found the courage to embrace their authentic self and share this truth with their spouse, family, and inner circle. The result wasn’t just self-acceptance - it was deeper, more honest relationships built on truth rather than pretense.
Spiritual Reconstruction Without Losing Meaning: A professional minister began questioning many of the guilt-ridden, shaming beliefs they’d been taught to believe and to preach. Our coaching helped them find language and framework to shed what was harmful while discovering a more joyful, liberating, and honest way to express their spirituality. They didn’t lose their faith - they found a healthier one.
Healing Hidden Grief: A spouse in a struggling marriage discovered that their unaddressed grief from a previous partner’s death was affecting their current relationship. By finally processing this long-ignored loss, they gained the strength and honesty to heal, share vulnerably and grow both personally and relationally.
Building Confidence for Leadership: An executive was paralyzed by imposter syndrome, constantly hearing whispers of “you’re not good enough” when facing new challenges. Our work together resulted in greater confidence, clarity of thought, and practical strategies to tackle overwhelming projects one step at a time.
In each case, the transformation wasn’t about eliminating struggle or achieving perfection. It was about integration... learning to work with their full human experience in healthy, authentic ways.
My Core Values in Action
Every coaching relationship I enter is guided by what I call my C.R.E.W.S values:
Courage: I inspire and model the kind of honest inquiry and action that leads to brave decision-making. Real change requires courage and I’m here to support you in finding yours.
Results: I’m committed to adding genuine value to your life by meeting you where you are and supporting you toward where you want to go. This isn’t about feel-good conversations - it’s about actual progress and transformation.
Experience: I bring both my lived experiences and my ongoing learning (and personal evolution) to our work together. Your struggles don’t intimidate me because I’ve been in dark and difficult places too and found my way to the light.
Witness: I see you. Really see you. I provide the kind of profound witness and presence that creates an experience of being truly understood and accompanied on your journey.
Safety: I create and fiercely protect safe spaces for vulnerability and exploration. You can bring your whole self - struggles, questions, fears, and hopes - without judgment or pressure to be different than you are.
Who I Help and How
My practice focuses on four main areas where I’ve developed particular expertise:
1) Burnout Recovery: Helping caregivers, leaders and helping professionals reclaim their energy and find sustainable ways to serve others while caring for themselves.
2) Crisis Navigation: Supporting people through addiction, moral failures, identity crises and moments when life as they’ve known it falls apart.
3) Grief Integration: Walking alongside those experiencing loss of any kind - death, divorce, career changes, health challenges or even the death of one's dreams and expectations.
4) Life Transitions: Guiding people through major changes, especially those involving faith deconstruction, career shifts or leaving unhealthy religious or cultural systems.
What unites all these areas is the understanding that significant change - even positive change - involves loss, uncertainty, and the need for support. You don’t have to navigate these waters alone.
What Working Together Looks Like
When we work together, you can expect a process that’s both deeply personal and highly practical. We’ll explore not just what you want to change, but what’s keeping change difficult. We’ll address not just your current challenges, but the underlying patterns and beliefs that may be contributing to them.
This isn’t about quick fixes or surface-level improvements. It’s about sustainable transformation that integrates all the wonderful parts of who you are - your strengths and your struggles, your past experiences and your future hopes.
You’ll leave our work together not just with new strategies and insights, but with a deeper understanding of yourself and greater confidence in your ability to navigate whatever life brings.
Why This Approach Works
Traditional coaching often focuses on goal-setting and behavior change. Traditional therapy often focuses on healing past wounds. My integration approach combines the best of both: we honor and heal what’s been painful while building practical skills and strategies for the future you want to create.
This works because humans aren’t just goal-setting machines or collections of problems to be fixed. We’re complex beings with stories, wounds, dreams and tremendous capacity for growth and resilience. When we work with the full reality of who you are - not just the parts you want to adjust or change - transformation becomes not just possible, but sustainable.
Your Next Step
If you’ve read this far, something in your life is calling for change. Maybe you’re feeling extremely burned out from helping everyone but yourself. Maybe you’re in a crisis and don’t know where to turn. Maybe you’re grieving a loss that others don’t understand. Maybe you’re in transition and feeling lost between who you were and who you’re becoming.
You don’t have to figure it out alone. You don’t have to have it all together before reaching out. You just need to be ready to be honest about where you are and open to support in getting where you want to go.
Ready to explore what’s possible?
I offer free consultations where we can talk about your situation and explore whether working together makes sense. No pressure, no sales pitch - just a conversation about your journey and how I might be able to help.
Contact me at keithpagecoaching@gmail.com or (949) 701-3631 to schedule your consultation.
Because sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is ask for help. And sometimes asking for help is the first step toward the life you’ve been longing to live.
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Keith Page is a professional coach who specializes in helping people navigate crisis, grief, burnout and major life transitions. Through Flourish Coaching, Keith supports those who are ready to move from surviving to thriving, from pretending to authentic, and from stuck to flourishing.