TRAUMA-INFORMED COACHING

“Coaching is a creative process in which an individual is supported to gain insight to shift their behavior and create new results.” — Moving the Human Spirit

Coaching is about moving toward what you want. It’s not about putting an end to what you don’t want — whether that’s a certain unhelpful pattern in your personal life or an organizational challenge you’re facing. 

It’s about pursuing what you want instead.

The role of a coach is to help you identify your desire — what you want — and then to assist you in opening up your awareness and inner wisdom about solutions, behaviors, and mindsets that are available to you. 

As your awareness is expanded through thought-provoking questions and deep listening, you’re invited to consider how you might take tangible steps toward what you want. 

A trauma-informed lens brings additional benefits to the coaching relationship. A trauma-informed coach understands how trauma might show up in a coaching session — if a client’s nervous system is activated, for instance — and how to navigate that so that the client can care for their body and continue to move toward what they want.

If you’re feeling stuck, a trauma-informed coach can:

  • help you explore challenges from different perspectives

  • assist you in coming in touch with inner and outer sources of resistance so you can consider how to respond to them

  • guide you in navigating moments when trauma shows up in a coaching session without processing past trauma

  • offer the connection and support for following through on how you want to move toward.

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Who is trauma-informed coaching for?

In The Healing Collective, we offer coaching for two types of individuals.

Survivors

We offer coaching for those who have had adverse religious experiences or who have experienced religious trauma. Coaching supports survivors in their deconstruction and reconstruction process, helping them identify what they want to leave behind and what they want to carry forward — without any agenda for what that needs to look like. Coaches assist survivors in pursuing post-traumatic growth on the other side of traumatic spiritual experiences.

Faith Leaders

We offer coaching for all types of faith leaders — pastors, ministers, ministry leaders, spiritual directors, elders. Faith leaders may want to work with a coach on personal growth and development; or they may want to support as they work on a particular ministry initiative, face leadership challenges, or seek to cultivate a trauma-informed culture in their congregation.

How does trauma-informed coaching compare to other forms of support?

Therapy

Therapists work with their clients to process and heal from the wounds and trauma of past experiences. They assist their clients in confronting maladaptive thought patterns and behaviors.

Trauma-informed coaches understand trauma, how it might show up in a coaching session, and how to respond when it does, but coaches do not help their clients process trauma. Instead they support their clients as they move toward what they want instead and as they pursue post-traumatic growth.

Spiritual Direction

Spiritual directors support their directees by helping them explore their connection to the divine and how they imagine God at work in their lives. They focus primarily on one’s experience in the present (we also offer spiritual direction.)

Trauma-informed coaches have a future orientation. They help clients explore their values, perceptions, and motivations as a way of evoking awareness of what they want so they can move toward it. Coaches aid their clients in identifying goals and action steps to pursue their desire.

Consulting

Consultants are experts in a particular field or subject matter. They offer expertise to their clients in the form of professional advice, proven processes, and best practices that the client can implement in in their own context.

Trauma-informed coaches are experts in asking thought-provoking questions and deep listening. They do not offer advice but instead help the client trust their own inner wisdom to find resources and solutions that help them move toward what they want.

Meet the Coach

Dr. Charles Kiser

Dr. Charles Kiser (D.Min.) started coaching in 2010 after receiving his first coaching certification from CoachNet International. He was a pastor and church planting trainer for many years and coached numerous faith leaders in those roles.

When Charles helped to start The Healing Collective he wanted to share the coaching experience with religious trauma survivors and faith leaders in this space. In 2026 he received a 106-hour certification in trauma-informed coaching from Moving the Human Spirit, the first trauma-informed coaching training program in the world to receive accreditation by the International Coaching Federation (the gold standard of coaching certification).

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Fill out the interest form below to schedule a discovery call to see if coaching is a good fit for you.

  • Our standard rate for coaching is $150 for a one-hour session, but we offer discounts to clients who need a more affordable option.

  • The most common rhythm is monthly, but some prefer bi-weekly or weekly. We develop a coaching contract for six months or twelve months at a time and help the client evaluate at the end of a contract how they want to move forward.

  • Absolutely. There is no expectation that survivors or other individuals have any particular spiritual or religious orientation. And there is no agenda to change a client’s spiritual or religious orientation. Trauma-informed coaches help clients draw on their deeply held values and convictions to move forward whether or not they are spiritual or religious.

  • Unfortunately, no, we do not accept insurance.

  • We’re sure. Trauma-informed coaches do not give advice but rather draw out the inner wisdom the client brings to the session. If you’re interested in a consulting or mentoring form of support as part of your coaching relationship we can discuss how we might incorporate that. But when we are in the coaching mode, it’s an advice-free zone.

What Clients are Saying

Charles has faithfully served our church’s advisory team as we have walked through scaling ministries and workable metrics for spiritual development outside of attendee numbers and dollar amounts. He has helped me as a ministry leader to imagine an authentic way to serve my congregation different from the toxic patriarchal models I’ve known. He has also walked me through my own spiritual trauma recovery enabling me to lead from a healthier and more compassionate posture. I’m so grateful for his wisdom and investment in me and in Grace House Community Church.

— Gwendolyn Lau, Senior Pastor, Grace House Community Church

I met Charles when I was just realizing a call to plant a new church. He has coached me as an individual pastor and my leadership team at our developing church for over a year. Charles helps me tap into the wisdom God has already breathed into me. He encourages me to examine and trust my inner voice, and I leave each coaching session with more confidence in my unique leadership style. He has also drawn out the wisdom within my leadership team and helped us develop trauma-informed practices to help us continue welcoming those who join us with deep wounds from the church. His coaching has been invaluable throughout the development of Open Table.

— Erin Barnes, Senior Pastor, Open Table United Methodist Church

Charles was my first coach, and I found him helpful, caring, and engaging with great questions. He crafted each coaching session to my needs and where I wanted to go, what I wanted to accomplish. The sessions were fun and we laughed a lot. We always ended with concrete steps to take to continue the good progress we had made in the session. I would highly recommend Charles as a coach.

— Clay

Please fill out the form below to get more information about coaching or to receive a link to schedule a discovery call with Charles.

Interest Form