Scope of Practice

§ 1

What this work is

Pastoral coaching grounded in the sanctification tradition.

Most coaching addresses what an executive does. This work addresses how the executive is burning — what fuel is running the engine, what has accumulated on the lens, what weight was placed on the shoulders that was never theirs to carry. It is shepherding, not supervising. Catalyzing, not curing.

The Burn Bright Engagement is twelve weeks. Ten one-hour sessions by Zoom. Two unscheduled "breathing weeks" built in for the work to settle. A methodology called CAREFREE: eight subtractions, each paired with a corresponding discipline.

The aim is not to add capacity. It is to subtract encumbrance. The working assumption is that the executives I serve are not broken. They are burdened — and the burdens can be set down.

The orientation is sanctification — the slow refining of a life already touched by grace — rather than conversion, apologetics, diagnosis, or treatment. If the work drifts toward any of those, it has left its lane. I name that out loud when I see it.

This is the sort of work historically done by a trusted elder, not a certified specialist. I take that lineage seriously. I also take the professional standards of the 21st century seriously — which is why this page exists.

§ 2

What this work is not

I will be direct. This list matters.

• This is not psychotherapy. I am not a licensed mental-health professional. I do not diagnose mental illness, I do not treat it, and I do not substitute for the clinicians who do. If a client has a therapist, they keep them. If they need one and don't have one, I say so and help them find one.
• This is not psychiatric care. I do not prescribe medication, adjust medication, or advise on medication. Decisions about antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, sleep medication, or anything else belong between a client and a prescribing physician.
• This is not medical care. I do not diagnose or treat physical illness. Several conditions can masquerade as burnout — thyroid disorders, sleep apnea, hormonal shifts, chronic inflammation, even cardiac issues. I am not qualified to tell them apart from exhaustion of spirit. A client's physician must stay involved.
• This is not crisis intervention. I am not available as an emergency resource. Clients in acute crisis — considering self-harm, in a mental-health emergency, or in immediate physical danger — should contact 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), 911, or go to the nearest emergency room. Between sessions I respond to email within one business day. I do not operate in real time.
• This is not traditional spiritual direction. As practiced in Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, or monastic traditions, a director is formed in a specific discipline (Ignatian, Benedictine, Carmelite, etc.), often serves at nominal cost, and operates within an explicit ecclesial structure. My work shares some of that tradition's pastoral posture and contemplative emphasis, but it is its own thing: executive coaching informed by pastoral formation, not spiritual direction in the classical sense.
• This is not evangelism or apologetics. I do not try to convert clients, argue them into a particular belief system, or require them to share my faith. I serve clients of all traditions and none. My work is informed by Christian pastoral tradition and by Daoist philosophy, and I am honest about what I bring. But the purpose of an hour is not to persuade anyone of anything — it is to help them set down what has been placed on them.
• This is not performance coaching. I do not help clients optimize their schedules, restructure their teams, sharpen their board decks, or shave minutes off their operating rhythms. Other coaches do that work well. Mine is deeper and slower. Where tactical operating support is needed alongside this, I say so directly.
• This is not legal, financial, or tax counsel. Nothing said in a session constitutes advice of any of those kinds.

§ 3

When I refer to a clinician

Saying I can help you must also mean I can say I can't. Referral is not failure. Referral is integrity.

I recommend clinical care — and may pause or close an engagement in favor of it — when any of the following is present:

• Suicidal ideation, self-harm, or concrete thoughts of ending one's life. This is emergency territory. I name it directly, help the person identify immediate resources, and ask that clinical support be in place before continuing.
• Clinical depression — persistent, disabling low mood that has not responded to rest, connection, or ordinary honesty.
• Panic, severe anxiety, or dissociation that disrupts functioning, sleep, or clear thinking.
• Unresolved trauma — combat, abuse, childhood wounding, medical trauma, grief that has not had space to move. Trauma responds to specialized modalities I am not trained to offer.
• Addiction — alcohol, substances, prescription medication, or behavioral addictions that require specialized support.
• Disordered eating.
• Bipolar symptoms, psychotic symptoms, or significant cognitive changes.
• Marital or family crisis requiring a couple's counselor, family therapist, or mediator.
• Medical symptoms — persistent fatigue that rest does not touch, unexplained weight change, cardiac symptoms, sleep disruption that suggests apnea, anything a physician should evaluate.

In practice: I name what I am seeing, without drama. I help the client identify the kind of clinician they need. Depending on the situation, we may continue alongside clinical care, pause while clinical care takes priority, or end in favor of it. I do not abandon clients. Even when an engagement ends for reasons of scope, I stay in touch briefly enough to confirm they are in good hands.

§ 4

Credentials and licenses

These are the qualifications I bring — and the ones I do not.

§ 5

Parallel care

The Burn Bright Engagement complements other appropriate relationships. It does not replace them.

Clients are encouraged to maintain, during and after our work together: their therapist if they have one; their physician and any specialists under whose care they belong; their clergy — priest, rabbi, pastor, imam, sensei, elder, or spiritual director, as appropriate to their tradition; their attorney, financial advisor, and tax professional; and any support group or community that sustains them.

If the work surfaces a question best taken elsewhere, I say so. That is part of what a client is paying me for.

§ 6

Emergency resources