You are a leader or people manager

You are confronted with a difficult situation with a collaborator, in your team, department or organization.

You would like to address the conflict with wisdom, courage and insight.

You need an extra pair of eyes, and are looking for insights, anchors and tools.

You are also prepared to explore your part in the situation.

you are an HR manager or professional

You want to intervene in a specific conflict situation in a quick, adequate and proactive way.

You want to bring clarity in the complexity of a conflict situation.

You need a sounding board to explore requests for help when managers are confronted with conflictual situations.

You want to explore what you can contribute in your role as HR and which interventions can be helpful.

“While conflict can be a trap of the past, conflict resolution is an act of the present and the future.” 

(Tammy Lenski)

“Beyond our ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”

(Rumi)

What are the results of a coaching process?

You look at your situation in which you are stuck from a healthy distance, allowing you to see the bigger picture

You discover what puts you off balance, how you react to the experience of threat, and what the costs of your patterns are

You are able to see your vision as just one perspective on the situation and can construct a omni-partial perspective on the conflict

You grow your empathy with ‘the other side’ and connect to what is really important for you 

You make the shift from blaming and expecting the other to change, to taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and behavior

You experience choice and options and can offer a response from a place of calm, courage, curiosity and wisdom 

You learn how to express your needs and wishes in a constructive way and can set clearer boundaries

You can engage in courageous conversations and stand up for what is important for you, in respect for the other

You bring movement to rigid habits, patterns  in which you are stuck and find new approaches for dealing with conflict

“Conflict (…) presents threat of one sort or another to the individuals involved and, consequently, parties in conflict will have more difficulty excersing their ability to delay visceral and emotional responses in their conflict interactions.

Yet this is exactly what we are asking them to do in conflict resolution processes. (…)

In conflict resolution work, sometimes we need to go slow to go fast.” 

(Tim Hicks)

Silvia as your coach

As a coach I invest everything I can offer you, based on the insights, frameworks and models in the domain of collaboration & conflict that I have integrated in my work.

I have 30 years of experience in the field of organizational and team development and personal growth.

Enjoy the benefit of my expertise and background as a mediator, team coach, trainer, clinical and organizational psychologist, Gestalt therapist, somatic facilitator.

What characterizes my style of coaching is a balance between theoretical background & solid practical experience in organizations, supportive & honest feedback, professional distance & warm commitment, methodical approach & resonating with what is happening in the here-and-now.

Conflict coaching: a process

The first step is a free conversation to check if we have a match (online).

Then you receive an intake document to prepare for the coaching.

We go through a process, adapted to your situation, questions and needs. We pay attention to

• The results you want to reach: focus and objective
• Assessment of the situation: an integral perspective, including all elements that are relevant
• Exploration of the conflict: shift of perspective and increase of awareness
• Scrutinize different options for action: risks and possibilities of the steps
• Experimentation with different approaches: new skills and behaviors, feedback and adaptation
• Commitment: view on the next steps and drawing lessons and conclusions from the journey.

Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact me!

silvia@circlesforconnection.be
+32 (0) 486 14 86 33

Work is a central aspect of our lives. More and more our identification with our job is what defines us and how we feel.

Unfortunately organisations are places where our mental well-being is under pressure. For instance: 

Exhausting change processes – the stress of ‘self management’ or the lack of autonomy –  power abuse and politcal games – failed leadership – bullying – a chronic lack of recognition and appreciation – latent or open conflicts – aggressive outbursts or subtle violence – a toxic athmophere at work – being excluded – aggressive colleagues 

Sometimes you find yourself stuck in old patterns when there is pressure at work. 

Or you can’t function anymore because of chronic stress, intense emotions you can’t handle or old uncertainties that pop up.

Please ask for help. 

“Choice follows awareness.

The more aware we are, the more choice we have.

Cultivating our awareness is the cornerstone for an awakened, robust life.”

(Richard Strozzi-Heckler)

“We are neurobiologically wired to protect ourselves against threat or loss. (…)

When we are embodied, we are better able to feel, sort through, and process our emotions via physical sensations.

This ability to delay the gratification of immediate expression, in favor of the long-term gratification of effective action, is one important aspect of emotional intelligence.”

(Jason Digges)

Therapy: a journey

Way of working

I will first ask you to send me some information about yourself: personal data, your question, your expectations. This happens through email.

You also receive a document with all the practicalities (e.g. address; time slots; parking; cancellation policy).

We will have a brief conversation (online) to meet and check if your expecations and my way of working match. After this conversation, we decide to if we want to start the therapy.This conversation is free of charge.

In order to engage in an effective growth process, I help you to clarify your personal focus.

The final goal is that you take back control of your life.

We will evaluate the process on a regular basis to make sure we are still on the right track and to check if change in noticeable in your life.

a holistic approach

We work on different levels of experienve and from different perspectives:

• Your emotional experiences in difficult situations and challenging relationships
• The beliefs and thoughts that guide your behaviour
• Your physical experiences and survival patterns (‘automatic pilot’) in conflict that limit your freedom
• Your core values and who you are

In the therapy your experience is the starting point.

We use conversation, creative methods, embodied practices to facilitate change and to integrate new ways of doing and being in your work/life.

For instance: shadow work – voice dialogue – focusing – chair work – table constellations – writing meditation – visualisations – somatic excercises – breath work – safe to fail experiments in your work place – personal practices for calmness, energy or focus

Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact me.

silvia@circlesforconnection.be
+32 (0) 486 14 86 33

About SILVIA

My name is Silvia, I am 59 years, mother of three grown-up children.

I love hiking in the mountains, reading, yoga, photography, cooking, music, films, traveling and visiting exhibitions. I am particulary interested in relationships between people.

As a clinial and organisational psychologist I am specialized in working with people in their professional context when they are confronted with personal issues, difficult professional relationships, old pain, disconnection and the limits of free expression.

Gestalt – the therapy of contact – inspires me in how I work with healthy and blocked relationships.

Professional education

I integrated the many trainings I attended into a holistic way of working.

Gestalt therapy (IVC) – ‘Character Structures’ (Umbra) – ‘The Wise Body’ (Interact) – ‘Focus on psychopathology’ (IVC) – ‘The Wisdom of Conflict’ (Movement Medicine) – ‘The Power of Embodied Transformation’ (Coaches Rising) – ‘Neuroscience for Change’ (Coaches Rising) – ‘Embodiment Fundamentals for Coaches and Facilitators: Leveraging the Intelligence of the Body’ (Embodied Potential) – ‘Embodiment in Business’ (Embodied Facilitator) –  ‘Foundations of Embodiment Certificate’ (Embodied Facilitator) – ‘Trauma Informed Practice’ (Ybe Casteleyn) – Introduction Somatic Experiencing (BodyMind opleidingen, NL) – ‘On the Spot: Psychological First Aid’ (Ybe Casteleyn) – ‘Skills training PTSD & Complex PTSD’ (Ybe Casteleyn) – Series ‘Breathing’ (Studio Zuid)

I am also trained as a yoga teacher (Yogalife) with a special interest in ‘yoga-off-the-mat’. 

I followed a trauma training (C2Trauma2Peace, De Binnentuin/Weg-Wijzer) and several online seminars (e.g. Frank Anderson; Janina Fisher; Deb Dana).

Currently am I engaged in a 3-year professional training ‘Somatic Experiencing’.

Registered clinical psychologist (registration number 632113541 – Visum 347059)

Member of the association for clinical psychologists  VVKP (Vereniging voor Klinisch Psychologen).

Gestalt therapy training (IVC, 2016) & certified Gestalt therapist with the Dutch/Flemish Association for Gestalt Therapy and Gestalt Theory (NVAGT, registration number 2631).

I follow intervision and supervision on a regular basis.