Even though I haven’t actively promoted supportive sessions here or on my website since living as a community-based Philosopher with the People for the past few years, they are actually not a secret. In fact, these dialogue spaces are one of my favorite ways to work with people. Since they are so different, it can be difficult to describe what makes them so uniquely meaningful. They are transformative. Powerful. Rich. All these weighty words, and within just a handful of sessions!
(Testimonials from clients, in their own words, are packed into this pdf).
That’s why I’m finally bringing more attention to them and letting people know they are available, because this sort of container is such a valuable way of thinking and learning together.
I’m pretty explicit about describing supportive sessions as a type of reflective practice that is not therapy and not coaching. I’m not a therapist, and I’m not a coach. I am a philosopher, after all — an especially friendly, personable, and caring philosopher with big thoughts and deep feelings. I recognize how my professional roles, academic training, and years of teaching further enrich my own the background, skills, and ability to help others draw connections among ideas and experiences that are sometimes really hard to clearly put into words (we do tend to lean on metaphors quite a bit, too). That’s what makes these sessions so helpful.
I’m not the kind of philosopher who is bent on logical arguments and a strictly rational approach to problems. Feelings and emotions matter. As do the conditions we live within and the larger systems that shape our identities, perspectives, and all sorts of power dynamics. Together, in a reciprocal, two-way dialogue, we talk about actual situations people are navigating and the difficult questions they can bring up. Whether it’s a season of transition someone is navigating, questions about how to stay in alignment with one’s values within complicated spaces, or the more classic existential questions that nag at us about meaning and how to make sense of this wild human experience, these sessions are the ideal place when you think, “I just don’t know who I can turn to for support on THIS issue.”
Well, hi. I’m glad you’re here. Keep reading :)
My whole approach to philosophy for the past two decades has been about how philosophy and life should helpfully inform one another — in both directions. That’s why I call my own practice my “philifesophy.” It’s incredibly helpful to clarify our experiences with critical perspectives and let that guide our actions and choices. At the same time, what’s most real for us should inspire us to reflect more critically about what that helps us know about what’s true and real.
I don’t “prescribe” philosophical texts to offer answers to your problems, but I am biased: the philosophy I’ve studied in feminist, queer, non-western, decolonial, anti-oppressive, and anti-racist theories inform how I show up. And I bring that all that into the space of supportive sessions, including how and why they are containers specifically for talking, listening, thinking, learning, asking questions, and making connections, together.
I have just a couple more thoughts to share about supportive sessions and why I’m amplifying them now:
Every client I’ve worked with has consistently reported deep learning and meaningful transformation (no exaggeration) in a matter of hours together. Not weeks or months or years. We do have impactful work together with just four sessions. That’s major change within a month.
Since these sessions are so involved (and pretty intensive) I only work with a handful of clients at a time, which is why I’m really excited about working with small groups in this way, too. How amazing would it be to bring a group of friends or colleague together to dig into specific issues and topics together?! This is a special way to focus on clarifying what’s most important, building a culture of shared learning and support while practicing skills in how to think, learn, and communicate together, and strengthening relationships through this unique way of engaging with each other. It’s incredible.
Supportive sessions are available to anyone (and at a discount for my Buy Me a Coffee Members!), and I would love for them to be opportunities for people to go deeper in processing ideas, concepts, and values that I present through my other offerings (i.e., community spaces, keynotes, learning series, workshops, etc.). As I continue developing my own projects here on Buy Me a Coffee and through Positive Philosophy Consulting, I want to encourage this as an option to supplement and support learning that is actually always developing through an ongoing, open-ended process.
Finally, nothing about engaging with others and doing philosophy in this way is new for me (or philosophy as an ancient discipline, really). In fact, over a decade ago, I published one of the first YouTube videos about philosophical counseling (I’ve moved away from that language, obviously, but back to the short hair). During 2020 and the life-changing emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people were confronted with big questions, and philosophical counseling got a bump in publicity and online searches. Someone writing an article for Oprah’s magazine about philosophical counseling and the collective’s increased quest for meaning in unprecedented times found my artifact-of-a-video and reached out. Since I don’t use the language of philosophical counseling, my quotes were featured in a sidebar*next* to that 2021 article, snuggled up next to quotes from Nietzsche, Epictetus, and Beauvoir! (I found a digital version of that article (unfortunately, without the sidebar…) which was republished in 2023 if you are interested in reading how others approach similar practices.)
If you, someone you know, or people within your networks and organizations might benefit from this special sort of support, I would really appreciate you helping me spread the word about supportive sessions. Or, just keep them in mind for when some extra juicy and gnarly and meaningful questions start begging for a little more tender love and attention.
I’m very excited to be moving into the next year with refreshed goals and renewed focus to do what means the most to me, which includes concentrating my energy on efforts that fully align with my own values and practices. Engaging with more folks through supportive sessions is just one spoke in that wheel. In the nearish future, I’ll be sharing more here through Buy Me a Coffee about other commitments I’m making, which will include more ways for BMAC members to stay connected. And, if all goes well and my heart stays as open and courageous as the person I want to be, there will be more writing happening, too.
Stay tuned. And thank you for being here with me!