1:1 Coaching with Susan Rivers

Susan’s Approach to Coaching: 

Coaching is about discovery. What is it really that you most want to do with your one wild and precious life? How do you know what that is? How do you get in your own way? How do you adjust to the phases of life that shift what it is you most want or how you are going about making that happen? What gives you energy and what are the steps you can take to organize your life so you are spending much more time on energy-generating work and much less on energy-draining work?    

My coaching approach is focused on building your capacity for creating the life you most want, at work and at home. I partner with my clients on their journeys to discover their purpose, solve issues, identify and break unhelpful patterns, explore ways to be more present in their lives, and organize themselves to be living the lives they most want.

In my coaching practice, I listen, probe, witness, and learn. I listen with an open mind and heart. I ask questions to open up a sense of wonder about possibilities and potentials. I witness the journey, growth, discoveries, and commitments. And I am always learning about possibilities, potentials, and challenges of living our one wild and precious life.  

I have been studying and working with emotional intelligence and social-emotional learning for over two decades. I love designing experiences infused with emotional intelligence skill building for individuals and groups. I know that these skills are foundational for people to be fully present in their lives – at work, in their relationships, with themselves – and have committed to creating learning spaces that support the development of them. 

I earned my doctorate in psychology at Yale and did postdocs at both Yale and Cornell. For the last two decades have been leading grant-funded research projects and nonprofit organizations, and designing playful, responsive, and immersive environments for deep learning, connection, and joy for teens, young adults, parents, and professionals. 

I work with collaborators, partners, and clients to design innovative pathways for advancing social-emotional skills, in themselves, in their organizations, and in the communities they live in and serve, including primary and secondary schools. I love working one-on-one with individuals and facilitating groups of adults and teens with the goal of engaging them in strengthening their social emotional skills, their leadership capacity, their sense of belongingness, purpose, and community.

I am a certified Big Leap Certified Coach from The Hendricks Institute and Foundation for Conscious Living and an alumni of the BIllions Institute’s Large-Scale Social Change Leadership Fellowship. I’m a mom of three kiddos, and am fascinated by the shifting relationships we have with our children, partners, friends, elders, and communities across the course of our lives.