Psycho-Coaching

Psycho-coaching.

Qu’est-ce que c’est?

It’s what I do. I help teachers figure out what the heck is going on in their classrooms psychodynamically. That is, psychologically — internally, emotionally — and dynamically — externally, relationally.

Given my theory of learning, this should make sense. If learning is change, and if learning emerges from relationships, then teaching is

tuning relationships to foster change.

You wanna tune relationships? Attend to emotions. Attend to behaviors. Think about fits, about relational dances, relational patterns.

You wanna change those fits, those dances and patterns? Then change your self in super accurate ways to provoke the changes you desire in others.

You wanna be super accurate? Then do emotion work.

You wanna do emotion work? Then get psycho-coaching.

As far as I can tell, psycho-coaching is different from regular coaching in that psycho-coaching homes in very explicitly on the emotional bedrock that underlies all human behavior. When I work with a teacher, we co-construct understanding of a classroom problem by

  • bringing to consciousness the teacher’s psychic contribution(s) to the problem

  • making really good guesses about the student’s (or other’s) psychic contribution(s) to the problem

By “psychic contributions,” I mean

  • unconscious expectations of the world and relationships (expectations that are baked-in but not necessarily true)

  • automatic interpretations that reinforce those expectations

  • unconscious needs

  • developmental gaps

  • negative self-beliefs

Bad news: Our psyches make these contributions to our interactions all the time. Whether they are appropriate or not. When our psychic contributions are not appropriate — when they’re maladaptive — they can

wreak havoc.

Like when you correct (read “criticize”) me and I automatically assume you think I’m stupid. And I get defensive. And sink into self-loathing and resentment. Internal emotional havoc. External relational havoc.

More bad news: Our psyches do tend to be unconscious. So each and every one of us is, in fact, wreaking havoc in at least some of our interactions every day. Inside us. In our relationships. Whether we like it or not.

More bad news: Teachers should not be wreaking havoc in their students’ lives. Or, at least, they should be

actively trying to minimize

the havoc they wreak.

Good news: Psycho-coaching.

Betsy BurrisComment