Ellen Quick

In solution focused life coaching with me, the goals always come from you! I can help you to:

Reach decisions and take the steps to make them happen.

Grow your career and find satisfaction and meaning in your work. When there are obstacles, I'll help you discover options for handling them.

Deepen your relationships: increase connection and manage rifts and differences in ways that work for both of you.

Navigate transitions and write your next chapter.

Transform an idea or a dream into reality—in artistic, professional, technology, or business endeavors, including creative combinations of these. I'll help you to think big—and to create detailed steps to make your dream happen.

Create balance among the many things and people important to you.

Manage complicated situations and stress. Stuff happens sometimes, for all of us. When life deals a bad hand, we'll discover ways you can play it well (in the words of Robert Louis Stevenson).

Add a new passion to your life: a new activity, a cause, some adventure, an artistic endeavor, spirituality.

Give back to your community, to the environment, the planet.

And many, many more. It is truly up to you.

I will ask you about your best hopes and look for ways you can make them happen!

My approach, "solution focused life coaching" deliberately combines the tools and methods of “two worlds,” the world of traditional coaching and the world of solution-focused practice.


From both worlds

•The goals for our work together come from you, the client, not from the coach. You set the agenda for our sessions.


•Our focus is on the future and possibility rather than on the past.


•Our focus is on strengths, resources, and solutions rather than on problems.


•There will be powerful, thought provoking questions that invite you to reflect on things in new ways.


From the world of coaching

•We use tools for both “dreaming big” and for “accountability”—a powerful combination that can bring extraordinary results.


•We may use a set of methods for assessing your strengths and values.


•There is the tradition of using technology (telephone, Skype), making it possible to do coaching with someone on the other side of the world.



From the world of flexible solution-focused practice

•We use a simple but elegant theory: “If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t work, don’t do it any more. Do something different.”


•We expect that pieces of your solution are already happening, in far more ways than you realize. We will notice them and build on them.


•There is the notion that solutions are often unrelated to problems and can emerge in unexpected places.

Individual sessions by Skype, phone, or at my office (San Diego), with length and frequency tailored to what works best for you.

I am passionate about helping people to discover and build on what is working in their lives in order to create the changes they most desire. Here are some of the experiences that have led me to solution focused life coaching.

I had the privilege of being trained in the foundations of solution-focused practice by the two individuals who developed the approach, Insoo Kim Berg (co-author, with Peter Szabo, of Brief Coaching for Lasting Solutions) and Steve de Shazer. From them I learned the power and elegance of the solution-focused model.

I also studied brief strategic therapy, training with the therapists who created the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, primarily Dr. Richard Fisch. From Dick I learned that when commonsense solutions don’t work well enough, it can be valuable to do something very different and that solutions often include elements of the unexpected and the counterintuitive.

I am grateful for my opportunity to receive training from Dr. Milton Erickson, psychiatrist and master hypnotist. From him I learned about the power of noticing tiny details that can be amplified to become ingredients of solutions.

And I have learned so much from my colleagues in the Solution Focused Brief Therapy Association (SFBTA) and European Brief Therapy Association (EBTA).

I 've been a therapist for many years, and I use a flexible solution-focused approach with individuals, couples, and groups. I developed the “doing what works” approach to solution-focused practice and established the Doing What Works Group, a group that combines group process, solution-focused practice, and education about solution-focused principles.

In many important ways, my clients have been among my most influential teachers. Over and over I see their courage and ability to create change even in the presence of formidable obstacles. As a California licensed psychologist, I continue to practice psychotherapy, separate from my coaching practice.

As a trainer, teacher, and supervisor, I have had the privilege of training pre-doctoral clinical psychology interns in solution-focused practice at Kaiser Permanente, San Diego. I've taught workshops on my “doing what works approach” to solution-focused practice in the USA and abroad.

As I practiced and wrote about solution-focused practice, I increasingly noticed something that concerned me: Too often, the only way people can participate in solution-focused conversations is through solution-focused therapy. And “going for therapy”—solution-focused or any other kind—means having a psychiatric or psychological problem!

I thought, “Hmm, something’s wrong with this picture. Psychologically healthy people who are facing a dilemma or who want to create change in their lives should be able to access solution-focused conversation too!”

Thinking about how I might make that service available to more people led me to the profession of life coaching.

My coaching clients, like my therapy clients, are among my most important teachers.They have amazing strengths, and each one has left an imprint on the solution focused life coaching I provide. All have demonstrated to me that solution-focused tools and collaborative conversation absolutely can help people to turn their best hopes into reality. It continues to be a privilege to assist people in their journeys toward their destinations.

There is a free first consultation. Please contact me and I'll reply to schedule our conversation.

The fee is $200 per hour.

You may choose:
30 minute sessions ($100 per session),
45 minute sessions ($150 per session), or
60 minute sessions ($200 per session).

You also decide how often you would like to meet.

We meet by Skype, phone, or in person at my office (San Diego) - your choice.

In the spirit of “doing what works,” we do everything we can to create a plan that fits for you.