Constantine Dhonau, CPLC

My Approach:

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I get the best results with the people I work with when we build a relationship on support, inquiry, and challenge. I use a guideline methodology with emergent design that is informed by years of experience and extensive research to surpass your goals in the most organic, enjoyable way possible. I believe in a collaborative “gradual release” method. I'll provide more guidance and skills upfront as you integrate and implement them more on your own to channel your inner Sage. My main role is to hold the larger picture and offer you my unique perspective to notice and imagine what others may miss in your process.

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My path of personal, professional, and spiritual development has taken many forms. I’ve learned grit, surrender, compromise, leadership, humility, honesty, and how to be of service throughout my journey. 

My personal growth stems from more than a decade of self-reflection through collaborative journaling, publishing a hybrid memoir, studying and practicing self-compassion, and traveling solo through Europe and the U.S.

My professional experience builds on my research psychology degree, an Americorps gap year, training with Outward Bound, working as a wilderness therapy guide, life coaching, and continued education.

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My spiritual journey draws from multi-cultural ceremonies, existential inquiry, divination, and Daoism.

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My Story:

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I was raised by my mother and my aunt in St. Petersburg, Florida. My formal education includes studying abroad in Spain and defending my Baccalaureate Dissertation on Self-Compassion in LGBTQIA+ Individuals at New College of Florida. I spent more time in Spain, Italy and Greece and completed a service year with City Year Denver, an AmeriCorps program. I served over 1,800 service hours in a 5th-grade English classroom and led trainings as the Leadership Development Coordinator. Then, I enrolled in a 52-day instructor development course with Outward Bound.

We backpacked in Colorado, crack-climbed in Wyoming, fasted during a 3-day solo, and completed a 2-week practical in Alaska by backpacking across a glacier and bushwhacking through Alaskan backcountry. I finished, despite a knee injury, and discovered a deep stillness from being immersed in nature. The following year I went back to Florida to rehab my knee, working both a day and night job with little time in between. I felt like a failure, expecting to redirect my dream of becoming a wilderness guide due to my injury. After a year of rehab, I returned to Denver, where I crammed 3 jobs in retail, youth mentorship, and driving for Lyft until I finally started as a field guide for Open Sky Wilderness Therapy.

In over 3 years, I worked over 555 days in the field (8,000+ hours) working with teens and young adults in crisis, backpacking through the Utah desert and Colorado mountains. Open Sky trained me in a litany of therapeutic skills for coping, communicating, containing, reframing, redirecting, culture crafting, mentoring, and more at the individual and group level. However, with great reward comes great challenge. Shortly after being promoted to Senior 4 Field Guide and publishing my first book, Collateral Intentions, I decided it was time for my next chapter.

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My spirituality grew with two of the most ancient texts of China: the I Ching (YEE-chjing; “The Book of Changes”; 3000 BCE~1000 BCE) and the Dao De Jing (DOW-duh-chjing; “The Book of The Way and Its Virtue”; ~300 BCE). Nearing the end of my guiding career, I held at least one ceremony for myself every day before leading a final training for new guides, culminating in a much larger transitional ceremony.

Weeks after I finished guiding, I hiked 4 days on the Arizona trail before completing my first Hanbleyca (on-BLEY-cha; “crying for a vision in the night;” a beautiful Lakota ceremony. The ceremony takes weeks or even months to properly prepare hundreds of prayer ties which surrounded me in a 10-foot circle for 4 days and 4 nights without food, water,  or human interaction. I extended my food fast an additional 4 days. All of these components of my transition brought me into a deeper relationship with spirit, myself, and the world around me.

My Positive Intelligence™ & Relationship Coaching practice integrates coaching certifications, research psychology, models and theories, daily self-reflection practices, wilderness guiding, spirituality, ceremony, and multitudinous personal/professional development.

Are you interested in working with me?

Book your free consultation and visit my services page to learn more about my specially-designed 1:1 and 2:1 coaching cycles and programs.