Michele DeMarco Wilkie, Rev, PCCT, MTS, MSC, is a pastoral and relationship counselor, interfaith minister and mediator and conflict transformation specialist. She holds three academic degrees and two professional certificates in World Religion and Ethics, Comparative Culture and Conflict, and Psychology via an academic consortium comprising Harvard University, Boston College and Boston University. She has also done extensive graduate work in Systems Theory and Marriage & Family Therapy at Antioch University Graduate School.

In an effort to address some of the fissures and challenges in the current health care environment, Michele has pioneered a powerful new integrative approach to health and wellness that uniquely addresses the "spiritful" aspects of life and being human — or if you will, the "regular" old challenges that come with simply being a human being. (Learn more here.)

She works with individuals, couples, families, and groups who are struggling in the face of challenge and loss, a health concern or difficult diagnosis, relationship problems, job loss, or some kind of change or transition. She helps to improve quality of life and navigate the terrain of life. She also provides direction and strengthening for those who are looking to find a deeper sense of self and spirit. (Learn more here.)

For more information about getting the support and guidance you need, please contact Michele directly at michele@michelelife.com. Help is just a click away.

Don't wait another minute. Life is far too precious to waste. A truly more fulfilling and desirable life is available to you!

Life can be wonderful and it can be challenging. Either way, life is constantly throwing things at us that we need to respond to in order to figure out the best and healthiest way forward. The problem is that we don't always know how to do this, or for that matter who best to turn to for help when something difficult or significant does come up.

There are many great professionals who can work with you to address the various types of challenges, adversity, or unsatisfied longings that arise in your life. But given the increasing number of individuals doing so, and the increasing number of hybrid models available, it is best to know "the basics" of each and how they can help you to move your life forward. (Click here to learn more about these important differences to ensure that you get the best type of care.)

My Work

Although I've been formally trained in a number of traditions, my counseling and advising work focuses specifically on helping people to achieve a deeper, stronger relationship with their Self and spirit, as well as to develop healthy ways to maximize the "spiritful" aspects of life and being human; that is, discovering greater meaning, realizing your unique purpose, living your values, creating stronger relationships and more satisfying connections, building resilience, and experiencing transcendence (however you define that). (Click here for more information on the kinds of issues that my work can help.)

Why this approach you might ask? Over the years, in both my professional and personal experience, I've noticed a couple of important trends:

• No matter what our background or belief, we all long for a sense of meaning, purpose, value, connection, resilience, and transcendence, but in today's ever-changing, ever-demanding world, achieving and sustaining these things are increasingly difficult.
• More and more, many of life's "regular" old human challenges seem to be put into the box of disorder and assigned some kind of label. Sometimes the stuff of life just happens, and leaves us feeling a little off kilter, uncertain of our bearings, and unsure of our way forward. We're not necessarily depressed; we're simply dispirited or displaced, and what we need is some help getting renewed, refocused, or revamped. Likewise, sometimes we just sense that something is missing from our lives, or not satisfying us the way it should. Sometimes we want to move our lives from ordinary to extraordinary but don't know what that means let alone how to get there. These issues, and many others like them, are challenges that we all as human beings face at various points in our lives. The human condition doesn't require a diagnostic code; it requires a program for enhancing the Six Fundamental Human Desires.
• These days action is the name of the game; everyone is all about clearing the clutter from our lives, taking action, and holding ourselves accountable for that action. But with all due respect, action taken in haste, which is often what happens, is frankly just a waste. Right action comes only from a right plan, and a right plan results only when we slow down a bit, and focus on discerning what matters most: our self, our spirit, and our deepest desires, and then those things in relationship to others and the world around us.

I call my work Spiritful Advising and Self Health Counseling™. Spiritful Advising and Self Health Counseling™ differs from traditional psychotherapy, where the goal is to alleviate mental illness and increase a person's mental functioning, as well as from life coaching, which is concerned with helping a person to set and achieve a specific goal through developing a plan of action. Spiritful Advising and Self Health Counseling™ is rooted in better understanding the human condition and focused on fulfilling our unique human promise. It takes an organic, transformational approach to healing, health, and wellness. Moreover, it serves different goals and applies different methodologies and models than either therapy or coaching. (Learn more here.)

Spiritful Advising and Self Health Counseling™ can help you, your marriage or your relationship, and your family to harness the energy, passion, and power of your spirit, and so achieve a deeper sense of meaning, purpose, value, connection, resilience, and transcendence, the Six Fundamental Human Desires that lie at the heart of all of our lives.

Because therapy, coaching and Spiritful Advising and Self Health Counseling™ serve different purposes, it is possible (and often helpful) to pursue multiple services simultaneously. Respecting boundaries and being open to collaboration is key.

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