Renee Metty, M.Ed., PhDc Trusting Equus
Introduction: The Gestalt Coaching Method (GCM™) is a trauma-informed approach that creates opportunities for individuals to bring unfinished business into the present-moment awareness for healing, integration, and greater self-awareness. Throughout this capstone, I became more curious about what consistently changed for clients through this process. Although each client’s story is unique, I consistently observed individuals possessing far greater capacity than they were able to access in moments of stress, uncertainty, or emotional activation. This capstone explores my application of GCM™ and the observations that emerged regarding the relationship between unresolved interference, increased presence, and expanded access to existing human capacities.
Significance: The significance of this capstone represents the integration of my work as an educator, leader, entrepreneur, and parent with a passion, dare I say obsession, with human behavior. I am drawn to understanding not only how people change, but what makes lasting and meaningful change possible.
Purpose: The purpose of this capstone was to apply GCM™ with clients, deepen my competency as a coach, and explore the patterns that emerged as individuals engaged in awareness, emotional integration, and experiential healing.
Setting and Participants: This capstone was conducted through Trusting Equus at my boarding facility in Gig Harbor, Washington, as well as HeartSpace Horse Sanctuary in Redmond, OR. Participants included over 30 adult clients engaged in individual coaching sessions. These were professionals, leaders, entrepreneurs, and parents seeking greater clarity, healing, personal growth, or life direction. Sessions occurred in partnership with horses using the GCM™ and Equine Gestalt Coaching Method™ (EGCM™) as the primary coaching frameworks.
Capstone Description/Process: Clients participated in GCM™ and EGCM™ experiences designed to increase present-moment awareness and explore unresolved experiences, emotional patterns, limiting beliefs, and protective adaptations. GCM™ provided a powerful experiential process for witnessing clients move beyond protective patterns and unresolved experiences toward greater wholeness.
Capstone Results/Impact: One of the most significant observations from this capstone was that clients rarely appeared to lack the qualities they were seeking. Rather, they often struggled to access them. As unresolved experiences and protective patterns were brought into awareness and integrated, many participants demonstrated increased presence, emotional flexibility, clarity, self-compassion, creativity, and intentional choice. These observations highlighted that human beings do not always need to develop greater capacity; often, they need greater access to the capacity they already possess. It also deepened my own understanding that meaningful transformation may occur not because people gain something they never had, but because they regain access to capacities that have been obscured.
Capstone Evaluation: Evaluation included facilitator reflection, participant feedback, coach conversations, peer discussions, and ongoing observation of recurring themes across coaching sessions. Collectively, these sources suggested that GCM™ and EGCM™ consistently created meaningful opportunities for awareness, emotional integration, and authentic change.
Future Directions: The insights gained during this capstone have inspired my continuing exploration into the mechanisms that support lasting human change. I intend to continue expanding my EGCM™ and GCM™ practice while further exploring how internal interference, human coherence, and available capacity influence human flourishing. Future work will focus on developing this emerging conceptual framework while remaining grounded in the principles of GCM™.
Acknowledgments: I am deeply grateful to my family for their support over the past 4 years as I completed these programs. To my mentor, Melisa Pearce, for sharing her wisdom and trusting me to carry on the work. To my coaches, fellow students, and clients whose presence, trust, and wisdom allow me to engage in this work and profoundly shaped both my learning and my growth as a coach. Last, but certainly not least, to my equine partners and coaches (Po, Stella, and Hawks) who made this journey possible.
References:
Pearce, M. (2019). What The Heck Is Gestalt? ©. Touched by a Horse Press.
Siegel, D. J. (2010). Mindsight: The new science of personal transformation. Bantam Books.
Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking Press.