Program of Sessions and Events for the 2025 Conference

Chris Cooper, Matthew LeBaron & Joshua New

Finding new clients is the enduring challenge for everyone who works for themselves. And when you work alone, it’s easy to get sucked into schemes that don’t work and waste time on activities that don’t deliver results for you. It doesn’t have to be this way!

In this session, Chris, Matthew and Josh will openly and candidly share what has and hasn’t worked for them in their businesses and inspire you to explore and identify approaches to grow and sustain your client base.

Expect engaging group breakouts, hands-on activities, and plenty of opportunities to share your own experiences. This isn't just another lecture; it's a collaborative exploration of how to grow your practice with integrity, personality, and a healthy dose of reality!

Todd Hess

In The Art of Influence: Transforming Stress through the Three Realms of Power, we explore a framework to manage stress and increase personal influence.

By understanding the Three Realms—My Power, Their Power, and Universe's Power—you’ll learn how to focus on what you can control, improve interactions with others, and let go of the uncontrollable.

This session offers practical strategies for fostering resilience, emotional intelligence, and effective leadership.

Matthew LeBaron & Jeff Nally

Smashing Generationalism and Building Community for Gay + Queer Men" is a unique and highly participatory plenary session intended to foster deeper understanding and connection across the generations within our community. Led by Executive Coach and Author Jeff Nally and Community Coach and Facilitator Matthew LeBaron, this session moves beyond surface-level discussions to actively engage participants in exploring the impact of ageism and generational divides. Get ready for interactive exercises, small group dialogues, and opportunities to forge new connections with individuals from different life stages.

Chris Cooper

Our work as coaches is centered around helping people raise their levels of self awareness and identify and achieve goals and outcomes.

This plenary workshop is designed to involve self exploration to help you learn more about yourself, while using questions and tools that you can employ with your coaching clients.

This session will kick off the conference, creating a space for conversations with other attendees to help you relax and set intentions for the whole event, while exploring the conference theme.

Joseph Simmons

You know about powerful questions but what about powerful reflections? Empathic reflections offer a rich tool to dig deeper into what a client means and empowers them to explore their own determination to take positive action toward physical, social, or professional well-being. Drawing from Motivational Interviewing, a communication style that supports individuals in resolving ambivalence about change, we will explore and practice strategic applications of various types of reflective statements to enrich both coaching and personal conversations.

Joshua New and Chris Cooper

Josh and Chris are really good friends. They are both also what is known as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Josh has been aware of his sensitivity for a number of years, whereas Chris only discovered his through his friendship Josh a few months ago.

It is estimated that around 20% of the population are HSPs, however most people are unaware of their trait. And even fewer non-HSPs understand high sensitivity and how it impacts the lives of people who are HSP. This is your opportunity to become enlightened!

During this session, Josh and Chris will help you understand Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), the personality trait that makes someone a HSP. Including the history of research into high sensitivity and what it means to be a HSP from a personal perspective.

Aaron Listhaus

Have you ever struggled to make lasting change despite your best efforts? The Immunity to Change Map, developed by Lisa Lahey and Robert Kegan, uncovers hidden beliefs that hold you back. In this interactive workshop you'll identify a personal growth goal, explore the unconscious barriers preventing progress, and test assumptions that keep you stuck.

This approach is a powerful tool in coaching, helping individuals and teams break through resistance and achieve meaningful transformation. By using the Immunity to Change framework, coaches can guide clients to uncover and challenge their limiting beliefs, allowing them to move beyond self-imposed roadblocks to make lasting change possible.

Matthew Bennett

What's a boundary, and why are they important for coaches?

During this session, Matthew will explore with you what boundaries are, why we need them, and how crossing them can sometimes be useful.

When is crossing a boundary a sensible choice, and when is it an unethical transgression? And do gay coaches have different boundaries to other coaches?

David Fisher

“The Enneagram doesn’t put you in a box. It shows you the box you’re already in and how to get out of it.” – Ian Morgan Cron & Suzanne Stabile

The Enneagram, a modern personality system with ancient roots, categorizes people into nine types, each governed by a central fear and desire that develops early in childhood. In reaction to this “childhood wound,” we build habits and coping strategies that all connect back to this very instinctual limiting belief.

This seminar will give a brief overview of the Enneagram, show how the nine childhood wounds are really nine limiting beliefs, and then interactively discuss and strategize how we, as coaches, can help our clients (and ourselves) unearth these patterns and beliefs.

Matthew LeBaron

In a world steadily marked by division and isolation, the power of community has never been more vital. For gay and queer individuals, building and nurturing a community is a necessity, a skill honed through generations of shared experience.

This session will explore the unique strengths that gay and queer coaches bring to the art of community building.

Participants will discover practical strategies for co-creating thriving communities, drawing on the wisdom of activists, facilitators, coaches and authors. Through engaging exercises and discussions, attendees will cultivate the confidence to ignite community in their own lives and coaching practices, embracing creativity and compassion as guiding principles. 

Matthew Bennett, John Duff, David Dunn-Bauer, Joshua New, Allen Siewert

As gay coaches, our clients often bring to coaching topics that would be taboo to other 'normal' coaches. Whether it's discussions about alternative sexualities, genders, or relationships, specifically sex-focused questions, or confusing boundaries, many coaches will find themselves being confronted by challenging situations and topics.

This session will help you have a clearer view of how you manage the cases that could cause problems for you, or with the ethical rules that you may have signed up for. And, maybe, you'll have learned a few secrets from the world of adult work.

Matthew Winters

In this dynamic, movement-based workshop, you'll deepen self-awareness and step into greater clarity and confidence in your life, work, and relationships. Drawing on insights from the Leadership Circle Profile®, you'll explore how hidden patterns—your shadows—shape how you show up, often leading to overworking, perfectionism, or self-sabotage.

Through interactive exercises, small-group reflection, and paired coaching, you'll uncover your reactive tendencies and learn how to transform them into greater presence, impact, and personal power—whether you're leading teams, communities, or simply your own life with intention.

David Ridley-Parris

This workshop provides an introductory overview of grief coaching, starting with foundational concepts like different grief types and responses. Participants explore personal experiences with loss and learn to differentiate coaching from therapy in this focus area. The core of the workshop focuses on the coach's role: companioning, navigating uncertainty, and prioritizing empathy over immediate goal-setting.

Practical application is emphasized through case study analysis, particularly addressing ambiguous, stigmatized, and traumatic losses. Together, we examine grief within the LGBTQ+ community, highlighting specific challenges like stigmatized, compounded and collective grief. The workshop also covers screening for complicated grief, ensuring coaches recognize when clients need further support.

Rocco Cocchiarale and Tim Kincaid

Unlock the power of authentic connection in your coaching practice with this transformative 75-minute session. Designed for coaches seeking to deepen their presence and impact while employing ICF Coaching Competencies and skills.

Embodying Connection introduces foundational concepts from Sacred Intimacy—a practice that fosters profound relational awareness, empathy, and embodied communication. We'll explore what SI is, what it isn't, and how it can serve your client and the coach's own personal growth, too.

This introductory course offers a safe and supportive space to explore these practices, blending heart-centered wisdom with practical tools you can immediately integrate into your work. No prior experience with Sacred Intimacy is required—just a willingness to expand your coaching toolkit and engage with others from a place of presence and authenticity.

Come prepared to connect, reflect, and leave inspired to guide your clients with greater depth and compassion.

Justin Meli

What if everything you thought you knew about ADHD was wrong? Widespread misunderstanding and stigma surrounding ADHD often prevent clients from managing its challenges and realizing the unique strengths of the condition.

As someone diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood, Justin has experienced firsthand the struggle of working against his brain’s natural tendencies, before learning to embrace them. In this workshop, Justin will share his personal journey through frustration, self-criticism, and disconnection, leading to his ADHD diagnosis at age 25. Even after being diagnosed, misunderstandings about the condition hindered his ability to manage it and leverage the unique strengths that often accompany ADHD.

In addition to coaching strategies for serving clients with ADHD, this workshop will provide practical tools for your clients to apply in their daily lives. You’ll learn how to guide them in optimizing their diet, sleep, and exercise—three factors that play a significant role in symptom management—where even small improvements can create dramatic changes in performance and mood.

Nick Duggan

Sometimes it seems like “soul” is a four-letter word in the business world. We as coaches know that leadership coaching is about the whole person – including cognitive, somatic, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the self. But the corporate world often doesn’t appreciate the spiritual side. So how do we effectively incorporate spiritual approaches into our coaching with leaders?

In this workshop, we’ll explore practical ways to partner with our clients to bring soul into our coaching in appropriate and inclusive ways.

You’ll gain plenty of ideas and inspiration, as well as an experience of some tangible methods that you can apply in your very next coaching session.

Robert Brooks Cohen

Working with bisexual, fluid, queer or questioning clients brings unique challenges and opportunities. Despite making up a majority of the LGBT+ community (57%), Bi+ people are the least likely to be out and are often overlooked, and when coaches view sexuality as binary or fixed, it can limit potential progress with these clients.

Bi+ men often struggle with coming out, authentic communication, expressing a queer identity within relationships, and navigating non-monogamy. 

In this workshop, we'll explore some of the most common issues faced by Bi+ men and how to approach their struggles with curiosity and an open mind, empowering their identity and sexual fluidity.

John O'Brien

Hate and division in our society seem to be at an all-time high. Threats of violence and even murder have now become commonplace in social media simply because of political beliefs. In our country and in countries around the world, assassination or assassination-attempts have seemingly become a way to solve political issues. This can leave many individuals in our society feeling fearful and hopeless about how to navigate a way forward.

This session will explore ways that coaches can navigate difficult political conversations with clients while attending to their own self-care. Skills will be reviewed that will help maintain civility in these conversations, especially when they extend into the personal life of the clinician. The training will incorporate the presentation of skills while also allowing ample time for discussion and self-reflection.

Mark Schall

In the world of virtual coaching, your presence doesn’t stop at the webcam—it’s time to own the Zoom room like the fabulous professional you are! Whether you’re leading a webinar, facilitating a group session, or hosting a virtual event, mastering Zoom’s features and engagement techniques is essential to creating a seamless and impactful experience.

This interactive and lively workshop, designed specifically for LGBTQ+ coaches, will teach you how to command the virtual stage with confidence, charisma, and clarity. From avoiding common Zoom disasters to leveraging breakout rooms, chat, polls, and spotlighting like a pro, you’ll leave with the skills and strategies needed to lead engaging, polished, and effective online sessions.

Let’s get you Zooming like a boss—because coaching should never feel like a bad WiFi connection!