Meet Dagmar
Why I work as coach & counsellor
What I love most about coaching and counselling is that I can create a direct impact on others. For me, it’s all about connecting with another human being – making them see and understand, acknowledge and accept, desire and yearn, hope and trust, surrender and love, and get into action. It’s about acknowledging this other human being with all that is and will be – and helping to heal, choose their path, and shine their light.
After finishing university in 2000, I worked as a consultant at PA Consulting Group, an international management consultancy. Due to my previous engagement in an interdisciplinary students’ initiative which designed and conducted assessment centres for fellow students, I focused on management diagnostics in the beginning, i.e. designing and conducting assessment and development centres as well as management audits. Later, I optimised HR processes and HR strategies. Over time, I moved into the area of change management. Mainly, I designed and facilitated large-scale and small-scale team events and workshops to deal with change challenges, initiate dialogue between the people concerned, and build momentum and energy for the change. I was based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, but my clients had been international and national companies from various industries.
In 2007, it was time for a change, and I founded Change & Co., my first own business, to support managers and teams in making change happen. Besides that, I continued to conduct assessment centres – specially to staff vacant leadership positions, plus I started to work as business coach with managers and specialists.
Over the years, I somehow lost my drive and energy, lost the satisfaction when working in corporations, and even felt a bit bored of doing always the same things in the same way. I took the time to investigate the reasons for my frustration, did a lot of self-reflection to search for my passions, talents, strengths, and needs, read dozens of books and blog articles to get fresh impulses and inspiration.
Finally, I got it: it was time for some fundamental change. Beginning of 2014, I gathered my courage and said goodbye to my business Change & Co. and to supporting change management in organisations. I made the jump and started from scratch with Sevenbirds, my coaching business empowering people to follow their own path.
Beginning 2020, I received another message from the universe. It said: “get back on your path”. And because of being unsure what this meant, I gave myself the time to let the meaning unfold. To support this inner process, I worked with several coaches, participated in a group coaching programme, did purpose and vision meditations, read books and talked to people. And during one visioning session it became crystal clear: it meant to go back to my roots in psychology and not only work as coach with women to thrive but also as counsellor (and maybe therapist in the future) with women to heal. And this is, what I do now and feel passionate about every day.
My core values and beliefs
Being true to oneself
This is for me my most important value. Being true to myself is my guide star. And it’s related to when I speak about “follow your own path”. Because I believe we are all unique beings and we should embrace, value, and bestow our uniqueness by translating it into our very own paths of life.
Knowing yourself
Self-knowledge is for me one of the key tasks we receive in life. And it’s the foundation of any counselling and coaching process. I help my clients to gain insights about themselves, to gather all the bits and pieces to see the full picture. Knowing yourself is for me connected with accepting yourself – accepting all what is. I believe that self-knowledge helps to lead a better life.
Life-long learning about yourself and the world
For me the learning never stops. I’m fascinated to discover new things about myself to continuously complete the picture. Even though it’s sometimes painful, I try learn from my mistakes and failures. Besides myself, there are so many things on earth I’m interested in – guess we can’t never stop discovering something new.
Being connected to nature
I believe we as human beings are just a part of an incredible system – and for sure not the most superior one. I love lush forests, soft hills and rocky mountains, clear-blue seas, colourful meadows, high sky with white fluffy clouds – and we all need an intact ecosystem to live healthy now and in the future. I strive therefore to what I can to mindfully use the earth’s resources. Feeling the connectedness to nature is often also part of my work with women when discovering and re-embracing the feminine principle.
Having enough and being enough
There are these toxic myths of scarcity: with the ideas of “there’s not enough” and “more is better”. I believe it’s important to let go of these ideas and instead work for a world where all of us can make it – thinking from sufficiency as an act of realising the presence and power of our existing resources – within us and within the world. Uncovering (or remembering) resources is often a key element of counselling and coaching processes.
My educational background
- University diploma in psychology (specialised in clinical psychology as well as work & organisational psychology)
- Systemic counsellor (certified by DGSF, the German Association for Systemic Therapy, Counselling and Family Therapy)
- Women’s Coach (certified by One of many™)
Languages I work in
German (native)
English
Dutch
Why Sevenbirds – Nice name but what does it mean?
That’s probably also one of your questions and therefore I use the opportunity to explain.
Most birds can do one thing which quite a few humans are dreaming of: they can fly. That is apparently effortlessly moving through the air, gaining height, seeing a lot more and farther than from the ground, experiencing the elements, etc. From a human perspective, flying relates to easiness and elegance but also to freedom and the opportunity to explore new spaces.
Thus, the birds’ ability to fly is attractive for most of us. Therefore, I have chosen to have something of this easiness and attractiveness in the company’s name. Because I want to provide my clients and customers with the possibility to gain new insights, perspectives and abilities for themselves.
And why now seven birds and not one or hundred? Well, the number seven refers to the seven steps of the Latifa. This is an ancient meditation practice allowing you to connect with seven subtle qualities which support transformation and sustainable change.
The seven steps are: acceptance, yearning, hope, trust, surrender, love, and freewill.
