Rev. Criss Ittermann, Life Facilitator
Quick Links
We know that we're here to make a difference in the world by helping others.
''Several people call us their fairy guideparent. We've been through the rough-n-tumble: childhood abuse, bullying, post-traumatic stress disorder, several mental health diagnoses including "multiple personality disorder" (now called dissociative identity disorder), and we're on a mission to help people inside and out. People look at us and call us "BRAVE." We just know we're here to make a better world, and to help other people like us survive and thrive. It's what we have to do, what we're here to do, what we as a group have agreed to do, and we have a take-no-prisoners attitude towards getting out there and doing what needs to be done to help other survivors. If that makes us brave, a role model, an advocate, an advisor, a fairy godmother so be it. To that end we coach survivors, disabled people, plurals, autistic folk, etc. into having more control and power over their future, so they uncover their dreams and work towards them."
Criss is a life coach, Certified MHANYS CarePath™ Coach, New York Certified Peer Specialist - Provisional (NYCPS-P-4394), writer, podcaster, and plural community leader. In addition to a long CV of holistic coursework and school learning (now on a personal directory site), they have over 30 years experience living as a group entity, most of which also included being out of the closet about having a mental health diagnosis in the community.
After surviving a variety of childhood abuse, Criss realized they are multiple (DID) at 16. They knew immediately they had to work together, although they had not worked out how yet and ended up spending 9-months as a resident in a mental hospital on Long Island for a suicide attempt. On the other side, on probation and with mandatory outpatient care (long story; see their autobiography), they refused integration and kept working on internal community, self-help, abuse recovery, holistic coursework, and figured out how to work on their life as a team.
They started a website on their internal life and working together in 1996, eventually expanding this into a persona corner of a larger wiki, Kinhost.org, which provides resources and self-help materials for multiples and plurals. Having made it through the childhood abuse and PTSD, working, raising children, managing life with a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, they finally discovered the career they had always dreamed of (life coaching) in early 2009, right around the time they published their autobiography.
Criss is currently living in Upstate New York, coaching, writing, and running an online course website by/for plurals, and using their experience, insight, patience, intuition, and bravery to coach people with diagnoses to develop internal community, think outside the box, set goals, plan projects, manage their needs, and bring their dreams into reality.
Their challenges and education have gelled into a very unique blend of insight, philosophy, mentoring, and spirituality. Criss combines them in their practice as a Life Coach, with a sprinkling of wisdom gained from being an Interfaith minister, neoshamanic practitioner, and Reiki practitioner. With over 25 years of experience in self-help, holistic arts, facilitating support and special-interest groups, running workshops, and assisting other workshop facilitators, Criss gives coaching students an exceptional learning environment where growth will take place.
Criss' coach training was under the direct tutelage and supervision of life and relationship coach Sheila Pearl, former MSW and cantor, and now their client as part of the Coaching Skills Institute in Newburgh NY.
Coaching Philosophy
Life coaching is an extension of self-help practices where the coach acts as a mirror, a mentor, a spiritual guide, a philosopher, and an accountability partner. A life coaching commitment is a strong and bold step toward making real changes in your life, achieving your dreams, exploring your future, and overcoming or transforming obstacles that keep you from achieving your purpose.
- When you are coached, you are doing the work. Your life coach assists you with life changes and to remain committed to the work that you feel you ought to be doing.
- Your life coach believes in you. Everyone is unique and you are not disabled unless you choose to be; however, you are different -- just like everyone else.
- If you believe in yourself, magic can happen. Your life coach motivates you to believe in yourself.
- With patience and self-nurturing you can always shine brighter!
- An accurate living mirror helps you observe yourself. Your life coach is a peer partner who is committed to being an accurate mirror for you.
- To be held accountable, you need consistent check-ins and a life coaching partner with candor. Be coached regularly!
- It is a sacred privilege to be your life coach!
It is a sacred privilege to have a life coach! - Everyone needs to feed their soul. Your coach can remind you to remember this.
- Your life coach invites you to make connections with yourself, and with others.
- You need to deeply and authentically desire change for change to work. Your coach guides you to a profoundly deepened desire.
Contact the Crisses
Potential clients can contact us with the form below, by phone, text, or this scheduling form to schedule a 30-minute fully confidential sample session. During this appointment we determine what you are looking for, we deliver value and show you how we work, and hopefully we both get the information we need to determine whether we would like to pursue a coach-client relationship together.
If you'd simply like to ask questions to figure out what service(s) are right for you, here's a link for a purely informational session to determine what type(s) of services would be a good fit for you.
Please feel free to call and leave a message. If you do not reach us, please keep in mind that we often work with clients by phone and please leave a message so we can get back to you. We do not work by text/SMS messages, we will not book appointments by text message (often we don't get messages or notifications, which is really frustrating, so it may be days before we see that you texted us -- plus there's just too many text/SMS scams). You may find us on Signal, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/Xitter, etc.
+1-845-820-0262 (Eastern Time/NY USA Time) - No advertising opportunity requests or VA/marketing solicitations please.
You may also email me:
