Crucible Coaching
Relationship & Personal Growth
For Couples and Individuals
A Non-Therapy Path Through Self-Defeating Relational Patterns With Catherine Roebuck
Who This Work Is For
Welcome. I work with committed couples experiencing disconnection, sexual stagnation, or wilted trust.
Maybe you’re an individual stuck in self-defeating relational loops.
Or you’re a therapist or coach seeking exposure to the Crucible framework and want growth-oriented coaching, not clinical treatment.
Based on my experience working with nearly 250 clients - couples and individuals - and over 5 years of Crucible training, mindfulness, and Internal Family Systems parts work, you’re in the right place.
The Principles of
The Crucible Approach
In Crucible Coaching, I primarily draw on the principles of Dr. David Schnarch's Crucible approach.
Crucible resonates more deeply with me than anything else I've encountered in nearly two decades of self-development work
Crucible Coaching is one-to-one, non-therapy coaching for committed couples and individuals who want to break self-defeating relational and intimacy patterns using Dr. David Schnarch's Crucible Approach.
I work with partners caught in what are called two-choice dilemmas:
Wanting alive sex without risking rejection
Wanting honesty while not wanting to hear the truth
I help you interrupt automatic brain patterns in real time so mind, mood, and relationship shift together.
This is coaching, not clinical treatment.
I find Crucible work transforms mind, mood, and relationships.
My style is direct and compassionate.
And hard to walk around - many clients who are good at talking circles around their problems find this approach is exactly what they've been missing in past coaching and therapy.
If you find yourself pulled between two things you desire, or realize that being truer to yourself is going to require giving something up, or you know what you should do and still don't feel able to do it,
I'd like to help you take the next step into living a life you love.
Professional Consultation
In addition to working with couples and individuals, I offer case consultation and written mental dialogue consultation to therapists and coaches who want to incorporate the Crucible approach into their practice.
What I Do
Most people who come to me are caught between things they want at the same time but can't have at the same time.
You want exciting, alive sex and to never risk rejection. You want to be honest and to look better than you are.
You want your partner to change and to not rock the boat.
Dr. Schnarch, founder of the Crucible Approach, called this the two-choice dilemma.
Facing them head-on frees you up to live expansively instead of swimming in circles.
I help people see and choose from the options they have.
My Specialty
Tracking what happens in real time in a session.
You may be skilled at talking circles around charged topics.
I interrupt the way your brain automatically steers under pressure.
Because changing those patterns expands the range of problems your brain can work through.
What if you’re good at talking circles around your problems?
My style is direct and compassionate, and hard to walk around. Many clients who talk circles around charged topics find that this is the approach they were missing in past coaching and therapy.
I aim to interrupt how the brain automatically steers under pressure
Coaching vs. Therapy
The Crucible Approach addresses
Couples in disconnection
Sexual stagnation, or wilted trust
And individuals caught in recurring self-defeating loops
Unlike therapy, Crucible Coaching does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions. I work with you to name each partner's competing desires as a two-choice dilemma, and I aim to interrupt the way the brain automatically steers under pressure in real time, so mind, mood, and relationship shift together.
I position the practice on nearly two decades of self-development work with the Crucible framework. Anyone needing diagnosis, medication management, or treatment of a mental health condition should work with a therapist.
As a coach, I don't diagnose or treat mental health conditions.
Some of my clients see therapists for those conditions while also working with me on the relational and developmental challenges that are built into adult life and committed love.
I have personally benefited from working with a range of coaches and therapists over the years and am happy to offer recommendations for therapists when clinical care is needed.
Should I choose Crucible Coaching or work with a therapist?
Choose Crucible Coaching for growth-oriented work on relational and developmental challenges, and choose a therapist for diagnosis or treatment of a mental health condition.
Couples stuck in gridlock around sex, honesty, or change belong in Crucible Coaching, and so do individuals caught between things they want but can't have at the same time.
Anyone needing psychiatric care or treatment for a diagnosed condition belongs with a therapist first.
Do I diagnose or treat mental health conditions?
Some of my clients see therapists for clinical conditions while working with me on the challenges built into committed love.
Crucible Coaching isn't suited to anyone in acute crisis or needing medication management, and I refer clients to therapists when clinical care is needed.
Therapy diagnoses and treats mental health conditions, and many people default to it for any struggle in a long-term relationship.
Crucible Coaching is explicitly not therapy. Catherine does not diagnose or treat conditions. She interrupts automatic brain patterns in real time using Dr. Schnarch's Crucible Approach, so partners can face two-choice dilemmas directly rather than talk in circles around them.
Coaching will not serve someone who needs clinical care, and Catherine refers to therapists in those cases. Some clients work with both concurrently.