You built something impressive.
Now something internal is the ceiling.
Executive coaching for high performing leaders who have outgrown the strategies that got them here. Grounded in 20+ years of clinical expertise working with ambitious professionals.
experience
Counseling Psychology
high achieving clients
therapy practice
Executive coaching is a forward-focused, performance-oriented professional service. It is distinct from clinical therapy: coaching does not diagnose, treat, or address mental health conditions, and is not covered by insurance. If clinical concerns emerge during a coaching engagement, referral to a qualified therapist will be discussed.
You are successful by every external measure. So why does something still feel stuck?
Most of my coaching clients do not have a performance problem. They have a pattern problem. Internal dynamics that worked brilliantly at one stage now create friction at the next.
- You avoid hard conversations with partners, co founders, or direct reports and the cost is compounding
- You are the smartest person in the room but struggle to lead the room effectively
- Imposter dynamics quietly shape your decisions even when evidence says you are qualified
- Work is your identity and you can feel the cost in your relationships, health, or sense of meaning
- You lead reactively under stress instead of from the clarity you know you are capable of
- You have hit a ceiling that is not about skill. It is about the internal patterns you have not examined
Executive burnout is rarely about working too hard. It is about working the wrong way for too long.
Most of the leaders I coach have run on adrenaline and conviction for years before reaching out. The work was rewarding, then it was demanding, then it became something else. Burnout in a senior role rarely announces itself with a breakdown. It shows up as harder decisions, shorter patience, and a slow erosion of the qualities that made you effective in the first place.
- You can still execute, but the work has lost meaning and you can feel yourself going through the motions
- Your patience with your team has narrowed and minor friction triggers bigger reactions than the situation warrants
- You are managing fatigue with caffeine and willpower while sleep, exercise, and presence with the people you love quietly slip
- Decisions that used to feel clear now feel exhausting, and you are avoiding the ones that matter most
- You suspect your patterns are part of the problem, but you do not have the time or framework to examine them
- You are starting to wonder if the role itself is the right fit, or if you have changed in ways that do not match what the work requires
Coaching addresses the structural and behavioral side of executive burnout: how you make decisions, where your time goes, what you outsource versus shoulder, how you lead under pressure. For burnout rooted in clinical concerns like persistent depression, generalized anxiety, or trauma responses, therapy is the right path. Our therapist's perspective on the broader picture of burnout is at how to beat burnout.
Coaching that goes deeper than goal setting
Most coaching stays on the surface: accountability, goal tracking, leadership frameworks. That works for tactical problems. But the patterns holding you back are not tactical. They are psychological. My approach integrates clinical depth with performance focus.
Identify the Pattern
We name the internal dynamics that are running the show beneath your conscious awareness. Perfectionism, conflict avoidance, over functioning, imposter beliefs. Clarity here changes everything.
Understand the Function
Every pattern exists for a reason. Understanding why you developed these strategies and what they protected you from gives you leverage to shift them without willpower alone.
Build New Defaults
We design concrete behavioral shifts and practice them in real situations. Difficult conversations, high stakes decisions, relational dynamics. Until the new approach becomes your natural one.
Twenty years of pattern work, not a weekend certification
The coaching industry has a low barrier to entry. A weekend certification can technically make someone a coach. My background is different. I hold a Master's degree in counseling psychology and have spent over two decades working with ambitious professionals on the internal patterns that hold them back.
For the past decade, much of that work has been with high functioning, high achievement professionals. I have learned the specific dynamics of ambition: how the drive that builds a career can also create friction with the people around it, how high standards can quietly turn into pressure that erodes joy, and how the same patterns that helped you succeed can also limit how much further you can go.
I also run a business. I have navigated the real pressures of leadership: staffing, financial stress, partnership transitions, strategic pivots. I am not coaching from theory. I am coaching from lived experience on both sides.
Leaders who do not need motivation. They need insight.
This coaching is designed for high performing professionals who are already successful but recognize that the next level of growth is internal, not tactical.
You have built something real, but the isolation of leadership is wearing on you. Decision fatigue, partner tension, and the inability to be fully honest with anyone on your team are becoming liabilities.
You are managing up, managing down, and managing yourself, often poorly. You know you react under stress in ways that undermine your authority and relationships. You want to lead from steadiness, not survival mode.
Attorneys, physicians, financial professionals, technologists. You have optimized everything external. The work now is internal: identity beyond achievement, relationships that do not feel transactional, and purpose that extends past the next milestone.
Structured for momentum, not dependency
- 90 minute intensive session
- Pre session intake form
- Targeted assessment of the presenting issue
- Actionable takeaways
- 6 bi weekly 60 minute sessions
- Initial 90 minute intake and assessment
- Email access between sessions
- Structured goal tracking framework
- Session recordings upon request
- 12 bi weekly 60 minute sessions
- Initial 90 minute intake and assessment
- Email + Voxer access between sessions
- Mid engagement progress review
- Personalized resources and exercises
Jeremiah Bergen, MS
I am the founder of Bergen Counseling Collective, a separate group therapy practice in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood. Over the past two decades, I have worked with hundreds of people on the patterns that shape how they show up at work, in relationships, and as leaders. For the past decade, much of that work has been with high-functioning, high-achievement professionals. As part of building expertise with that population, I developed a coaching service to target the work-related challenges specific to senior leaders and founders. I have a deep understanding of the needs, stressors, and managerial issues these people face on a daily basis.
I specialize in the internal patterns that high performers rarely talk about: the drive that creates pressure for everyone around them, the conflict avoidance that erodes partnerships, and the work intensity that quietly competes with the things they value most. My coaching approach is grounded in behavior change, decision-making, and the dynamics of how leaders relate to themselves and to others.
I also understand leadership from the inside. I have built and rebuilt a practice through significant business transitions, managed teams, navigated financial pressure, and made the kinds of decisions that keep founders up at 2 AM. When I coach, I bring both depth of experience and the pattern recognition that only comes from living it.
Common Questions
How is this different from therapy?
Coaching is forward looking, performance focused, and goal oriented. I do not diagnose, treat, or bill insurance. We work on specific leadership and professional challenges, not clinical conditions. If what you are experiencing is rooted in clinical concerns like persistent depression, anxiety disorders, or trauma, our individual therapy practice is the right path. Executive coaching and therapy have different scopes, protections, and outcomes, and I will be transparent if clinical needs emerge during our work.
Can I do coaching if I am also in therapy?
Yes. Many high performing professionals work with both a therapist and a coach simultaneously. The work is complementary. Therapy addresses emotional health, coaching targets professional performance and leadership patterns.
Is this virtual or in person?
Both. Sessions are available via video or at our Ravenswood office in Chicago. Most coaching clients prefer the flexibility of virtual sessions.
Do you accept insurance for coaching?
No. Executive coaching is a private pay service. This keeps the work confidential and free from diagnostic requirements. Many clients use HSA/FSA funds or deduct the cost as a professional development expense.
What if I am a current therapy client?
If you are currently in therapy at Bergen Counseling Collective, we would need to discuss the appropriate structure. Therapy and coaching require different agreements and boundaries. We will figure out the right path together.
What is the time commitment?
Bi weekly 60 minute sessions are the standard rhythm, with a 90 minute intake to start. Most clients find the 3 month engagement creates enough momentum to produce real behavioral change.
The next level is not about doing more.
It is about understanding what is driving you and deciding whether that is still working. Fill out the form and I will personally follow up within one business day.
Executive Coaching Inquiry
Takes about 90 seconds. No obligation.