about

Well hello there. I’m Patty Bechtold, and sometimes, I think of myself as a gardener for the soul.

My garden in Sacramento

I help my clients dig deep. First, to unearth their stories and know themselves better.

Then, to create – nourish the soil, plant, cultivate – and harvest the bounty that’s ready to burst forth.

And I’m right by their sides as they drop down into full appreciation for the joyous season of life they’re in.

Or the place I call Living Deep.

the backstory

I especially like the garden metaphor (and not just because I’m a gardener). I actually used to think I was a late bloomer.

Maybe it’s because I lost my mom right at the cusp of adulthood.

Or my growing passion for theatre could have had something to do with it too.

Whatever it was, my path was pretty different from most of my friends. I mean, I was so eager to get out-of-town that I raced through high school in three years.

Starting at 17, I spent about 20 years moving from place to place, mesmerized by the siren song of the seeker.

I had a zillion jobs. Tried a lot of things. Unpacked my belongings and made homes all over the country. (In the blistering heat of the Arizona desert. Around the corner from the D train subway stop that gets you from Brooklyn to Manhattan in 15 minutes. On a plot of land in Mendocino county, accommodations provided by a trailer. In a Victorian in midtown Sacramento. Three blocks from Golden Gate park. Across the street from a Wisconsin nature preserve.)

Yes indeed. That’s a lot of moving. Sometimes there were delightful adventures; other times, periods of high anxiety, worry, and just plain stuck-ness.

One day it occurred to me that in order to fulfill the true call of the seeker, my adventure had to turn inward. When I finally stopped moving for a while, I finally got it: my quest required not just doing and going, but reflection too. Inner work and outer work. (Up until then I thought seeking was mostly about looking out there: do more, see more, be more.)

While I don’t regret my adventures, I can see how they sometimes kept me from fully living my life and hearing my inner voice.

So what I really want to tell you is that my greatest adventure has been to stop and listen to that inner voice.

To see all of myself.

To claim my stories.

To invite creativity and intuition to have as much say in my life as my sometimes too-controlling ego does.

And finally, to come home to myself and the full joy of living deep.

the professional story

Fast forward to today. I’ve spent thousands of hours in deep conversation and connection with other women, coaching and counseling them to hear their own inner voices and come home to themselves.

And I no longer think of myself as a late bloomer.

Turns out I had the perfect first act for my life’s work as a coach and counselor. All of it — my mom’s untimely death, my early love affair with theatre, my need to keep moving — opened me up to so much: empathy, love, grief, drama, communication, risk, conflict, deep listening, systems savvy, human yearning, comedy, tragedy, story.

Now I can look back and see that yes, my path was never straight. Yes, I sometimes floundered. And yes, ultimately I followed my heart to:

  • a bachelor’s degree in theatre and a master’s degree in counseling
  • training in life, career, and relationship coaching
  • credentials as a board certified coach and relationship coach specialist
  • a soon-to-be-license as a professional clinical counselor
  • training in archetypal stories/dream pattern analysis and expressive arts

(If you’re interested in the full bio, check out my profile on LinkedIn.)

the coming full circle story

So what’s been the most serendipitous thing about this journey so far?

Well, all those years of roaming gave me a unique view of human nature and life’s inevitable paradoxes.

Now I know it doesn’t really matter whether you start out as a nomad or a homebody. Either way you can be pretty sure that eventually your own inner voice will rise up and demand your attention, just like mine did.

When it does, I’d be honored to be the one to help you hear it.

the rest of my story

As much as I love my work, there’s more to life than work. So here are a few of the other things I love…

  • Dave! (My husband.) We just celebrated our 25th anniversary.
  • Our family of rescued kitties: Max, Tess, Kung-Pao, Rocky.
  • Splitting my time between Sacramento and Sonoma County.
  • My long, lingering monthly lunches with my big brother.
  • Meandering on the bluff trail along the Sonoma Coast.
  • Making soup: chickpea, lentil, chicken noodle, to name a few.
  • Lavender. Salvia. Butterfly Bush. Passion Vine. They seem to like me.
  • Singing. Collage. Process Painting. Dance. Art Journals. Writing. Poetry. Music.
  • Instagram. Who doesn’t love that, right?
  • The astonishing women I meet with every week.
  • Long walks in arboretums, public gardens, nature preserves.
  • A soak in the hot tub right before bed.