I wasn't entirely sure what I'd do with the training and if anyone had told me then that in a year I'd be a coach and business owner, I'd have scoffed. But here I am...

Interchange's Coaching & Counseling Training was absolutely the best gift I ever gave myself. Except, I didn't give it to me. My village gave it to me -- I just covered my flights (and many, many cappuccinos). A year ago last weekend my fundraiser ended and I breathed a sigh of relief that tuition was covered. I wasn't entirely sure what I'd do with the training and if anyone had told me then that in a year I'd be a coach and business owner, I'd have scoffed. But here I am, being as helpful as I can possibly be and slowly, but surely, building a business from thin air. The thing is, though, Interchange isn't just for coaches and counselors. It is a community and program that creates a place for people to grow and learn about being better at life, while being really real alongside other really real people. Words don't do it justice. Sometimes I feel as if I'm trying to describe the size of the sky when I describe the power of Interchange, "It's big. But like....whoa. Big." Sheri Guyse, Counselor and Owner at Big Bravely

Through my experiences and process in Interchange I quit my unfulfilling job, launched two businesses, and got accepted to a top Bay Area master's program in clinical psychology.

I came into Interchange depressed about my career, struggling to share conscious emotional space with my husband, and generally very guarded and unwilling to show broadly my vulnerabilities, to stand in humility, powerfully accepting my own shortcomings. Three years of Interchange transformed how I engage with my husband intimately, giving me more access to more care and loving with him; through my experiences and process in Interchange I quit my unfulfilling job, launched two businesses, and got accepted to a top Bay Area master's program in clinical psychology; and in my day-to-day I radically changed the way I hold human interaction, being more honest, more caring and aware of others, and more willing to show emotion with people I have just met--all changing what is possible in my practice and choice to have polyamorous romantic relationships, and in my ability to teach and coach in open relationship spaces with truthfulness and compassion. I came to Interchange pretty awesome, already--but with some real challenges. I came willing to be changed, maybe even waiting to be changed. Through my tenure with Interchange, I forgot how to wait to be changed. I became absolutely determined to grow and to take charge of my own life's powerful potential, determined to change every day, in every available loving, connected moment, and all the moments in between too. Anna Hirsch, Relationship Counselor at Live Like Love

Interchange is a powerful immersion in growth, freedom and the capacity to truly help others.

That's what I got and I'd love for you to at least check it out if you're looking for some or all of these things. Maybe you're the exact and perfect person to complete the next class.  Gary Heine, Co-Owner of Inspiring Grateful

I am so grateful to have this level of work and community in my life, and the opportunity to bring it to the people who are still seeking!

  Michael McDonald, Integrity Coach

There are so many different life experiences represented and it doesn't matter where you are at, there's something for you.

 One of the things that is so unique about this training is that it's not just designed for people who are purely interested in becoming professional counselors and it's not just designed for people who are purely interested in doing interpersonal work and learning about themselves.There's something for everyone and one of the things that I really like is that it attracts people from all different walks of life. Amani Dunham, PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER

Steve Bearman, Ph.D. is an incredibly gifted teacher.

He manages to distill multiple counseling approaches to their essence and explains them with clarity and directness. He focuses on methods that work and inspires participants to rely on their own observations and experiences, to reflect on them and to challenge their conclusions. He focuses not only on developing individual counselors, but also on creating a community of mutually supportive practitioners whose individual development is accelerated by the synergies available in their relationships. Patrick Finerty, Data Network Analyst

Interchange empowered me as a therapist, adding freedom, creativity and joy to the process of helping people.

Interchange empowered me as a therapist, adding freedom, creativity and joy to the process of helping people. Lori Goldman, MFT, Marriage and Family Therapist

Steve is an inspired leader, a heart-felt and gifted, brilliant and loving human being.

His caring is blindly evident and his professionalism impeccable. Interchange was a profound experience for me, both personally and professionally. Besides helping me become aware of personal issues and strengths I hadn't been previously aware of, Interchange also planted the seed of my now blossoming identity as a mental health professional. Interchange also gave me my first in depth opportunity to analyze the emotional affect of group dynamics in the context of leadership. Rivka Leah Jade , Yoga Teacher

You are not just going into class and learning a bunch of things and taking notes.

You are actually in the dynamic and practicing the things that you will soon be teaching to your own clients. So, you really understand it because it was something that you experienced yourself, and you learn how to deliver it to someone else and support them in their process of healing. While attending Interchange, I found a self that I never knew I could be. I developed an understanding of how social conditioning can distort our perception of reality, and I left behind old identities that no longer served me or humanity. I am now able to choose who I want to be. Jada Delaney , Chi Nei Tsang Practitioner

Interchange changed my life in so many ways.

The amount and quality of love I experienced in this program, both for myself and for those around me had drastic effects on my professional and personal life. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in counseling/coaching, is looking for community, is looking to give their therapy practice a much needed, loving boost, and/or is looking to do some deep work on themselves. Do not miss this opportunity! Sarah Schaafsma, Psychotherapist at PREP - Prevention and Recovery in Early Psychosis

Interchange is led by loving people and some of the most talented teachers I've ever met.

I’ve witnessed founder Steve Bearman’s hard work in creating this curriculum, as well as his dedication at helping countless people live healthier lives, and then bring that work to the communities they live in. A.J. Lovewins, Founder of homeless advocacy Non-Profit, Harmonic Humanity.

Interchange is a game changer for change-makers, and our world needs us all to be that at this point in human history.

Interchange is more than a training; it is a 10-month personal growth workshop and counseling training all in one. An added bonus is developing community and lasting friendships with a diverse group of amazing people who I've gotten to know from the inside out, who relate to each other authentically, intimately, and with a strong sense of purpose and conviction to make this world a better place for themselves and others.

I went through the program 2 years in a row. I decided to do it a second time last year because the program is so rich with experience and information, I wanted to absorb more and hone my counseling techniques. The reading list alone will change your life. The second year was definitely worth it, as I took greater risks in my style and with my clients, which led to deeper transformations and connections.

I think my training with Interchange was far more valuable and informative for my professional coaching practice than an accredited coaching program. There are more experiential, in-person hours and the topics deeper. Having this training has certainly benefited my career as an executive recruiter and coach, in addition to my personal roles as a parent, friend, family and community member.

Anyone can benefit from this training, whether you are doing this for professional reasons or purely for personal growth. I can't think of a profession that would not benefit from it: professional coach or therapist, teacher or social worker, corporate team manager or human resources director, health professional, parent, child-care worker or minister. In this program I met many licensed therapists, psychologists and so on who said this training gave them more counseling skill than their Master's or PhD program. I felt honored to be among a group of such intelligent, compassionate, highly talented, diverse, creative, and accomplished people with a similar mission as me.

I'd like to say that this program is for everyone, but I don't think so. It's a confronting path to look at your limiting beliefs and stay committed and compassionate while opening your heart ever wider, and allowing others to see you in your glory and vulnerability. Not everyone is ready to do that in a large room with other people. I can completely understand. Yet most of the people who enter the program complete it, find support they need, have major breakthroughs along the way, and are happy they did it. It's best to go to an Intro evening, read Steve Bearman's blog and watch some of the videos and testimonials online to get a feel if it's for you. It's a big commitment for 10 months.

I have been in other growth programs in the Bay Area and think this is clearly in the top tier. It is also less expensive than most. It's interesting to go to other quality workshops and meet current and past Interchangers naturally sharing their amazing experiences (this just happened for me last weekend). IC's marketing is word of mouth. Just about everywhere conscious people congregate in the Bay Area, you will find a buzz of Interchangers raving about their experiences.

I love Steve, his mission and what he's developed in 11 years. He's the real deal. Deborah Dols, Corporate Recruiter

Grateful beyond words for Interchange Counseling Institute and Steve Bearman!

I graduated yesterday and the profound impact it has made on me, and everyone in my life is immeasurable. I will be forever in gratitude for this year of my life. Courtney Irwin Caspari

Interchange is different than all the rest of the coaching courses and other transformational work I’ve done: it’s deep and simple and true.

Twelve years ago, at the end of a relationship that ultimately wasn't for me, I decided to start seeing a therapist. I quickly realized that I was spending a LOT of money on having someone sit with me and mainly listen to me. I realized I wanted more. A LOT more! I wanted to know WHY I was having these FEELINGS and REACTIONS, WHAT TO DO about it and HOW TO GROW from it. And, I wanted to know about other people, too. But that wasn’t what my therapist was there to help me with.

When I found Interchange I jumped and never looked back. I took the very first Interchange training 12 years ago, and not only was it amazing, it completely set me on the track that I'm on today. I still use so much of what I learned back then. Are you currently seeing a coach, a counselor or therapist? Or you have before and stopped because of the cost? Or because it never seemed to end? If you’re going to spend money on these services, why not do the work AND learn the skills to serve yourself, your friends, family and loved ones?

Interchange is different than all the rest of the coaching courses and other transformational work I’ve done: it’s deep and simple and true. And it has paid for itself over and over: in income and in joy of supporting loved ones and loved communities. Philippe Lewis, Relationship Counselor, Social Artist

The minute I learn something from Steve it is easily translated into my own life and into the lives of my clients. There is no other person that I would rather study with.

In the five years I have known and worked with Steve, I can't think of one experience that was not life changing. I am constantly amazed at his teaching style. He is centered and still, yet awake. I never feel that there is a separation between me as the student and him as the teacher. We are human beings coming together to learn. His work is experiential. You can read all the books in the world to give you an understanding of how to work with people, or you can work with Steve, who will make those understandings a reality. Darshana Weill , Somatic and Spiritual Counselor

Interchange is one of the best growth trainings I've ever done, both personally and professionally.

This program is more than you'll know to ask for. What I received is a healthy dose of psychological concepts and theories combined with practical applications useful on my business as well as my personal life. Then, there's the Interchange community. The group of people that comes together for the intensive 10-month journey is amazing. Committed. Intensely engaged. Fun. Inspiring. You will be so grateful you read this testimonial, checked out every page of the website, watched Steve Bearman's videos, and, well, signed up for the time of your life. Then you get to be part of the graduate community. Social networking has nothing on this quality of connection and community based support.

P.S. I'm rarely this enthusiastic about a program. This one simply rocks. Geffen Rothe, Counselor and Mentor for Solopreneurs

Interchange has helped me immensely to deal with my own challenges as well as the challenges of others.

It gave me the framework to put much of the human experience into perspective. I feel so much more at ease navigating through emotional depths and storms. I learned how to cry, which was a huge breakthrough! Many of my friends are grateful for the support that I can now offer them. Andrey Samodeenko, Musician

After going through Interchange, I know that I could sit with anyone, from any background, and find a way to connect with them and to reach them.

As a holistic healer I’ve been through many, many trainings and certification programs, but before Interchange I had doubts about my ability to work with any person in any situation. There were some people that I seemed to be able to make a difference for and other people that I didn’t know how to approach and didn’t know how to help. Now, after going through Interchange, I know that I could sit with anyone, from any background and find a way to connect with them and to reach them.

Now, even in the midst of feeling apprehensive in a new situation, I have this core fearlessness that comes from knowing that I have done it. That I have been able to make a difference for people and that I can continue to do that. That’s invaluable for me as a healer and someone who wants to work with people different cultures. Knowing that I have this huge range that I can pull from now and having that confidence gives me access to really trusting myself and remembering that whatever I want to do, I can. Madeleina Bolduc, Counselor, Holistic Healer

Steve is incredibly humble about what he offers. He is talented at creating a safe space in which to learn about vulnerability and opening up to love and life experience.

Throughout the course, his way of being -- as a teacher, as a counselor, as a human being -- rivals his eloquence and his wealth of knowledge in delivering his wish for you: that you open up your own true self, free from the shackles conditioning and the reactivity of fear, and expand the realm of choice in your own life. If you are looking for a tool set for getting more out of life, all your relationships, and a framework for making a difference in the world, this is a great choice (even if you don't live in the Bay Area). Kermit Goodman , Life Coach

I just completed my training with Interchange Counseling Institute and it was a LIFE-CHANGING experience.

I don't think many people who know me now would even recognize the person who started the program 10-months ago. I'm so grateful for all the friendships and the community that was created, and the confidence to truly support others in their lives with love and compassion everywhere I go. I will ever be in gratitude for Steve Bearman for his giving so much of himself so that we can heal and transform ourselves and those around us. Jaime Lehner , Counselor

The work of Interchange really does make a difference in the world. It creates ripples that spread out far beyond what we will ever see.

When I started Interchange I scoffed at the idea of making a living as a life coach/counselor. I thought I was just going to get a window into that world to see if I wanted to go to grad school. It's been a year since I graduated Interchange and I now have a thriving practice that completely supports me financially and I've been able to leave my soul-sucking corporate job.

Interchange is amazing. It transformed my relationship to my self, to others, and to the divine spark. I came into Interchange with two intentions: work and self-acceptance & explore whether I wanted to go to graduate school for counseling. I got all of that and more!

Getting a year's worth of intense counseling from my fellow students utterly transformed my relationship to myself. Over the year my inner critic transformed from a panther that would maul me at the slightest mistake, to a slightly annoying yet lovable lab, easily pacified. Interchange creates a container for amazing growth and a community that truly loves and sees you. Interchange showed me what human communities could look like - it's beautiful, and that vision drives me to create it back home.

I went into Interchange not really understanding this life coaching/counseling thing, and really just thought I'd get a window into what that kind of work is like so I could make a better informed decision about whether to pursue some graduate degree in counseling. But I was inspired to offer what I was learning to my local community, and organically this grew into a thriving practice. Interchange gave me the tools and skills to create an environment that helps my clients to grow and be guided by their own inner wisdom. Interchange also gave me the awareness to know when I am out of my depth and need to refer people on.

Whether you're interested in just self-growth, or if you're also curious about whether the art of counseling is for you, I cannot recommend Interchange enough. It is a wonderful community and journey. I'm grateful to Interchange for creating the space where I could get healing, skills, and inspiration to strike out on my own and make my dreams come true. I am so thrilled that I can make a living helping support people in their healing and growth..

The work of Interchange really does make a difference in the world. It creates ripples that spread out far beyond what we will ever see. Alex Leach , Instructor at Relationship Skills Center

Steve Bearman is the most amazing teacher I have ever experienced.

His ways are so appealing to my sensibilities - emotional sensitivity, concrete examples, self revelation, intellectual breadth, autodidactic tendencies, respect for others and a sense of humor. My life has been transformed - I enjoy my inner life so much more, I am learning how to extricate and liberate myself from the past, I have more tools to explore myself and the world around me, I feel closer to my friends (I have more friends!), I am doing more of what I love and I am simply more of who I want to be. Gloria Park, Attorney at Law

I've done a lot of work on myself over the years and participated in many trainings and seminars and I can genuinely say that Interchange is in a class by itself.

It is taught by the incomparable Steve Bearman who is a master teacher and consummate counselor. Steve brings a depth of knowledge, experience, insight and compassion that is impressive. His engaging style of teaching along with his sense-of-humor, authenticity and warmth make him a pleasure to listen to. Although his depth of knowledge is drawn to a large degree from his wealth of experience, he is also extremely learned about a multitude of different psychological systems and theories.

Of course, it's not a one man show, although it wouldn't be Interchange without Steve! There are many other excellent counselors and facilitators on the staff which help to make Interchange the warm and supportive environment that it is. The large group of around 140 - 150 is subdivided into around 6 smaller groups. Our time is divided between the large group, our smaller home group and impromptu groups of anywhere from 2-5 people. In between our scheduled weekends we're encouraged to reach out to our fellow participants to schedule sessions with one another. A typical session involves both counseling and being counseled. Having done many of these one-on-one sessions, I'm impressed with what an effective model this is for learning the skills of counseling. Not only is it an opportunity to observe different counseling styles but it is also an opportunity to try out different intentions, techniques and creative interventions.

All of this interpersonal experience is supplemented by some amazing books from an excellent reading list. Whether you enroll in Interchange for your own personal development or to learn counseling and coaching, I can't imagine not getting something of great value from this terrific program! David Simoni, Counselor

Words fail me as to the ways that Interchange has impacted my life.

Areas of my life that I thought were too painful to look at - huge discoveries. If you have no interest in becoming a counselor or coach, but you want all your relationships to improve with the help of this brilliant psychological laboratory, I heartily recommend it. I'm not the only person flying every month to attend. I can tell you FIRSTHAND that this course is worth every dollar you'll spend, every hour you're flying, and EVERY minute of your time. Don Lloyd, IT Systems Architect

A letter to myself, 5 years ago.

Dear Margo, You're about to go to an Introductory Evening to learn about this Year-Long Counseling Training program called Interchange that you only just heard about a few hours ago. You know that inkling you have that this could be kind of a huge deal in your life? You're totally right, and that isn't even the half of it.

In 5 years you are going to have a kind of life that is so far beyond your dreams that you couldn't even imagine it right now.

You are going to heal hurts that have been with you since you were little. You're going to learn how to cry, and how to dance and how to love unselfconsciously and with abandon. You're going to start to feel 'real' and like you're actually inhabiting the body you've got (instead of waiting for the one you think you should have to show up). You're going to learn how to take feedback and fail and you're going to mess up (a lot) and hurt people and you're going to learn how to really feel the impact of that and apologize with your whole heart.

You're going to figure out what you're here to do in the world and then you're going to start doing it and it's going to be *awesome*. And you're going to learn how to truly help people - how to support them in the healing and laughing and crying and failing and loving that they're here to do in the world and you're going to be really really good at it! I can't wait for you to get here in 5 years and see what you've created - it's a whole different world.

Love, Margo from 5 Years in the Future Margo Brockman, Job 6 Years Ago: VP Marketing at VideoSurf//Job Today: Co-owner Interchange Counseling Institute

What I got at Interchange was equally important as my entire undergraduate education.

If what you want is to learn how to better connect with your feelings and to support others in connecting with themselves, or to be exposed to a very broad range of tools that go way beyond traditional talk therapy, or to build community and find those uncommon deep connections with others who also care about making the world a better place, then Interchange is a good place for you. It was life changing for me." Aurora Winslade, Sustainability Leader and Activist

I don't recommend organizations lightly, but over the last year, Interchange became something special for me.

This is coming from someone who decided not to do it, and then a year later signed up reluctantly, and even then remained cynical and skeptical for a few months into it. Everyone receives something different, but what I got was a sense of belonging that I'd always searched for and struggled to find, and what feels like an increased capacity to love. There's a softness I feel now that wasn't there before. I have a history of my relationships with workshop leaders going sour. Steve and Margo continue to earn my admiration and respect with their dedication to service, love, and their astounding level of humility. " Mike Gittleman, Business Coach

Interchange Counseling Institute was so good that I did it twice.

Is it expensive? Yes? Is it perfect? Probably not. Was it one of the most important educational experiences of my adult life? You bet. From Interchange I got a top-notch experiential counseling training. I learned to support others skillfully while also learning more about my own emotional landscape. I actually became more supportable as a result of this 10-month course.

I also got to do my learning with an incredible community of people who were also committed to service and growth. I made so many wonderful friends during my two years in Interchange, a number of whom I'm still quite close with. One of the things that differentiates Interchange from other such programs is the way it incorporates deep exploration of conditioning and oppression. All of the work taken up the first seven months of the year lead inexorably to the conclusion that counseling can be a liberating practice, a way of getting and staying free. As a black person who works as an organizer, this was incredible. It left me better resourced to do my work in the world, and with a more nuanced understanding of how experiences of oppression can be internalized and wreak emotional havoc -- no matter how liberated one thinks one is. It adds a sorely needed lens to the world of counseling, therapy, and coaching.

There are some personal growth programs (and Interchange's leaders are clear that it is a counseling training in which personal growth can happen, and not first and foremost a self-centered personal growth program) that aggressively encourage students to recruit their friends and loved ones. Interchange has been successful because it's so good that people spontaneously and joyfully share about their experiences with their communities. I recommend Interchange with no hesitation whatsoever.

William Winters , Senior Strategist, Citizen Engagement Laboratory

What can I say about Interchange Counseling? It could as easily be called Innerchange, as that was exactly what I received.

It has been a whopping 2 years since I took this course. The education and continued support are present in my life even now. So often we choose an education and the only real thing left of it years later is the student loan payment. Not the case with this education.

In all honesty--about half way through this year long course--I dropped the idea that I was educating myself so that I could DO more for others (somatic therapy was my career at the time). I found that I was BE-coming something greater then I could have imagined for myself.

Interchange was the first place that I ever felt truly safe to do the deep work of exploring all the edges that I was afraid of showing in the world. As any counselor knows, we become counselors because, "You teach most what you need to learn." Interchange allowed me a safe space to show up without the show of strength and perfection that people mistakenly think counselors have naturally. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble in letting the truth out...YOUR COUNSELOR IS HUMAN.

What I gained in my year at Interchange was not only the resources of self that allow me to function in this world as the healer that I am, but also an ongoing community of friends and colleges that I can count on to be there for me in all ways.

Interchange will expand who you are, from the inside out. I have spent I don't know how many dollars on education; I really would rather not recount. This was the smartest way I have ever used my money. The resources I came away from this time with are never ending. I am still, a year later, reaping the treasures of this training. Soooo recommend!! Juliann Collins, Personal Coach

Interchange kind of saved my life. The life I was living was not the life I wanted to live.

Now I'm living MY awesome life the way I wanna live it and I'm teaching my kids to live their awesome life the way that they wanna live it and enabling my husband to live his life the way he wants to live it so we're showing up fully together. I'm taking off my masks and showing up fully in my life. For me there's nothing else I could ask for in an experience like this. Deb Blum, Life Coach

So who needs this? Everybody. There is not a person I can think of that could not benefit from this training.

If you have read Malcolm Gladwell, then you will understand that I believe that the Interchange Counseling Institute is an outlier. It stands on its own, and has come to us at the right time. If only it could be in multiple places at once. The skills that the psychologists of the world learn are not just the skills to have a clientele that they can help with their problems. The field of psychology trains professionals to listen, to hear, to understand, to acknowledge, to deepen... to love the person right in front of you.

There is virtually no formal training in our culture on how to do this. But psychologists get this training. And not everybody wants to dedicate their lives to becoming a psychologist. The Interchange Counseling Institute, in its "brief" 10 month program, gives each and every one of us, with layman's-terms-training, the ability to learn these skills. So who needs this? Everybody. There is not a person I can think of that could not benefit from this training.

Marriage and Family Therapists are often too isolated in their careers. They benefit from such a community of mutually supportive people learning these skills. The isolation ends inside this community. Psychologists with PhDs have spent so much time in research and clinical studies, that they often miss the human connection part. Interchange Counseling Institute will be good for them, and help them bring all their intellectual insight into their hearts.

Coaches who spend tons of time in their thinking minds now have the opportunity to learn these "behind closed doors" counseling skills that often take years to learn. Interchange teaches the most effective training to learn to support people, and to thrive in your own relationships. Because at Interchange you build relationships. All year long. You can't hide. People love you in spite of yourself.

And the rest of the people, that do all the other important jobs in this world... they benefit from being around all the love. They make lifelong friendships. Love here is not about quantity of time. It is about quality. And when you make 20 appointments throughout the year to sit down and trade an hour each, back and forth, to listen to each other, and help each other heal - well, that's quite a way to spend an evening.

Sign up. And on the first weekend you are walking around the room making eye contact with people, thinking about the idea of what it would be like to fall in love with everybody you meet. And either you, or somebody you make eye contact with, will have tears coming down their face. Because we don't stop and look at each other enough. One of your newest, bestest friends will be in the room. You don't have to look for them. They will find you. Derek Hart , Couples Rebuilder - Founder Of UnderstandEachOther.com

I have the largest, lightest, most open heart after this year of learning with Steve Bearman,

Margo Brockman and the Interchange Counseling cohort of over one 130 of the most beautiful people I could imagine learning, healing and growing with! Our Graduation Prom was the icing on the cake of the most integral, cosmic, deep-human, paradigm shifting, love-spreading, community-building goodness EVER! Congratulations to me and all on the journey of positive, personal and social change. We are all changing the world. I am so utterly and eternally grateful. Katherine Steele, Workshop Leader and Educator at Esalen Institute

Like a lot of people who are givers I was very skilled at giving and not very skilled at receiving.

I was really comfortable being there for other people, but not comfortable at all receiving support and attention. Now, I am different. Interchange helped me recognize that there is love and support for me in the world and that there are a lot more people I can trust then I thought. It was like, "Oh, there is a space for me. I do belong here and people can love me in this group," and I just didn't think so before that.

Interchange and the group were the beginning of a path out of my loneliness, out of my head, out of withholding myself, and thinking too much and feeling too little. I am now taking up more space, knowing what I want, noticing when my needs are met and asking for them when they aren't. I am truly humbled by this sacred journey. ♥ Carolyn Moore, LCSW, Social Worker in Private Practive and Director of the Self-Sufficiency Program at HIP Housing (Human Investment Project, Inc.)

As someone who has done more than his share of training courses, I can confidently say that Interchange is a uniquely powerful learning experience.

Steve radically encourages creating a signature way of helping clients by utilizing any and all personal resources you can bring as a counselor rather than promoting on any particular counseling theory or process. I have so much respect for his ability to share his extensive knowledge of counseling theories and personal insights about the human experience in a way that is practical, compassionate and fun.

The completely supportive and nurturing Interchange community experience that Steve masterfully shepherds provides a safe opportunity to do some significant personal exploration. As a result, I've begun understanding and challenging ways that I have limited my self, my relationships, and my capacity to help others.

Words can't fully do justice to the appreciation I have for Steve, the inspiration I get from my very gifted Interchange community and the many ways that the Interchange experience has enriched my life. Alan Brisbon , Leadership Coach, Course Facilitator at Stanford Business School

Interchange has given me the experience of creating a new story of group and community experience where I am seen,

included, loved, and can be an easeful, active participant --entirely contrary to some previous group experiences. This is huge for me, and I'm ever grateful to have my game shifted in this way! Diana Badger, Owner, Wordcraft Editorial

Interchange is rapidly changing my life for the better this year.

It is a truly amazing community of folks and your world will be a better place even if you do nothing more than attend an intro evening. Obviously even better if you can attend a whole year but don't worry about that yet, just get to the free intro! Greg Berman, Kayak Instructor

On a professional level, Interchange has given me invaluable tools for working with my clients both privately and in group settings.

While I have spent the last decade of my life learning, practicing, and sharing Nonviolent Communication (NVC) with others, Interchange has allowed my NVC practice to become significantly more dynamic, creative, and enlivening in ways that more fully engage my clients and deepen their capacity to heal. My practice feels not only more powerful, but also more meaningful, and more fun. More than college or even law school, the certification I received from Interchange is the first piece of paper I am whole-heartedly proud of. Here's to 10 months of taking risks, showing up, and rediscovering how to love." Marina Smerling, Counselor and Relationship Coach

Interchange is very experiential. You're engaged in a learning process you enjoy, and you're engaged in personal growth while you're doing it.

It's how I think training to be a counselor should be. You talk about it, you get some theoretical grounding in what you're doing, then you watch it, and then you practice it and get feedback. I would say it's really an ideal way to learn.

After Interchange, while going through my subsequent academic psychotherapy trainings, it was clear that I'd had a really good grounding in places where my peers struggled a lot. I was able to just go into internships and immediately be able to work with people." Craig Metz, MFT, Marriage and Family Therapist

Interchange Counseling Institute moved me into embracing my true self and into exploring more of my purpose in the world.

The skills you learn will not only help you with your own relationship with yourself, but any relationship that is in your life now or will cross your path. It gives you skills that can be used no matter if you're a counselor, coach or in any other occupation. If you want to make a bigger impact in the world, this is the training for you! I'd take this course over and over again every year if I could and know that each time I would learn something new that would enhance my life in more ways than I could put into words. Since taking Interchange I have increased my awareness and the way I experience life is more fulfilling. I learned that it is ok to....

• Cry, express emotion, even when it's messy and doesn't make sense
• Connect with men, but in reality with all people
• Fail, stumble and fuck up
• Love the body I was given and to move it
• Speak my mind, my truth and not worry about people pleasing
• Trust and be vulnerable
• Take up space
• Ask for what I want or need without fear of rejection or judgment
• Give and receive honest feedback
• Trust my own intuition (it has been a powerful force that I've fought since I was little)
• Love myself

I'm so grateful that I made the plunge and took Interchange! Amanda Paysse, Digital Marketing Strategist and Business Coach

Beyond counseling and coaching, this has been a training in fierce loving and generosity of spirit, radical acceptance of self and other, and taking bold leadership toward creating the world we most want to live in.

Thank you, Steve Bearman and team for your devotion and your brilliant body of work that has, as of yesterday, released into the world 140 new ambassadors of love, healing, and liberation. Stefana Serafina , Founder, The Mystic Sphere, Embodiment Educator and Counselor

I'm walking away from Interchange with more than I ever thought possible: a concrete sense of my own capacity for healing both myself and others.

Interchange is the best opportunity ever to open your mind to the healing of your heart and take that big step into the rest of your life with a new powerful stride. This is truly an amazing program. " Karen Sandstrom McVey, Counselor

Over the past year, Steve has been my birth coach, helping me to bring to life an awareness of my true self: my power, my feelings, and my desires.

As both teacher and counselor, he inspires the trust and security needed to reach deep into one's core, and allow transformative learning to take place.

Steve's style is experiential. He communicates verbally, and models what he teaches, encouraging the student to experiment. During the Year-Long Interchange training, he created an environment of community wherein the participants developed the closeness, love and support for each other necessary for growth, healing and learning through experimentation. During this process, everyone in the community became both teacher and student.

I would highly encourage training with Steve to anyone interested in developing their own skills as a counselor, or seeking to engage on a journey of deeper peace within themselves. Steve is a master's master, and a deeply grounded and skilled teacher for all." Susan Lourme, MFT, Marriage and Family Therapist

I've never understood myself and others more than I do right now.

Interchange is proving to be as positively transforming for me as the two other most significant personal growth efforts of my life. Each month of the training my ability to connect with all types of people grew by leaps and bounds. And there is no magic to it... it's simply high quality training done in a supportive environment.

Steve Bearman is very skilled at introducing really complicated psychological theory in understandable but not overly simplified ways, and then we immediately put the theory into practice with each other. There is something potently effective about a group of people that comes together over a sustained period of time for the purpose of learning how to help each other and others make the changes they want in their lives. Troy Dayton, President, Arc View Group

I didn't go to Interchange to be a counselor...

I'm a geologist, I'm a president of a company, I manage people, I'm a husband and a father. I went to Interchange to really work on myself, so that I could be a better mentor, a better father, a better husband and a better person. I felt like well, if I work on me, and I get my stuff worked out, then everybody around me, all of my relationships, my work, everything, it's going to be brighter, and I'm going to be able to shine more.

I think everybody should get to go through this process because what Interchange teaches we don't learn it in school, our parents didn't teach it to us, and it's too important to not give yourself. If you go to Interchange, someway, somehow, during one of the counseling sessions either in the class or outside of class, you will start to find and unlock those hidden parts of yourself that you can't yet get connected with.

And once you get a foothold on those problems, you'll find your solutions. You'll find the solution that you've been looking for to reach those goals that you have in your consciousness that you just can't seem to reach. I'm a better human because of going through this process - I think everybody should get a chance to take Interchange. " David Reinsma, President, Principal Geologist at Trinity Source Group, Inc

I experienced so much love, joy, and growth throughout Interchange last year, and the experiences have rippled through my life in ways far deeper than just the basic teachings.

The community that has arisen around Interchange is beautiful and inspiring to behold. I have loved seeing more of my friends join the community this past year, knowing the beauty of the intention and potentiality it implies.

I really want to draw special recognition to the remarkable container this training fosters and holds, whereby a technical and experiential training can unfold among a group of over one hundred mysterious and lovely beings. From what I saw and experienced, Steve Bearman manages to honor both the space and instruction as it was planned, while simultaneously allowing the spaciousness for many many pocket co-occuring realities to arise and unfold, with great respect for the organicity of all involved.

I felt so quickly and so powerfully at home, and I met so many wonderful new friends and travelers. I have never seen such an incredible concentration of love, humility, compassion and human transformation. I cannot do justice with words alone. I give this program my full and absolute endorsement."   Trevor Williams , Somatic Counselor

The most amazing thing about this Interchange journey is that it isn't over. Every person I meet and interact with will get a piece of the love, vitality, and openness that I received this year.

Last night in the car on the way to the Interchange Prom a friend asked me, "How has Interchange, changed you?" As I thought about how to answer this question, many lovely enhancements of my experience passed through my mind. I thought about how somehow through this year long course my relationship with myself improved so tremendously. I thought about how, at this time last year, I entered the course looking for skills to make my weak spots strong, but realized about half way through that in order to achieve true intimacy in my relationships I needed to work to maintain my vulnerability instead.

Then I thought about how all my relationships across the board have become more authentic and more delicious and more supportive. I thought about how much more I have learned because I learned to listen and really hear the people in my life. I thought about all the love I can now bring into every interaction I have that just didn't exist in the Universe before. And then I had it....

The most amazing thing about this Interchange journey is that it isn't over. Every person I meet and interact with will get a piece of the love, vitality, and openness that I received this year. Thousands of individuals will get access to a more alive and unapologetically loving ikka. I'm still a little powerhouse. But now I can lead in an inclusive, supportive and more excellent way.

I can love BIG. Me. I did this - with a little help from my friends. Thank you for your help in changing my world Ashley, Steve, Margo, Troy, and everyone in my Home Group. " Ikka Riley , Operations Strategist, Reallocate

The gifts from my year of study with Interchange Counseling Institute keep arriving.

I led my first ever teleseminar tonight! It was for Interchange Counseling Institute's Business of Transformation study group. WOW. I had so much fun and I received a lot of positive feedback. It has been impactful both for my learning and development as a coach as well as for my personal growth. Michele Fabrega , Getting Real Coach

Interchange is one of the most important trainings I took on my journey to become a successful coach, as well as a happy, fulfilled human being.

It helped me trust my instincts, follow my heart and believe more fully in the possibility of healing and transformation for myself and my clients. Ryan Eliason , Master Coach

It's difficult to overemphasize the depth and breadth of this program.

Somehow, over the course of 10 weekends, we examine and evolve what it means to counsel, to love unconditionally, to heal hurts, to develop resources, to get truly free. My entire conception of what it is to be a counselor is so much more solid and nuanced now than when I began. I feel like I have the necessary tools and strategies well within reach, as well as a certain confidence and fearlessness as a counselor that I didn't even realize I was lacking until I began to understand what a counseling relationship really is, and the potential it holds for each of us. And Steve Bearman is as caring and intelligent a guide as you could hope for. I learned so much just from watching him counsel regularly in front of the group. Perhaps you've considered doing other professional development programs, like Hakomi or going to grad school to get licensed, and I must say that I would really consider this as an alternative. Considering the overall cost, you get 10 weekends of training, plus 6 seminars focused on business and marketing development for your practice, a whole slew of amazing books, and more free counseling than you ever thought possible. Plus, you emerge with this incredible network of like-minded individuals who really want to support each other in continuing this work. " Eve Bradford, Creative Director at LadyApples

This is a program that, if you allow it, will completely transform all relationships in your life.

Through Interchange, I’ve been able to truly trust people, which is not a feeling I’ve ever felt in my life, and that is a wonderful sense of relief. In my personal relationship with my boyfriend (we took Interchange together) things have just gotten so much easier. We can communicate on levels I never would have thought possible.

It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to trust somebody this much, and know that he completely has my back, and I don’t know if I would have been able to do that without this program. I’ve gained actual resources to help me in every area of my life. That’s powerful. "   Shawnee Rivera , High School English Teacher

Interchange has completely changed my life.

I have made quality life-long friends who are also on the path to self-exploration and engaged in breaking down the limiting conditioning that no longer serves us. If you're ready to re-start your operating system, and discover your best possible self I would highly suggest you join this group of amazingly evolved humans for a ride you will never forget. Wish I could do it again!

Thank you to Margo Brockman, Steve Bearman, and Ashley Aron Craig for a life changing experience. You held space for me to truly be myself, you've taught me how to love unconditionally, and most importantly, how to cry. I have so much more to offer now. "   Kat Ebanks, Founder and Executive Director at City Embrace Counseling Center

Interchange really gave me permission to tap into that part of me that loves to play.

It allowed me to get improvisational and theatrical and be connected to my body. Steve's way of living life passionately, his love for people and his love of connecting are what come through in his teaching. He's teaching and transmitting a lot of information but he's doing it in ways that keep you very engaged. As someone with ADD who has trouble focusing, this really worked for me. Every Interchange weekend was totally enjoyable, even through tears, even through hard stuff; I can’t imagine having more fun doing such important work. " Pamela Rosin, Somatic Counselor, Founder of Awakening Presence

Interchange was a game-changer for me.

I have always been a good listener and support to my friends, but I had complicated feelings about asking for my own support. Interchange cracked me open, allowed me to both heal myself and others (which has always been important to me). Interchange can be whatever you need it to be. I know I could reach out to anyone from the program and I would find the love and support we all need in difficult times. I don't know of any other place where I could ask and be answered. Interchange changed the game. Steve, thank you for everything." Tracey Knapp, Marketing Manager

Interchange helped me catapult my life to the next level.

I learned how to support people way more in Interchange than I did in my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program. The skills I gained in Interchange immediately transformed my effectiveness as a therapist. My tool basket dramatically increased - I went from knowing a few ways of supporting people to knowing maybe 100 different ways of supporting people. Sefora Janel Ray, MFT , Therapist

Interchange has been one of the best decisions I've made in my life, and working with Steve Bearman has been such a joy!

This isn't just a recommendation, not just some, "Hey, check this out". This is one of those, "If you attend this, it will very well rock your world and be the first step in setting yourself free!". I cannot recommend it enough. Check it out; you won't be sorry! Karim Bishay, Teacher and Head of Admissions, DevBootCamp

Interchange's business training was clear, concise, powerful, and direct.

It empowered me to take this next step in my own life to start having paid clients. I left the seminars feeling excited and charged up about the possibilities for my life and counseling practice. It was a great addition to the training Interchange has been giving me." Mark Quinn, Counselor

The lessons, the growth, connections, and the love I received from Interchange still bloom in me every day of my life.

If you want to make a difference in the people around you,and make profound shifts in your own being, I highly recommend Interchange. The Introductory Evening alone (free!) is worth it. The lessons I learned that night made a huge shift in how I hold myself with others, professionally and personally. Check it out. You won't be sorry. Sabrina Chaw , Life Coach, Founder of A Feminine Feast

There are so many different life experiences represented and it doesn't matter where you are at, there's something for you.

One of the things that is so unique about this training is that it's not just designed for people who are purely interested in becoming professional counselors, and it's not just designed for people who are purely interested in doing interpersonal work and learning about themselves.

There's something for everyone and one of the things that I really like is that it attracts people from all different walks of life. Amani Dunham, Public School Teacher

My life will never be the same.

I graduated from Interchange Counseling Institute yesterday. A 200-hour program on healing, developing community, communicating, overcoming shame and oppression, and supporting others as they seek to lead more effective, radiant lives. Among other things, my time at Interchange:

• Healed chronic shame and self-loathing
• Supported me in developing a healthy self-image.
• Helped me understand that feeling like I don't belong is always just I choice I have made, and I can always choose a more pleasant thought and investigate the results of that choice. The results of this has led to amazing random situations where I have felt so loved and so welcomed and like I just belong! I belong somewhere! And that just keeps getting better and better.
• Helped me to heal the way I was relating to women. From total panic (fear) to curiosity, confidence, and solidarity.
• Helped me to embrace my sexuality as perfect— just the way it is, without shame. It also helped me to do the same for others.
• Healed long-held, and mostly unexamined, homophobia.
• Developed in me, tools to support people in their own transformation.
• Transformed every relationship in my life towards a more honest and authentic expression.
• Supported me in so many ways through my divorce.
• Allowed me to develop friends, resources, support, and to be a source of these things for others.

My life will never be the same. I DID IT! I liked it so much I am repeating the course next year. This course is such deep work I have no doubt whatsoever that a repeat could never be a rerun. Neal Skacel, Event Production and Sound Engineer

The Interchange experience was a game-changer for me. I highly recommend participating and joining the community in any and every way you can!

Six months into the ten month program, I had already accomplished all of my personal and professional goals for the training!

Personal/Interpersonal Goals Accomplished During Interchange

• Exponentially enhanced my relationship with and commitment to my Self; increased my self-love and appreciation
• Fully integrated my Masculine and Feminine aspects as well as my Adult and Child aspects
• Deepened my Presence with and for the people in my life
• Strengthened my skillfulness and depth of intimacy as a friend
• Optimized my skillfulness, availability and depth of intimate, heart-open connectivity as a partner/intimate companion
• Improved my ability to focus and listen without interrupting or drifting
• Grew and thrived in community
• Participated more than I normally would (examined my tendencies to be reclusive, apart from the group, not engage, etc)
• Discovered and welcomed into my life the intimate-relating model and the Partner that is the best match to my temperament and whole-bodied well-being
• Adjusted with who and how I’m relating socially and intimately and created a happier experience for myself

Professional Goals Accomplished During Interchange

• Deepened the breadth and reach of my impact as a coach/counselor for my clients
• More than doubled the perceived/experienced value of my skills and services
• Infinitely increased my confidence as a professional
• Improved my ability to create safe space and an impeccable container for my clients
• Trained my mind to move from wandering to laser focusing (ninja/warrioress-style) in session
• Removed obstacles that kept me from genuinely caring for my clients and humanity as a whole (healed and transformed any misanthropic tendencies)
• Enhanced my abilities as a facilitator, mentor, teacher, and guide
• Grew and thrived in a community of like-minded professionals and conscious cultural creatives

" Claire Rumore , Counselor and Educator

Interchange will give you the skills you need to start immediately working as a coach.

Within a month of starting Interchange, I had taken on three clients. By the end of my time with Interchange, I was working with enough clients to have paid for the cost of the training. Even better? When I did my taxes, my accountant said that my Interchange training qualified as a tax-deductible business expense.

Interchange really gave me a lot of permission to experiment during the trainings so I could find out what kind of coach I wanted to be. I got to try out a lot of different ways of working with people and figure out which ones resonated with me and felt like my way of working with people.

It was a year of the most powerful training I could have received as a counselor/life coach– we’re talking, “Oh my GOD a-ha!” moments several times during every training weekend. It was utterly life-changing, not just because I’ve gone on to have a successful coaching practice, but because it helped me find my way of being in the world.

Five years later, I now have my own coaching practice: working with people one-on-one, leading retreats, creating downloadable e-products and e-courses - my practice is successful because of the solid foundation that I gained through my Interchange training. I cannot recommend it highly enough! Kate Swoboda, Life Coach, Speaker and Writer

Thank you, Universe, for the opportunity to participate in this life-changing, heart and mind opening counseling training called Interchange.

What a year! I'm so grateful to Steve and the leadership team and all the participants— my new tribe ♥. My sad emotions at the year-end feel much more like tears of gratitude at how far I've come and at my renewed trust in people, myself and my life journey.   Stacey Woodcock , Social and Emotional Learning Consultant

Interchange has given me a sense of calmness and an ability to be more true to who I am.

Because I'm a psychiatrist, I thought people would think that I should have all this shame stuff figured out. But this training and this accepting, non-judgmental community acted as a powerful antidote to all the ways that I had learned I wasn't okay, all the ways I learned to appear to be something I'm not.

Now the value of authenticity is what is most present in my consciousness instead of shame. Interchange has given me a sense of calmness and an ability to be more true to who I am. It has made me more patient with my patients— genuinely warm and more real. Robert Okin, MD, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, UCSF Medical Center

I came to every class and left in total awe, feeling transformed. Best course I have ever experienced.

Lamara Heartwell, Counselor, Founder, Santa Barbara Dance Tribe

Interchange was, simply put, one of the best things I've ever done.

My wife and I took the program together and recently we were talking about it (we talk about it a lot) and agreed that it was probably the best thing we'd done as a couple. A few reasons:

1. I felt like I finally found my Tribe. As someone who loves and values openness, sharing, intimacy, and personal growth work I felt like I finally felt a group of others who were committed to these same values.

2. I learned a TON. Steve Bearman is a genius at distilling big huge concepts (and whole books) into these little bite-size gems that fit in your fanny pack (or wherever you store your gems). The reading was optional and each weekend we had the chance to dig into the material not only in an intellectual way, but in an *experiential* way, through some of the best exercises I've ever done (many of which I'll never forget).

3. I feel like a more equipped, more resourced teacher and counselor. As someone who works with students on a daily basis, I now feel able to deal with pretty much any emotions that come up in my classes, workshops and one-on-one sessions.

4. I made lifelong friends. Okay, this is kind of like #1, but I guess my point is that the Tribe isn't something that's there during Interchange, then goes away. I met folks through the program who will be in my life 'til I die.

5. I experienced healing in so many ways. It's hard to track them all.

What else? I could go on. Interchange is the best. I'm so happy I did it. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for more counseling tools, or healing, or looking to meet amazing people who will hug you when you meet them. Ethan Sawyer , Founder and Owner, The College Essay Guy

I find myself excited and challenged to take on the seemingly impossible.

Within one month of my first workshop with him, I organized and led a highly successful men's support group that met weekly for over a year. This group helped to change the lives of the participants. Normally, I would have come up with many excuses not to start the group, but around Steve, I find myself excited and challenged to take on the seemingly impossible. I highly recommend any workshop he is leading. Adley Gartenstein , Lawyer and President of Film Movement

Steve offers a unique combination of counseling forms and improvisation that fosters growth and understanding in ways that are unusual, interesting, and exciting.

I have found him to be extremely compassionate and insightful, as well as direct and incisive. I would recommend this training for anyone who wants to engage a more expansive part of themselves, and find new approaches to living that are honest and filled with integrity. Rachel Shaw, Yoga Teacher & Professional Dancer

Interchange helped me to drop into a deeper place of presence and understanding and taught me what it truly means to have empathy.

The class is called Interchange but it could also be called "How to Become a Superhero", as there have been many moments since I graduated where I felt confident moving into random situations of conflict to help mediate them or to offer someone a shoulder to cry on in their time of need. Interchange helped me to drop into a deeper place of presence and understanding and taught me what it truly means to have empathy. Even though I am not in the counseling profession, I still use the tools I learned in Interchange on a daily basis. Melissa Wynne Jones, President, Mystic Family Circus

Heart = Expanded. Mind = Blown. Soul = Awakened.

The greatest gift I've given to myself so far was the Year-Long Counseling and Life Coaching Program I just completed at Interchange Counseling Institute AND this incredible community of loving, sentient beings. I am a better, wiser, stronger, more compassionate, more healed, more loving person because of this transformational journey.

I am ready to be an agent of healing and a coach of joy and transformation. Grateful beyond belief. Thank you, Steve Bearman, as well as all my peers who showed up to make this a magical, powerful, and growthful experience for me (and the rest of us). Kristina Joy Gutierrez, Life Coach