Coaching is a partnership with a purpose — and the purpose of our program is to support you make the most of your gifts, be a more self-aware and compassionate leader, spark your strategic chops, beat burnout and, ultimately, make transformative leaps in your capacity to lead your organization or community toward a more just world. 

Spring’s coaches have worked with more than 200 people in 30 countries (speaking six languages) to help social justice leaders reach their goals. Read what our coaching clients say in these stories of transformation.

With roots in human rights movements or experience working with changemakers across the Global South and the Global North, we are savvy enough to support individuals and groups on the frontlines who face complex organizational challenges, multilayered crises and a rapidly shifting global landscape in the midst of a global pandemic. 

We have a particular specialty in coaching co-executive directors, supporting teams through leadership transitions, and nurturing feminist leadership. People also seek us out for support in work-life balance, self-confidence, managing conflict, keeping their staff or team engaged, delegating effectively, and cultivating strong relationships. Spring’s coaches can support you to develop new capacities in these areas and understand your team’s needs, enabling them to fulfill their vision and spark organizational culture change.

Reach out to us to get started today or sign up for the Leap of Leadership, our free monthly online meet-up to support social and climate justice leaders.

 

What makes us different?

Global experience; justice mindset; Interested in the whole you

This isn’t like other types of coaching. Our goal isn’t only to help you live a more fulfilling life but to help you build a better world, too. Many types of coaching tend to focus on either your career or personal life.  For those among us driven by values or fighting for our freedoms, these can be artificial distinctions that limit our potential and stymie our collective ability for holistic problem-solving. 

Spring relies on an “integral” (whole) approach that includes everything that makes us human. Certified in the Integral Coaching® method and drawing on the ideas of a diverse array of thinkers, our coaches will work with you to identify long-standing patterns, understand and leverage your strengths and get outside your comfort zone to work on your “developmental edges”. We combine “past-based” ways of knowing and “future-based” desired outcomes that will propel you to move in new directions in record time. (Scroll down for testimonials from past clients)

Our coaches have roots in Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, which makes us uniquely positioned to offer culturally relevant coaching support. Coaching is offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Indonesian.

 

How to get started?

 

If you’ve never considered coaching before, take our quiz to better understand if it’s right for you.

Check out the different types of coaching services we provide (below). When you're ready to talk to a coach, fill out the contact form below. Our Coaching Lead, Márcia Kodama, will get in touch and guide you through our intake process. 

Once you’re matched with a coach, together you’ll follow a creative and thought-provoking process that will enable you to step into your potential, meet your goals and enrich your bonds with the people you work or organize alongside.  You’ll learn more about the roles that personal values, relationships, action and systems play in your abilities to reach your goals. Through discussions of the somatic, moral, spiritual (whatever that means to you), cognitive, emotional and interpersonal, you’ll learn to see things in new ways, realize the things you care deeply about and flex new muscles. 

If you want to be part of the Spring coaching community, join the Leap of Leadership Meetup, free monthly online meetups featuring expert and peer-level discussions with social and climate justice from around the world.

 

Types of Coaching Services
Meet Our Coaches
Amis Boersma
Integral Master Coach™

Amis is part of our Facilitation and Coaching program teams.

Amis Agung Boersma is an Integral Master Coach™ and workshop facilitator with over 10 years of experience in the field of international activism and social change. She believes people tend to keep their best features hidden – sometimes even from themselves. Often passions, talents, desires and hopes for the future get buried under the overflowing to-do lists of daily life. As a coach, workshop facilitator and gatherer, Amis shines a light on the things that really matter to people, helping them connect to others as their truest and fullest selves.

Amis is Dutch with Indonesian roots and honored to call herself a true citizen of the world. She has lived in Amsterdam, Honolulu, Jakarta, Cartagena and Aruba. She holds a Master in Southeast Asian studies and loves studying languages. Besides languages she devours methods in which we humans can better and more deeply connect, such as Art of Hosting, Theory U and Thinking Environment. Amis loves to sing and dance, and spend time with her loved ones – preferably over a good cappuccino or cocktails.

Home base

Netherlands

Languages

English, Dutch and Indonesian

Proudest achievements

Following through with discipline and joy of my intention to become an Integral Master Coach™ and ridding myself of negative mental chatter.

You became a Spring Coach because…

Together we have such immense power to put our amazing coaching method to work in support of those on the frontlines of justice.

Your coaching philosophy

Only if we are awake to our own habitual ways of seeing the world and engage in developing our own capacities, can we connect with others in a ways that spark change.

Rita Brown
Integral Master Coach™

Rita is part of our Coaching team.

Afro-Brazilian global nomad. Cross-cultural trainer. Leadership coach. Interculturally married 20+ years. Mother. Contemplative. Dancer. Somatics student. Tropical heart. Hiker and snorkeler. Stilt walker.

Home base

Honolulu

Languages

English and Portuguese

Proudest achievements

Raising a daughter. My commitment to healing and developing human capacities in service of liberation and social justice.

You became a Spring Coach because…

To partner with leaders committed to impacting communities from a more grounded, awakened, caring, and effective place. The world needs more of such leaders and I want to join them in catalyzing sustainable transformation.

Your coaching philosophy

I believe in the existing deep capacities of leaders. I’m committed to creating a process of challenge and support that will allow them to recognize and access those capacities.

Archana Deshpande
Integral Master Coach™

Archana is a creative rights advocate, strategist, communicator and coach with over a decade of experience supporting a wide range of human rights and social justice initiatives.  At Spring, she leads the development and implementation of program offerings. In recent years, Archana has also overseen the creation and expansion of OpenGlobalRights — a multilingual, global forum that explores human rights policies and strategies as well as managed and conducted research on human rights organizations and public perceptions of human rights in India, Mexico and Morocco. She has co-authored various publications on the resource mobilization challenges and opportunities for human rights groups in the Global South and is passionate about finding innovative ways to sustain and expand social and climate justice initiatives. She holds a masters degree in International Affairs and is an accredited Integral Master Coach™. 

Home base

Toronto

Languages

English, Spanish, French, and Gujarati

Ciro Fleury
Integral Master Coach™

Ciro is part of our FIRE and Coaching program teams.

Ciro is an Integral Master Coach™ and facilitator. He is passionate about human development and sustainability matters, and has a long history of experience in the corporate and NGO sectors. He’s also a lover of beaches and mountains.

Home base

São Paulo

Languages

Portuguese, English and Spanish

Proudest achievements

Leaving a successful corporate career to dedicate my energy and my time to social and environmental issues. Not giving up my personal development despite all the challenges that have popped up along the path.

You became a Spring Coach because…

Spring’s values and vision of a just society seduced my mind and my heart. I seized the opportunity to support social leaders around the globe together with an amazing group of seasoned, loving and inspiring coaches.

Your coaching philosophy

We’re in the endless path of self-discovery and development. Support, challenge and respect to the client’s gifts, values and longings are the foundation for moving along such a path.

Márcia Kodama
Integral Master Coach™

Integral Master Coach and Facilitator™. Japanese Brazilian Zen Monk. Avid reader and intensely curious student of human nature. Half the size of my son. I love swimming and cats.

Home base

São Paulo

Languages

Portuguese and English (and Japanese and Spanish, although I don’t work in these languages)

Proudest achievements

Courageously changing my career to arrive at a place where ‘work’ no longer depletes but regenerates, and my own growth path is to support others in theirs. Realizing that there is nothing to seek for, while realizing the aliveness that comes from seeking.

You became a Spring Coach because…

Coming together with an inspiring group of practitioners to support leading edge global change makers feels deeply meaningful and purposeful to me.

Your coaching philosophy

A good balance between challenge and support is key for us to grow and thrive. And also, that our specific contexts, in terms of environment and relationships – in both positive and negative ways, directly and deeply influence our ability to manifest our fullest potential.

Barbara Oliveira
Integral Master Coach™

Barbara is part of our Facilitation and Coaching program teams.

Founder of Ecosynergy, the Collaboration Lab and The Appreciation Project. Master Coach. Sustainable Development Facilitator and Mediator. Radical Humanist. Dancer. Singer. Poet. Tree hugger and Animal Whisperer.

Barbara Oliveira (PhD, MBA, LLM) is a facilitator, process designer, change agent and conflict transformation mediator, strategic negotiator and host of meaningful conversations. Barbara is passionate about human connection and the potential that multistakeholder participatory approaches offer to create innovative and inclusive solutions for sustainable development challenges. Throughout her career, she has added expertise in using systemic approaches such as Theory U, Appreciative Enquiry, Systemic Constellations, Deep Democracy and the Thinking Environment, in addition to Consensus Building and interest based negotiations/mediation and has developed sustainable leadership models for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and young women leaders. She co-founded the Collaboration Laboratory focused on fostering a culture of facilitation and participatory decision making in Brazil and founded Ecosynergy – Facilitation and Capacity Building for Sustainability, through which she facilitates, trains and coaches NGOs, businesses, government agencies, international organizations and academic bodies in their initiatives to become more integrated, collaborative and better engaged with their stakeholders, in Brazil and abroad.  Barbara is also a Master Certified Integral Coach™ and a public speaker in leadership, consensus building, and collaboration.

Home base

São Paulo

Languages

English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian

Proudest achievements

To have coached some of the most amazing social justice leaders around the world doing great work. To have launched the Appreciation Project (www.theappreciationproject.net).

Denise Portes
Integral Master Coach™

Denise is part of our Coaching team.

Denise is deeply committed to develop as a human being in her spiritual path, as a student of the Ridwan school for over 11 years. Mindful practices such as meditation and self-inquiry have helped her deepen her understanding of what it is to be human and of what is sacred within us.  She is an Integral Master Coach™ and Family Constellations Facilitator with a foundation training in Body Therapy and a BA in Psychology.

Home base

London

Languages

English & Portuguese

Proudest achievements

My biggest achievement was leaving my birth country, coming to the UK and starting a new life. As well as finding myself as a woman and as a professional, all while raising my two children.

You became a Spring Coach because…

I am inspired by the principles and philosophy of Spring Coaching. I want to contribute to an organisation that develops and supports the change-makers of the world and also learn from it.

Your coaching philosophy

My understanding of the systemic lens informs me of the hidden dynamics that may be blocking and holding my clients back. My approach aims to integrate the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual well-being of my clients.

Kenny Sajous-Georges
Integral Master Coach™

Kenny is part of our Coaching team.

Kenny is an Integral Master Coach™. He is passionate about fostering deep human connection, compassionate self-development, and nature. Born in Canada and based in Montreal, he has also lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and British-Columbia.

Home base

Montréal

Languages

French and English

Proudest achievements

Leaving the comfort of my government job to pursue a more fulfilling coaching and facilitation career. Feeling pain in response to the challenges and injustices of the world yet remaining optimistic and able to love fully.

You became a Spring Coach because…

I deeply want to support the evolution our world is in need of and I feel that supporting leaders and activists who are already involved in social and environmental justice is a privilege, an honour, and a wonderful opportunity to widen my impact. I also love the values and community that are part of the fabric of Spring Coaching.

Your coaching philosophy

I believe that every one holds a piece of the puzzle we are collectively faced with. Everyone is a leader in some way, and allowing that leadership to express itself can only make for a better world for all.

Graciela Selaimen
Integral Master Coach™

Graciela is a journalist who has been exploring multiple ways to listen to and tell stories. She believes women can heal the planet and our stories can alleviate suffering - beliefs that led to her specialization in gender and local development and a master’s degree in communication and culture. After 25 years of working with social justice organizations and activists in journeys around the globe, she decided to dedicate more energy to the journeys inside - and to support transformational work that connects mind, body, and spirit.

Home base

Rio de Janeiro

Languages

Portuguese, English, Spanish

Proudest achievements

My proudest achievement is having raised my kids, who are now two wonderful adults. They both are compassionate, fun, independent, and have deep respect for all forms of life. I'm also very proud of having friends all around the world. Most of them are people with whom I worked in the past 25 years. I love to say that I've planted beautiful flowers along the way in my professional life.

You became a Spring Coach because…

I believe it's critical at this moment in human history to support those who are at the forefront of change, doing transformational work so that they thrive, be happy, create and expand spaces of sanity, and wisdom.

Your coaching philosophy

A deep recognition of interdependence, trust in the wisdom of the heart, and confidence in our ability to overcome the illusion of separation.

Ellen Sprenger
Integral Master Coach™

Ellen Sprenger is a strategist and advocate for social and climate justice. Since 2004, she has been the founder and CEO of Spring. She is a believer — especially in human potential and our collective ability to solve the problems of our time. She is a curious and creative optimist, an espresso enthusiast and avid meditator. Her areas of expertise include multi-actor conference facilitation, future-scenario development, financial innovation and resilience for justice organizations globally, and executive coaching. Previously she held several management positions at Oxfam-Novib and was the Executive Director of Mama Cash, a feminist foundation based in Amsterdam. Ellen holds a masters degree in Development Studies, an MBA from Erasmus University, and she is an Integral Master Coach™ and Certified Integral Facilitator™. She is a member of the Board of 350.org, a movement working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all. Ellen is from the Netherlands and Canada, and has lived in Tanzania, South Africa and the United States.

I founded Spring because...

Initially it was just me wanting to keep busy in a meaningful way after I came to Canada. But a few years in, I became more intentional about supporting emerging and experienced leaders. I chose the name Spring, and encouraged by my mentors and friends, took my own ‘leap of leadership’ to build this global team. We work directly with high-leverage individuals, organizations and movements who exist to make a difference. Spring is agile, and we have roots in the very same movements we support. We are scaling out, not up, and I believe that this way of working, with clients and deeply committed associates all over the world, creates exponential impact. We are a small but mighty powerful group of people ... and we have fun working together!

Home base

Toronto

Languages

English and Dutch

Proudest achievements

To always be ‘in development’, growing and waking up, and to resist the temptation of staying in my comfort zone. (Okay, I try.) And that I have been able to surround myself with people committed to doing the same.

You became a Spring Coach because…

Working with a group of brilliant Integral Coaches™ from different parts of the world is pure joy and very powerful. By coaching thought leaders and change makers globally we help build the capacity to exceed expectations and truly turn things around.

Your coaching philosophy

Whole systems change is as much about changing our interior ‘way of being’ as it is about changing things ‘out there’.

Alexander Streubel
Integral Master Coach™

Zen monk. Integral Master Coach™. Passionate explorer of the human condition and matters of ultimate concern. German mind, Colombian heart. Loves bikes! Ridiculously proud father and husband.

Home base

Bogotá

Languages

Spanish, English and German

Proudest achievements

Realizing that in the end, love is what really matters. Leaving the safety of the family business to pursue my life’s purpose and passion.

You became a Spring Coach because…

I want to contribute towards the creation of spaces where people support each other’s journeys towards giving their gifts to the world. Spring Coaching is a community of people that share this longing.

Your coaching philosophy

I believe that the human potential is the world’s greatest untapped resource.