Counseling the Soul with Sven Erlandson
Counseling the Spirit and the Soul
When it comes to working with Badass Counseling and Sven Erlandson, you’ll quickly discover the meaning of Spiritual Counseling.
What is Spiritual Counseling?
Because Badass Counseling and Sven Erlandson specialize in ‘spiritual but not religious’ counseling, soul counseling may be a better way to describe what you can expect.
Soul/spiritual counseling is fundamentally about connecting the individual to their own spirit, the voice of their soul. It does not involve religion unless that is something that you, as a client want or need.
Learn more about what you can expect from the Spiritual/Soul Counseling that Badass Counseling prides itself on by exploring the questions below.
Facebook Follower Allison R. sent this and wrote, “I love love love BadassCounseling.”
I've never heard of 'Badass Counseling'. What is it?
Unlike psychology and most other counseling, I'm not in the business of teaching you 'coping' skills or getting you out of your problems and diseases and getting you to a state of 'normal'.
I'm in the business of getting you out of all that stuff....and getting you to a place of JOY, ecstasy about life, clarity, and inner peace -- TRUE ALIVENESS!!
-- Sven Erlandson
High-Intensity Performance Coaching and Spiritual Counseling
'Badass Counseling' is a style of high-intensity performance coaching and spiritual counseling created by Sven Erlandson, over the course of two-plus decades. Badass Counseling integrates the deep spiritual identity of each soul with the greater sense of strength, awareness, self-love, and vigor of a life lived in peace and power everyday.
It can be done by phone, in-person, FaceTime/WhatsApp/Skype, and even by email/IM, or self-paced using the coursework videos offered on the DIY BADASS page. Sven also offers 'walking counseling,' where clients walk and talk, for exercise and therapy. Badass Counseling respects and honors social-distancing recommendations. There are Badass Counseling clients all around the United States and in many foreign countries.
The Deeper you go, the faster and more powerful the transformation
Badass Counseling is based on one very core, simple belief: The deeper you go, the faster and more powerful the transformation. It is rooted in going into very deep questioning about the client's identity, past, and present to discern the areas of blockage and beliefs that are undermining his or her existence and, ultimately, ALIVENESS and performance. Though it is 'spiritual', it is not about God-stuff, unless the client wishes to go there. It is about helping each person become who they truly are by helping them remove that which they are not.
Become Your true inner BADASS by having the courage to look at the deepest questions and problems vexing Your soul
Contrary to what the name, Badass Counseling, may seem to imply, this is not some drill sergeant-type counseling, full of yelling, hard plans, and tough love. Instead, we become our true inner BADASS by having the courage to look at the deepest questions and problems vexing one's soul. This may sound trivial, even trite, but true Badass work is far from it and far from easy. It's profoundly challenging, often overwhelming, and profoundly rewarding. You may think you just need a kick in the ass to get you back on track. After literally thousands of clients, over the decades, Sven can definitively state that what you think you need and what you really need are two vastly different things. What you really need is to drill down to the root of your inertia, lack of clarity, and emptiness. And, that is no small thing.
Badass Counseling helps you become who you really are, thereby unleashing your own inner BADASS.
'Badass Counseling' is based upon several fundamental beliefs.
Badass Counseling, as created and executed by Sven Erlandson:
A) Does NOT approach counseling from a medical model, as psychological counseling might. That is, the client is not viewed as sick. Badass Counseling is non-judgmental; only pushing the client to become him-/herself, not who the counselor thinks he or she 'should' be. Thus,
B) The client is viewed as disconnected from his, or her, truest self (the inner voice where the individual's voice becomes one with the voice of the Universe/God/Higher Self), which is innately good, beautiful, and strong;
C) The goal is not to treat, or remove, the depression or anxiety, but to reconnect the individual with her inner, deepest sense of self, which she may not even know exists. When that happens, anxiety and depression often effortlessly melt away. It's hard, but it's effortless;
D) Is absolutely rooted in the core belief that all people seek happiness; and the truest and most universal experience of happiness is a sense, or feeling, of ALIVENESS, clarity, lightness, and feeling energized. To be a Spiritual Badass is not a never-ending state of calm or balance, but instead an ebb and flow of peace and exuberance, joy and sorrow, intense passion and casual indifference. The goal of life is to experience it all, not just run from the pain, sorrow, and fear and try to exist in a constant state of fake-happy.
Yes, but still, just put it in the plain terms of the everyday guy: What is Badass Counseling and why the spiritual and soul thing?
Badass Counseling is based on the belief that the most powerful people -- the most vigorous, the most alive, those at the zenith of their creative output and life success, and the most on-fire people, as well as those who are really giving something back to life -- are those who have connected to their deepest inner self and are living with the balls to be authentic and pursue courageous paths, no matter how much the naysayers criticize. And that is no small thing! This is what it means to be spiritual -- to be intimately connected to, listening to, and courageously acting on one's true inner voice. It is to be, say, do, and become on the outside who you really are, deep down, on the inside. This is true spirituality.
At the structural level, there are few in-session differences between spiritual counseling and other forms of counseling or therapy you might have encountered. Almost all forms of counseling boil down to the same thing: questions and answers -- talking. Spiritual counseling, or soul counseling, as executed by Badass Counseling is little different in its basic structure, except it's just more intense, far deeper, and it moves much faster!
Additionally, pre-session, it is vastly different, as Badass Counseling is the only counseling company we know of that requires all first-time clients to submit a full autobiography before the first session. (See more on this on the page, Work with Me.) This radically alters the pace and depth of the counseling from the very first session!
Spiritual counseling is founded in the belief that the core questions of life -- questions about God, existence, self, and core beliefs -- are not secondary to questions of family, money, career, and daily life, but in fact supersede and drive those subsequent, everyday life questions and issues. Address the former and the latter will fall into line. Connection to authentic self is where true power, energy, clarity, and drive come from.
Who is Badass Counseling for?
It is true that Badass Counseling has effectively changed the lives of thousands of all types of people, over the last 25 years and can effect serious, big changes in your life.
But, yes, Sven Erlandson and Badass Counseling work best with a few types of people:
THE MOST INTENSE PEOPLE. C-Suite, investors, highest-level athletes, presidents of medium and small companies, artists/dancers, fighters, execs, the edgy, inventors, square pegs everyone is trying to fit into round holes, etc. These personality types easily trust and respect him as one of their own -- a kindred spirit. They trust that he's not trying to hold them back or tamp them down, but instead unleash and focus them. This includes achievers who have it all, or have a shit-ton, but are still unfulfilled inside or just plain depressed; as well as those are achieving nowhere near what they know are their abilities.
MARRIAGES THAT HAVE GONE SOUTH. You can have it all at work and be miserable at home. Or, perhaps, both work and marriage are in shambles. The human animal is a complex beast, one with a myriad of internal problems that only the a great counselor can fix. But, two humans in a relationship present such a complex algebra that only the best of the best can produce true results. In this vein, Badass Counseling is NOT in the business of fixing marriages. Instead, as with all clients, marital work is predicated on the very strong belief that the counselor must drill down to the core of who the two people are as individuals, help them each become their fullest self, and only then can each individual decide if he/she wants to move forward with this other person; only then is the individual equipped and energized to do so. Sven works with each individual separately for sessions before ever bringing the couple together. That is how each person becomes their own authentic self, first. In other words, the truth of your marriage may not be to stick together. Are you ready for that possibility?
THE HARD CASES. People who have tried every other option and therapist, yet keep coming up empty -- people and couples for whom NOTHING seems to work. These are often the clients who benefit most from Badass Counseling, for Sven can accomplish breakthroughs and life-changes that most therapies and therapists are utterly incapable of;
PEOPLE ON THE CUSP OF CHANGE -- that is, people who are so fed up with their lives that they absolutely ache for change. Sven brings a nearly instant clarity and insight that these types have been longing for, for years, even decades;
YOUNG ADULTS WHO ARE UNMOTIVATED. Parents are held accountable and kids are unleashed to become the real, vigorous beings they were meant to be. Everything changes!
What about Badass Counseling for couples and marriages?
As mentioned above, the goal of Sven's marriage counseling is not to save the marriage. The goal is to save two individuals and take them beyond 'saving' and surviving to a state of thriving, as individuals. Only after each has begun to hear their own voice and thrive, as an individual living his/her truest self, can they then answer the question, Is this the person I want to spend the rest of my life with? This is done by working with each person individually for 1-4 sessions before bringing them together in session.
Nearly all marriage problems pre-date the marriage. If the marriage is saved at the expense of the individuals, which is generally what leads to significant marriage problems in the first place, there will never be peace or joy. The foundation of the marriage is the relationship two individuals have with their own selves.
But does Badass Counseling really get better results?
ABSOLUTELY!!
Often, the simplest way to determine the effectiveness of any counseling method is simply by seeing whether clients report experiencing greater happiness and greater energy. Badass Counseling clients, again and again, report increases in all these metrics. (See Testimonials page)
A second way to determine the caliber of counseling results is to see whether the client feels the need and/or desire to get more counseling/therapy. Badass Counseling clients regularly report that they don't feel the need for more and more and more counseling. The goal of Badass Counseling is to quickly wean the client off the counselor -- to help the client possess the courage and abilities to stand on one's own as a fully in-tune and truth-living person. Occasional 'check-ups' are common among Badass Counseling clients, particularly when new or significant roadblocks or hardships are encountered. But quickly the ship gets righted and the client is on his or her way, doing great. Excellence Unleashed! Greatness on fire!
Many Badass Counseling clients experience new insights or epiphanies in the very first session. Some experience actual change in the first extended session. For many others, significant change comes in the second or third week. But, nearly all who stick with it and keep opening up, see large life change in just a few months.
What is your rate?
Because Badass Counseling goes very deep and moves very quickly, and because it requires that the client submit an autobiography before the first session, in most cases the overall amount of money spent on Badass Counseling is thousands of dollars lower than that spent on normal counseling with a mainstream therapist.
An hour means an hour. For most therapists and counselors, if you pay for an hour, you actually get 50 minutes, or even 45 minutes, of counselinng. With Badass Counseling, if you pay for two hours, you get 120 minutes of counseling. So, because sessions are ten minutes longer, that means that basically every sixth session YOU ARE GETTING ANOTHER FULL SESSION FOR FREE!
IMPORTANT: All first sessions are a mandatory minimum four hours, up to a maximum six hours. The 4-6 hour first session is required (5-6 hours is strongly recommended and the most popular, but not required) simply because it is usually at the end of the second or third hour that the client finally starts trusting and opening up more, and things start to really click. All follow-up sessions, which do NOT have to be every week, are a minimum two (2) hours, but can be as high as six (6), but that is up to the client.
Core rate is $500/hour. No insurance accepted.
IMPORTANT: Additionally, Sven is the only counselor to require every client to submit a full autobiography (Max 10 pages, 1.5-spacing or double-spaced with 1" margins), so that the client gets a counselor who walks into the first session with full fluency in his or her life story, rather than a therapist who spends 8-10 sessions learning the client's story...and all the while the therapist charges the client. There is no charge for Sven Erlandson reading and learning the autobiography before the first session (must be submitted a week before first session; autobio is waived in certain rare cases where client privacy is paramount). Read more about the autobiography and requirements on 'Work with Me' page; click on 'Counseling.'
Some clients choose a full-day intensive (eight hours) or 3-day intensives, which generally run 20-25 hours, depending on circumstances.
All follow-up, ongoing sessions are minimum two-hour sessions (up to four hours), rather than just one hour long, because nothing great gets accomplished in one hour.
*Insurance not accepted.
You do house calls and phone counseling, really?
Yes.
In fact, a high percentage of Sven's clients are not located in Manhattan (main office) or Greenwich/Stamford, or even the greater NY Tri-State Area. Because of a vast readership of his spiritual- and counseling-related books, as well as strong word-of-mouth, over the decades, Sven has a client base that extends from the Virgin Islands to Japan, and from Brazil to Italy.
Thus, the transition to a COVID-dominated world has been no major shift for Badass Counseling. We've been doing this remote counseling for decades..
Interestingly, yet completely contrary to common thinking, Sven has found phone/online counseling to often be more effective than in-person counseling, in no small part because the client can communicate from the comfort and security of familiar surroundings.
What do I most need to know about Badass Counseling or working with Sven Erlandson?
The effectiveness of any counseling is rooted squarely in the client's trust of and respect for the counselor, and the client's willingness to keep opening up, more and more. Fact. After that trust, effectiveness is determined not just by a therapist's knowledge or even years of experience, but ultimately in their cultivated ability to look inside, see the cancer afflicting that person's spirit, excise the spiritual tumor, and then create new infrastructure and courage for that person to engage life in a new way.
What makes Sven Erlandson qualitatively different from most therapists, pastors, and counselors is that clients innately trust him. Further, Sven is just really, really good at what he does! Many say he is simply the best!! His questions take a client to places they have never been or never thought of. His wisdom is compelling. And his ability to truly grasp a person and his or her life situation is unparalleled.
If you are
- resistant to opening up,
- convinced you know better than anyone else, or
- if your pain in life hasn't gotten bad enough that you're willing to consider that you may not have all the answers, or
- you're just a fucking dick,
please don't contact us! You're wasting your time and money, and Sven's energy! Sven pours massive amounts of energy, attention, and focus into his clients. And, he simply doesn't have time to be jerked around by people who don't truly want change.
But if the pain of life has gotten bad enough -- in whatever form that pain has come -- such that you are hungry for change, CONTACT US NOW!!
LET US BRING YOU THE JOY, CLARITY, POWER, PURPOSE, FULFILLMENT, SATISFACTION, AND PEACE YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOUR WHOLE LIFE!
“Change will not occur until the pain gets bad enough.”