LDS Life Coach

LDS Life Coach — Coaching for Latter-day Saints, from a Licensed Therapist

If you’re looking for an LDS life coach, you’ve probably noticed the field is crowded — and that almost nobody in it holds a clinical license. I’m Daniel A. Burgess, LMFT: a licensed marriage and family therapist who offers life and relationship coaching to Latter-day Saints, former members, and everyone in between, anywhere in the world. Same faith fluency as an LDS coach. An entirely different level of training behind it.

What is LDS life coaching?

LDS life coaching is structured, goal-focused personal work delivered by someone who understands Latter-day Saint culture from the inside — the expectations, the ward dynamics, the worthiness language, the family pressure, the specific ways members and former members get stuck. Good coaching helps you clarify what you want, dismantle the thinking that keeps you from it, and build the marriage, confidence, or life direction you’re after — without spending half of every session explaining your religious context.

I’ve spent more than forty years inside that world — member, missionary, leader — and my clinical career focuses on the places where faith, identity, marriage, and sexuality intersect. Coaching with me is available worldwide; you don’t need to live in a state where I’m licensed.

What I coach on

• Marriage and intimacy — communication, connection, desire, and rebuilding closeness. (Deeper clinical concerns belong in couples therapy.)
• Faith journeys — questioning, staying, leaving, or holding a mixed-faith marriage together with respect. (See faith transition counseling.)
• Sexual health education — unlearning fear-based messages and building a confident, values-aligned intimate life.
• Identity and direction — who you are and what you want, when the prescribed script no longer fits.

Why choose a licensed therapist as your LDS life coach?

Most LDS life coaches are certified through short coach-training programs — some are excellent, but certification isn’t licensure. Here’s what the difference buys you:

• Clinical training. A master’s degree in clinical psychology and years of supervised practice, versus a certificate course.
• Recognition of deeper issues. Trauma, depression, betrayal, and compulsive patterns often hide inside “motivation” problems. A coach without clinical training can miss them — or worse, coach over them. I’m trained to see them and tell you honestly.
• A real referral path. If our coaching surfaces something clinical and you’re in California, Utah, or Idaho, we can move into therapy without starting over with a stranger.
• Ethical accountability. Licensure means a board, a code of ethics, and standards of confidentiality that coaching certifications don’t enforce.

I’ve written a full guide on this decision: Life Coach or Licensed Therapist? What Latter-day Saints Should Know.

How coaching works

1. Free 15-minute consult — we talk about what you want and whether I’m the right fit.
2. Goal mapping — the first session turns “something has to change” into a concrete, workable plan.
3. Weekly or biweekly 50-minute video sessions — focused work with real practices between sessions, from anywhere in the world.
4. Review and taper — coaching is meant to end; we build toward you not needing me.

Frequently asked questions

Are you an active member of the Church?

I spent over forty years in the Church and have since stepped away. I coach active members, former members, and mixed-faith couples with equal respect — my job is your goals, not your membership status.

Can you coach me if I live outside Utah?

Yes — coaching is available worldwide. Only therapy is limited to California, Utah, and Idaho by licensing law.

What does LDS life coaching cost?

Fees depend on format and frequency; we’ll review them on your free 15-minute consultation so you know exactly what you’re committing to.

How is this different from talking to my bishop?

Bishops offer ecclesiastical counsel; coaching offers structured, professional personal-development work with someone trained for it. Many clients use both. Nothing we do requires you to give up spiritual resources that serve you.

Coaching or therapy — how do I know which I need?

Rough rule: coaching builds toward goals; therapy heals what’s in the way of them. If trauma, betrayal, depression, or anxiety are part of your story, start with therapy. If you’re mainly stuck, start with coaching. The consult call sorts this out — and because I’m licensed, you can’t pick “wrong” and end up with someone unqualified.