Life Performance Coaching
“Doing group coaching with Randi has transformed my life. I came to her in my late 20s, an anxious, depressive young woman with a raging eating disorder. Over seven years of coaching together, I learned to share my vulnerability, to not live life alone in my head, and gradually, I came into myself: I came out as gay, left my marriage, embraced my gender fluidity, learned to live happily on my own. In short, I feel free. This coaching is a rare gift.”
— Sarah, 34, writer, Oakland, California
“I’m deeply grateful for Thecla’s guidance and support during a pivotal career transition. Her insight, encouragement, and tools helped me gain confidence in my next steps as I moved towards aligning my professional life with my life goals. I highly recommend her as a coach to anyone seeking a thoughtful partner in their professional journey.”
— Thecla’s Client
“My partner and I have been members of Joyce and Randi’s partners group for the past five years, and it’s difficult to overstate the impact it has had on our relationship. This is not traditional couples coaching. Randi and Joyce offer a radical, deeply humanistic approach that challenges the privatized and often isolating ways in which we typically view relationships.
Part of what’s exciting about being in the group is that we, as partners, are part of creating and building the group. This is one of the most intimate activities that we do together. Creating meaningful relationships with Joyce, Randi, and the group members has helped our relationship grow in so many ways.”
— A couple from Brooklyn, New York
Director
Joyce Dattner is a life performance coach who has led groups and practiced social therapeutics for over 40 years. Joyce directs Life Performance Coaching and leads virtual social therapeutic coaching groups from coast to coast. While a NYC public school teacher in the 1970s, she joined East Side Institute founder Fred Newman and other educators and helping professionals in developing social therapeutics. A faculty member of the Institute’s Social Therapy and Emotional Development Department, Joyce is an accomplished teacher and facilitator who has travelled the globe to help advance social therapeutics. She is founding director of the All Stars Project (ASP) of the San Francisco/Bay Area and a former member of the ASP national board.
Staff
Helen Abel is a life performance coach who has practiced, and helped develop, the social therapeutic approach to human development. She co-leads short term groups on “Creating New Performances of Growing Older” , which is open to everyone interested in transforming the aging experience from loss, fear and stigma to joy and growth. She loves to help people of all ages create new ways of dealing with the challenges of everyday living and believes she can most effectively help people develop by supporting them to use their capacity to create, perform, and play. She has been instrumental in building LPC as a hub for performance activism and has led workshops in London, Greece, Serbia and the US.
Thecla Farrell is a long-term practitioner of the social therapeutic method with a deep commitment to human growth and development. A seasoned political and avant-garde theatre builder, Thecla has also been an influential youth development leader and corporate contributor. As a graduate of the East Side Institute’s study program for group leaders, Thecla brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to her work.
She co-leads transformative group sessions at Life Performance Coaching alongside Joyce Dattner, Fanny Suarez, and Randi Wilson, creating spaces where individuals thrive in a supportive, growth-focused environment. The art of co-creating an environment with clients for growth and development excites her to tears. Having dedicated her life to human development and community building, Thecla is passionate about helping people navigate through ordinary and tough moments in their lives.
A true advocate for development, Thecla believes that coaching should be available to anyone who seeks it, empowering them to create new choices. Through her work, she fosters environments where growth, self-awareness, and transformation are possible.
Fanny Suárez was born in Colombia and raised in New York City. She moved to San Francisco in 1991, where her lifelong criminal justice career began. Fanny’s passion for creating new opportunities for ordinary people has always guided her work. For 16 years, she worked as a court interpreter at the San Francisco Superior Court. During this time, Fanny fought for language access and exposed the injustices faced by limited-English proficient communities. Today, Fanny works as an investigator in the San Francisco Public Defender Office, telling the complex stories of those trapped in the criminal (in)justice system.For the past 22 years, Fanny has been building social therapeutics as a group member, trainee at the East Side Institute, and newest member of the Performance Life Coaching team. She is excited to continue building a collective life and growing the community.
Randi Wilson (she/her • transgender woman) is an experienced life coach trained in social therapeutics who excels at creating intimate and philosophical environments that are both loving and challenging. Having lived with HIV – and faced other serious challenges – over the last four decades, Randi is passionate about helping clients become more creative choice makers and believes that participating in building communities of development helps to reshape and redefine their relationship to emotional and physical pain.