Life Performance Coaching
“Helen Abel and Eileen Moncoeur’s ‘Creating New Performances of Growing Older’ came along at just the right time for me. Feeling isolated by the COVID-19 quarantine, I was connected through Zoom with a group of people from around the U.S. who were in various stages of aging. Through performance techniques and thoughtful leadership, I found myself really caring for the others…and will never forget the two couples who were dealing with dementia. Both women who cared for their husbands told of how much love they each felt for each other even though their lives were greatly changed. It is inspiring and hopeful to realize that life can be rewarding even in troubling times.”
— Susan Van Kuiken
“What are we going to create tonight?” is always on our minds, if not said out loud. The group has such a rich palette to work with. Joyce and Randy are life performing masters and I enjoy doing the hard work of creating with them each week.”
— Alice, 70, administrative coordinator, retired, New York, NY
“Joyce and Randy are an amazing co-coaching partnership! My partner and I have gotten closer, are more playful and loving thanks to our work with Joyce and Randy in their partner group series. It is so powerful to participate in building a group with other partners that is not about fixing problems in the relationship! Joyce and Randy are so skilled at helping us broaden our views and getting out our own couple narratives.”
— Jennifer Bullock, 52, psychotherapist, Philadelphia, PA
“My participation in a series of shorter-term” Creatively Aging” groups has allowed me (at age 60) to work with fellow travelers (aged 50s through 90s) on improvising some heartfelt, playful ways of experiencing the passage of time, the significance of illness and physical changes – and our shared capacity for lifelong development throughout our whole lives. As a member of a longer-term ongoing group…I am moved by how a group of diverse individuals can commit to meeting regularly, jointly producing an unpredictable something that didn’t exist before, and shape-shift in ways that enable new conversations with the rest of the changing world.”
— Sean, 60, consultant, San Francisco, CA
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 in-person and 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 for over four decades. She co-leads short term groups on “Creating New Performances of Dementia, Memory Loss, and Growing Older.” Helen also leads the Playground series, which helps participants discover their capacity to create, perform and play. She has been instrumental in building Life Performance Coaching as a hub for performance activism and has led workshops in London, Greece, Serbia and the U.S. Helen received her MSW from New York University and has worked at a number of social service and health agencies, including Alameda County Behavioral Health for 23 years.
Jill Battalen coordinates community engagement at Life Performance Coaching. She was first introduced to social therapeutics over 30 years ago while working as a social worker in NYC-based agencies and mental health centers. A passionate advocate for creative aging, Jill is active in the San Francisco Bay Area aging and dementia community and is a founding member of Reimagining Dementia: A Creative Coalition for Justice, an international initiative. Jill also leads a weekly virtual senior support group for the National Council of Jewish Women New York. She worked with the All Stars Project (ASP) and Castillo Theatre in NYC for 15 years and currently volunteers for the ASP in the Bay Area.
Raquell Holmes, Ph.D., trained in social therapeutics, improvisation and the life sciences, is a pioneer in bringing performance and play to scientific and technical communities. In her short-term professional development groups at Life Performance Coaching , people are helped with the emotional, performative, philosophical and political challenges of creating their lives at work. 
Eileen Moncoeur is a long-term practitioner of social therapeutics who has dedicated her life to human development and community building. She co-leads short-term groups on “Creating New Performances of Dementia, Memory Loss, and Growing Older” and is studying with the Institute to become a Life Performance Coach. As a non-profit leader over the last 23 years, Eileen has collaborated at all program, fundraising, executive and leadership levels with local leaders in South Asia to carry out successful education, health and economic empowerment initiatives within their communities. Eileen has a BA from Smith College, is Executive Director of Sabal Foundation, serves on the board of Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand and is mother to Marcos.
Eunice Stronger is business manager for Life Performance Coaching. Eunice is an experienced organizer who over the last 45 years has helped build a multi-racial movement to end poverty and promote development. She has managed drives for grassroots independent candidates, coordinated street campaigns for the NYC Unemployed and Welfare Council and co-led efforts to secure Top Two Open Primary and redistricting reform in California. A small business leader, Eunice owns a billing service for mental health providers. She is also a talented musician whose love of music, beautiful voice and guitar playing brings joy to all who know her.
Randy Wilson (they/them/theirs) 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, Randy 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. As director of the East Side Institute’s Tech Production Team, they have helped lead an expansion of the Institute’s global offerings.