Appreciation From Clients

Like many people, I was sceptical about undertaking coaching and I wasn’t sure whether it would be helpful for me.

Having reached out to Darren and following an exploratory call I knew that his approach would be perfect for me, helping me move some critical projects forward. 

Darren provides a listening and non-judgemental ear which he supplements with insightful questions to encourage you to think through what issues are at the heart of whatever problem or challenge you might have. 

He has a brilliant intuition and ability to ask the right questions and help you understand how to take projects, ideas or challenges forward. I have worked with Darren for over a year now and have found his service to be invaluable. 

As a Queer creator who is trying to make a difference being able to draw on Darren’s skills and expertise has helped me to understand where best I can make an impact and how to go about it. He is a brilliant coach for any Queer person, member of the LGBTQ+ community or anyone who is trying to make a positive impact in their community. — Lachlan Smith — Birmingham Unicorns Cricket Club

Finally, I'm getting started after not knowing how.

I now have a lot more clarity about my offerings and what steps I need to take to move forward.

Last night, I had a trial session with a friend. Getting back into the practice was helpful for my confidence and clarity around what it is that I’m doing and offering. In the past few days, I’ve been reaching out to people and am excited about the movement of getting the word out.

After our session, I wrote down details about what it is I am offering and who I’m offering it to.

Your comment about my anxiety and the fear of judgement coming from a lack of confidence really was the thing that stood out to me most and has been helpful in moving things forward. Rather than trying to power through the anxiety, I’m learning to do what I’m ready for now. Instead of focusing on the end goal I feel like I can focus on building my confidence with my work, and actually practicing it, which feels connected to everything else.

It is much more expansive, it feels a lot more clear, and a lot less overwhelming. — M.B.

It’s like you hold up a mirror to help me so more clearly what’s going on with myself.

You help me tease apart the different threads and untangle the knots. I can then lay everything out to see what it looks like and decide what to do. What I like about your approach is that it’s very gentle but also practical. I come away with things I can do that I feel comfortable with that help me to be more productive. — Jon Carl Lewis — Sex & the Gay Chrisitan

As a freelancer, being held accountable is essential to my productivity and satisfaction, yet it’s been the easiest thing for me to sweep under the rug.

I reached out to Darren recognizing that how I’ve been operating no longer works for me and who I want to be in my life. Darren is an incredibly gracious, wise, and generous mentor and coach. Working with him has been fundamentally transformative. He offered insights I can apply practically to my life — not just theoretically.

Our work uncovered where I have been deluding myself, exceedingly hard on myself, and resisting acceptance of what is. We reframed narratives I’ve been telling myself and illuminated actionable ways I can reach my goals. The amount of time, energy, and attention he’s offered me, even after a session, reflects his heart and passion for his work and being of service.

I am grateful to Darren for infusing my life with newfound hope and excitement! — Eric H., Los Angeles

"I just had a fucking awesome session with Darren!

Ro Rose, Somatic Gender Embodiment Coach

My biggest takeaway from the LGBTQ+ Creator’s Forum was when you asked me, “What is the intention in your social media share?”

I loved that when discussing specific marketing tactics and other business logistics you kept inviting participants back to the heart of our work. I especially appreciated the sustainability element of this insight. Not only will our work be more enticing if it is shared with passion, but our outreach strategies will be more sustainable when we commit to approaches that feel interesting to us, rather than struggling with those we find tedious to follow through on.

In the forum, you helped guide me toward a combination of approaches I hadn’t thought of. Like combining short video clips (appealing to followers and good for the algorithm; not too daunting to create because they have to be short) with links to longer text posts (long-form writing as my preferred medium).

I felt that your attuned listening and curious open-ended questions allowed for the spaciousness to find our way to that possibility collaboratively and organically. — Kota, Montreal

I found Darren when I was researching how to start a book-writing project.

He spoke exactly to what I was feeling at the time, I felt lost – stuck like I was waiting for something to happen. If you have been on his website, you can see his message loud and clear, it was like a loudspeaker immediately connecting with what I was feeling.

When we spoke on our first call, he came across as one of the most sincere, honest people I have ever met. He was genuinely interested in what I had to say and was powerful in his way of asking questions that led me into deeper constructive self-probing.

After we spoke, I immediately saw there was great value in continuing the relationship and having him as a coach. He guided me to do a mind-mapping session that, with his questions, opened the path forward and helped me get unstuck. After many sessions, he continues to provide great feedback but more importantly, continues to ask questions that redirect me in reflection and lead to the next steps.

Darren has helped me open the path forward on my book project and has also helped me see my own way forward on a larger scale as well. He has shown me many things about the publishing and web blogging world I would never have thought of, as well as pointing me in the right direction when needed to learn more as I proceeded in the book project.

I feel that Darren’s mission in life is to help LGBTQ people see their own value and then empower them to do and be more, giving back to our community in the — George Baez, San Diego

I met Darren a number of years ago when I signed up with him to be my personal trainer.

He was extremely supportive and motivating, but what I remember most about my first experience with him, was his ability to relate to me. When he evolved into being a life coach I was very excited and signed up right away.

Darren’s life experiences have truly made him an example of overcoming hard situations and made him an exceptionally unique coach, as he can relate to individuals on so many levels. His humanity and passion are the most beautiful qualities that show when you speak to him. All you have to do is read his writings and listen to him and you will know what I’m talking about.

Darren has the gift of being able to deduce and understand situations and get a person to talk without reservation. He asks the right questions and is a master at initiating thought-provoking conversations.

He has kept me grounded, focused, and positive. People around me have noticed the impact as I have become more self-aware and improved my confidence to get to the next level with his help and support. — Nada Elbard, Toronto

I remember after our initial meeting, I left with the confidence that you were the right person to work with.

We spent a long time (longer than the allotted time I remember) discussing what my goals were and what challenges I’d faced in the past in reaching them. You talked about your approach and how you worked with your clients. You didn’t promise success but did promise you would partner with me to achieve success, to the extent that I was committed to success. It let me know that if I wanted real and sustained change I had to actually work at it outside of the coaching session.

In the past, I thought my job was to show up for the session and success would follow. You made me see that I had a bigger role to play than that. You encouraged me to remember why I was doing this work and to focus on that. The realization that my attitude was as important to reaching and sustaining my goals as the coaching itself was revolutionary.

Whenever I’m discouraged by a bad week you’d mention where I’ve come from and how much progress I’ve already made. You have confidence that I’ll succeed and that confidence is infectious. I’d see how you’d adapt to find ways to explain new habits and to get into my head to figure out what was holding me back.

You don’t ever let me quit. You care about the whole person. — Brent Knowles, Toronto

Darren is compassionate and enthusiastic.

His podcast, Think Queerly, has helped me immensely on my path of personal growth. He covers a range of vital topics, including challenges and opportunities unique to gay men, in a manner that is easy to comprehend and never feels negative or condescending.

Listening to Darren and learning from him has helped me better understand myself and pushed me to realize my potential. — Aric Furfaro

Congratulations on launching the podcast!

I’m glad that your next big goal is finally taking off, and I can tell — finishing the first episode now — that it’s going to be a big success. I love podcasts with an incredible passion, but one of the biggest things that I’ve noticed is that there aren’t enough LGBTQ+ voices using the medium. Thank you for being that voice.

Thank you for the work that you’ve done for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. From coaching, writing, editing, podcasting, and motivating, you’ve projected so much of your advocacy into the growth of others, and that makes you a phenomenal leader.

Speaking for myself, you’ve helped me grow so much as a person ever since I first joined the publication only a few months ago. It’s been an amazing pleasure to work with you, and I can’t wait to continue doing so. — Benny Phi