Catalyst for Renewal - Discover who you are becoming
Compassionate, expert coaching for life's most profound crossroads — career transitions, life reinvention, and navigating grief with purpose and hope. Also serving organizations through culture transformation, change leadership, and talent development.
"Every transition holds within it the seed of your most meaningful chapter yet."
Dr. Susan Sterkenberg, PhD
Doctorate in Psychology - Adult Education &
Leadership 30+ Years of Experience: Author &
Retreat Leader Organizational Development &
Cultural Transformation Consultant
Hilton Head Island South Carolina
Four Pathways
to Renewal
Whether you're navigating your career, reimagining your life, or walking through grief, every journey begins with a single courageous step
CAREER COACHING
Discover your North Star. Build a career aligned with who you truly are — through strategic assessment, clarity, and expert guidance.
GRIEF COACHING
Walk through loss toward meaning and renewal using the Sanctuaries of Renewal — a framework born from lived experience and doctoral expertise.
LIFE TRANSITIONS COACHING
Navigate retirement, empty nests, milestone birthdays, and life's pivotal moments with clarity, purpose, and The Compass Within methodology.
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Enterprise-scale culture transformation, change leadership, and talent development — bringing 30+ years of organizational expertise to your most complex challenges
Experience meets lived
experience
With over 30 years in Fortune 500 companies, healthcare, and education, and a doctorate in psychology specializing in grief transformation, Dr. Susan Sterkenberg brings rare depth to every coaching relationship.
After losing her 23-year-old son Greg to an overdose in 2015, Susan created the Sanctuaries of Renewal Inner Roadmap — a framework forged from research, tradition, and lived experience that now anchors her coaching and writing.
"I don't just bring credentials and experience to this work — I bring insights and depth drawn from my own journey through loss, change, and from that transformation, am better able to support your journey."
30+
Years of Experience
4
Books authored
Written from the inside out
Dr. Susan's books are an extension of her coaching — honest, grounded, and deeply human. Each one maps interior terrain that most people walk alone.
Becoming Sanctuary:
One Mother's Journey through Seven Sacred Spaces of Grief
Available Now on Amazon
What Remains:
What Remains: Music, Memory, and the Miracle of Barbara
Coming Summer of 2026
Wavelengths of Wisdom — Available Now:
Wavelengths of Wisdom: The John Jaminet Legacy Story
Available Now on Amazon
The Stirring
The Stirring: Excavating Your Authentic Self for the Life that Is Waiting
Available now on Amazon
The Approach
Rooted in science;
shaped by compassion
Every engagement blends evidence-based frameworks with genuine human care.
Evidence-Based
Ground in validated
psychological
framework and 30+ years
professional practice
Personalized
No two journeys are alike.
Every plan is built around
your unique values,
strengths and goals
Holistic
Addressing identity, purpose, values, and legacy-not just surface-level symptoms or
tasks
Transformative
Moving beyond coping toward
deep -meaning renewal,
and a life that feels truly aligned
READY TO BEGIN ?
Your next chapter
starts with a conversation
Schedule a complimentary free 30-minute consultation — no commitment, just a chance to explore whether we're the right fit.
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