Hello, I’m Denise Funfar, M.S., ACC

integrative life and leadership coach & self-compassion teacher

Motivated both by professional curiosity and personal pain, I have studied the intersection of evidence-informed and theoretical interventions for wellbeing and performance for almost two decades. I have seen first-hand the profound impact of widening the lens beyond the current Western model.

I have taken these learnings to develop my own methodology called Conscious Core Compassion (CCC) - to build on mainstream approaches like mindset coaching and talk therapy to include a more holistic perspective.

My clients are motivated and capable, but still lacking in fulfillment. They benefit from an integrative framework that operates at a deeper level to clear away limiting conditioning and finally allows them to move forward with ease.

There is nothing I enjoy more than helping people develop a new way of relating to themselves that comes from an innate place of self-worth and belonging. I believe it is from this perspective that we find true fulfillment and authentic expression in both life and career.

Scroll down to read MY STORY and check out my shiny CREDENTIALS.

My Credentials

My career spans Europe and the U.S. with advanced degrees in business, people and change management. I am an ICF-certified coach and hold multiple certifications in mindfulness, compassion, advanced cognitive somatic practices, and integrative psychology. In addition to 1:1 coaching, I enjoy corporate consulting, leading group programs and teaching at universities. 

Originally from Sweden, I live in Southern California with my two boys and husband Erik.  

  • After working several years in career coaching and leading programs for women, I completed the Leadership Coaching Program as part of the graduate school offering at the University of San Diego. I am a Certified Coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and have experience in 1:1, group and team coaching.

  • I have studied the intersection of evidence-informed and theoretical interventions for wellbeing and performance for almost two decades. I have seen first-hand the profound impact of widening the traditional lens to include what’s coming next in healing and coaching. My training includes a year of study as part of the Doctoral Program in Integrative Psychology at the California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS) as well as several hundred hours of training in somatic trauma healing, pranic healing, Healing From the Body Level Up, and many more trainings in spirituality, meditation, and consciousness.

  • I have two business degrees, including a Masters in People and Change Management. My career spans Europe and the U.S. with experience implementing projects working with HR, C-suites, business accelerators, universities and non-profits. I also worked in recruiting and consultant management for a number of years, providing ample experience in career coaching.

  • I've studied the work of Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Chris Germer at the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion and am a Certified Teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion. In addition to offering this work at the newly created Center for Mindfulness at San Marcos State University, my latest courses were offered at the center for wellbeing at a major medical school to support nurses, therapists, doctoral students and the general public.

  • I have completed my teacher training, practicum, and mentorship at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness Professional Training Institute. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is the empirically-supported benchmark training in Mindfulness, created by Jon Kabat Zinn in 1978. There are currently over 16,000 studies on Mindfulness. Cultivating awareness of our thoughts, emotions, body sensations and senses is the anchor of integrative coaching from which all other practices grow.

How did I get here?

My Own Healing Journey

I want to give you a little background on what has brought me to where I am today.

I spent a lot of my life living with high-functioning anxiety and high-functioning codependency that would dip into depression and symptoms of burnout. 

The theme here is high-functioning! Even when I struggled on the inside with feelings of inadequacy, lack of belonging, overwhelm and self-criticism, I was always “successful” in school, life and career.

I had a hard time separating from external definitions of success to hear my own inner compass of what was right for me. It led to perfectionism, rumination and indecision.

In my early 20’s, my strategy was to push myself to be better and to do more to measure up.

I was labeled a top performer at my big corporate job, gave the speech at my master’s graduation ceremony, and ticked many other boxes of achievement, but I was burning out.

Motivated by both professional curiosity and personal need, I spent the next ten years learning as much as I could about the intersection of wellbeing and performance, childhood and societal conditioning, and approaches that worked to manage my obsessive thinking and socially anxious tendencies. I was no longer in the dark.

I had information and tools, but the symptoms were still there to be managed. I was informed, but still hurting.

It was right after moving back to Sweden for grad school that I started taking classes in Mindfulness. I would meditate in the closet of the one-bedroom apartment I shared with my now husband.

This new perspective that I was not my thoughts and emotions, but rather the “witness” of them became my lifeline to mental freedom.

I was introduced to the concepts of acceptance and non-judgement both from the lens of spirituality and neuroscience.

At 31, I took the course that would change my life: Mindful Self-Compassion by Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Chris Germer.

Now, regardless of how imperfect or anxious I was, I started learning how to show up for myself with kindness, not because I needed fixing, but because I was hurting.

I knew I wasn’t ready yet, but that this message would eventually be at the core of my life’s work.

Around this time, I finally took myself to see a traditional therapist. It was talk therapy. It was short lived. The absence of spirituality and intuition in the traditional mental health setting felt incomplete and surface-level to me.

Also, being results-focused and having already done a lot of self-development, I was interested in finding a healing model that emphasized growth and forward movement.

*clinical therapy is often a critical piece to healing. I could have benefited greatly from developing a relationship with a trusted therapist earlier in my journey instead of going at it alone. GET THE HELP YOU NEED AND DESERVE.

I was referred to an Integrative Psychologist & Coach who practiced Energy Psychology.

This is where things really changed for me. Instead of just understanding my challenges or knowing how to manage my symptoms, I continued to transform with the help of clear goals, applied kinesiology, somatic work and a larger healing paradigm that included mind, body and spirit.

Many of these are the same methods I have been trained in and use with my own clients today, in addition to my traditional schooling in coaching, business and leadership.

Today, what I return to over and over again is the practice of kind acceptance and learning to be here with what is.

At the same time, I don’t experience the same chronic challenges of my past. There came a point when my focus shifted from healing to thriving.

There is a smorgasbord (I’m Swedish, remember?) of effective holistic approaches out there for wellbeing and performance, a surprisingly large amount of them already supported by science, just not yet common knowledge.

I want to be part of expanding mainstream mental health and coaching models. This includes connection to one’s inner knowing and celebrating the unique possibilities and strengths that often also accompany the challenges of highly-sensitive people.

My goal is to create a safe space for you to get clear about what you really want, to release blockages that stand in the way, and to move forward with confidence. 

Self-Compassion is at the Core of all my offerings because so many of us experience disconnect between the way we are and the way we think we should be.

Self-Compassion is the antidote to this belief. 

It gets us unstuck.