Chuck Craytor, LPC, NCC
Psychotherapist • Consultant • Life Explorer
For over 25 years, I’ve walked alongside individuals and organizations through times of uncertainty, growth, and transformation. My work has spanned personal and executive coaching, psychotherapy, workshop facilitation, and leadership development—across private, nonprofit, and governmental sectors, both locally and internationally.
After completing my graduate studies in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in 2012, I deepened my focus on how people and communities can develop resilience in the face of adversity. My research led me from Oregon to Eastern Europe and Africa, exploring trauma and recovery not just in individuals, but in societies.
Beneath all these roles is a common thread: the belief that every life, no matter how complex or painful, holds the potential for meaning, love, and renewal.
Chuck Craytor, LPC, NCC
My Work
For over twenty-five years I have worked in the field of personal and executive coaching, workshop facilitation, and leadership development. I have worked with private, non-profit, and governmental organizations. I completed a graduate program in clinical mental health counseling in 2012. The focus of my graduate work was on developing resiliency in the face of adversity, whether in individuals or in community.
Where It All Began
I grew up on a farm along the Willamette River in Oregon. The beauty and stillness of that natural landscape—the river’s quiet strength, the misty pastures, the play of sunlight through trees—became my first sanctuary and my earliest teacher. Nature taught me to listen, to reflect, and to sense the interwoven quality of life.
When I was ten, I overheard my father speak admiringly of a family friend who never said a negative word about others. Something in me stirred. I thought, I want to be that kind of person—someone who sees the best in others and helps bring it forward. That quiet vow has shaped my path ever since.
Even as a child, I was drawn to explore. At five, I packed a suitcase to see the world—though I only made it as far as the neighbor’s house by dinner. The urge to seek and discover never left me.
What I’ve and learned, experienced, and come to understand
There are moments when it seems as if a gentle and still voice is authoring a novel in my life; what appears to be a chance happening is actually an unfolding narrative. My life is composed by the spirit within. Even the people I meet by mere chance often become instrumental in how my life unfolds. Likewise, I can serve in a manner that gives meaning to the lives of others, including myself. Everything links to everything else.
Life is full of unexpected twists and turns. Some people are well prepared for the journey. Others of us set out on the journey ill-equipped and unprepared; led forward by an intuitive inner voice. The maps necessary to traverse the geography before us are varied, unknown, and often misunderstood. We must find our teachers along the way. Having many good teachers throughout the journey is one of my many treasures.
In my view, the world is woven of interconnected threads–we are each linked together. These links are not limited to the human world; they extend to the natural world and all existence.
You exist in relationship.
You have been given the gift of life, and you are irreplaceable. Relationships serve as a mirror for our life.
Life is your most precious treasure.
It is in the most challenging times that you have an opportunity to discover and develop your authentic self.
The real challenge is the struggle to become oneself truly. Not the Self that others might want us to be, not even the Self that we might wish to be, but the deep Self trying to awaken at critical crossroads in each life.
As you learn to live authentically, peace, harmony, closeness with others, and the world around you becomes possible.
The Path of my Experience
After high school, I left Oregon and lived on the East Coast for a year and then Japan for a couple of years. I eventually returned to Oregon to attend the University of Oregon to study Education.
After college, I traveled the ‘geography of work’ for several years working with a variety of businesses in telecommunications, sales, production, and management.
By 1993 I settled into the field of consulting—providing organizational development, training, executive coaching, and leadership development services.
The foundation of my coaching experience comes from several years of conducting and documenting interviews. Starting in the late 1980s I began a practice of interviewing people from various walks of life, especially people in leadership and community development roles. These interviews continued into the late 90’s. In 1996 began a journey of engaging in specific training in ontological coaching, completing more than 30 courses and programs over several years.
In 2008, I accepted an assignment with Bethel School District (Oregon) at Kalapuya High School working with “at-risk” youth. This school introduced me to many fine youth and teachers. In addition, the open-space design of the school provided daily interaction with a dedicated and passionate staff committed to seeing the best in youth.
The experience at Kalapuya High School, along with the urging of the gentle inner voice, led me to a graduate school program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Graduate school led me to research in Eastern Europe (Moldova) to study trauma and resiliency. My studies encompassed both individual and social trauma and how to develop resiliency in the face of distressing circumstances. This research continued with a return to Moldova in 2015 followed by an assessment trip to Uganda the same year.
My counseling practice has been further enriched through years of consulting and coaching individuals and groups.
Creating a New Future Together
I have experienced numerous times the power of kindness, compassion, and love in the possibility of creating a new future out of the present moment. This requires having the courage to trust and respond to the still small voice of our innermost being.
My intent is that these years of exploring the ‘geography’ of human nature, work, community, and the natural environmental will contribute to those I work with and to expanding this fundamental consideration; Life’s profound compassion and love is for all living beings.
Qualifications
- Licensed Professional Counselor
- National Certified Counselor
- Registered with the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapist.
- EMDR Certified Therapist
- Masters of Arts in Community Counseling, Bushnell University
- Bachelors of Education, University of Oregon