The Scoop: Based in Denver, Growing Self Counseling and Coaching is a growth-oriented counseling and life coaching resource for anyone struggling to maintain healthy relationships. Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby, PhD, LMFT, BCC  has gathered a team of compassionate relationship counselors, effective therapists, and life coaches to support people going through turbulent times in their lives. The company offers online courses, informative content, one-on-one sessions, and the Love, Happiness and Success Podcast, so individuals of all backgrounds and orientations can benefit from their professional advice. Whether they’re counseling singles through the dating scene or couples through marital conflict, the Growing Self team focuses on healing the heart and mind and preparing their clients to grow and strengthen their relationships.

After three failed marriages, a single woman in her 70s turned to Growing Self’s counselors to figure out what was going wrong and how she could fix it before it was too late. In a private dating coaching session, Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby told the woman it wouldn’t be easy, but they would work on it together.

Photo of Lisa Marie Bobby

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby is the Founder and Clinical Director of Growing Self Counseling and Coaching and the author of “Exaholics: Breaking Your Addiction to an Ex Love.”

As a trained marriage and family therapist and a board certified life coach, Dr. Lisa takes an empathetic and growth-oriented approach to her one-on-one sessions with singles and couples. She prompts her clients to recognize their dating patterns and make corrections as needed moving forward.

Dr. Lisa had to dig deep to help her client overcome 50 years of bad dating habits, but her soulful advice eventually sank in. The woman realized what she had been doing to cause conflict and disconnection, and she soon attracted and cultivated a healthy relationship based on mutual trust and respect.

Thanks to Dr. Lisa’s guidance, a woman in her 70s was able to learn from her relationship mistakes and create a more loving future for herself. That’s ultimately what Growing Self is all about.

“We do empowerment and growth work so our clients don’t repeat the same old patterns,” Dr. Lisa said. “It’s a longer process but oftentimes it’s a more meaningful process.”

By working with the Growing Self team, singles can build self-esteem and cultivate healthier relationship patterns that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

“I help people heal, mend, and grow from past relationships,” Dr. Lisa said. “We use past experiences as a launch pad to create a new life.”

An Exploratory Process Dives Deep Into Your Emotions

Oftentimes, a Growing Self client has been in a relationship before and is still hurting from something that happened to them in the past. They show up for therapy or life coaching because they want to put that pain behind them and move forward. Simply showing up is an important first step to healing.

Anyone who wants to be in a loving relationship can benefit from Growing Self’s one-on-one growth work. The team has seen clients as young as 18 and as old as 75. Dr. Lisa helps her clients address deep-seated issues and work on becoming the best possible version of themselves so they’re ready for love when it comes to them.

“My clients learn how to trust themselves and love themselves first,” she said, “so they are emotionally prepared and in such a good place that they’re naturally attractive to all kinds of people.”



Dr. Lisa asks her clients probing questions that get to the heart of their personal issues. She identifies bad dating habits that lead to bad relationship patterns, and she nips those habits in the bud. Maybe her client is choosing the wrong partners or maybe the issue is in his or her communication style. Whatever the obstacle, Dr. Lisa addresses the problem with empathy and professionalism.

“A thoughtful dating coach will get to a deeper level to identify what’s going on,” she said. “Do you love yourself? Do you set boundaries? We work through issues to get in a better place.”

Find the One: An Online Coaching Course Covers the Basics

If you want to get to the nuts and bolts of the dating game, then Growing Self’s new online coaching course is for you. Find the One offers practical tips on mastering the art of the modern dating. This online dating course includes five video sessions that cover everything from how to identify the ideal partner to how to brand yourself in person and online.

Dr. Lisa developed the do-it-yourself course as a more affordable and convenient alternative to one-on-one dating coaching. Singles can take this course to get a basic understanding of the dating scene and what they need to do to get the results they want. This course equips singles with the clarity and mindset they need to move forward and create fulfilling relationships.

“It’s about helping people understand what makes them more attractive to others,” Dr. Lisa said, “and how to carefully evaluate new partners so they can move forward in a healthy way.”

Screenshot from Growing Self's website

By focusing on the deep emotions at play, Growing Self’s counseling programs help singles gain clarity.

The Growing Self team also provides other growth-oriented classes including their “Happiness Class” and an online breakup recovery class for those who feel that past relationships are preventing them from moving forward: all of which can support singles on the journey to love.

They also have a “How Healthy is Your Relationship” quiz to help those in new relationships identify possible problems, and decide if they should continue moving forward. These resources are invaluable to daters wondering what’s going on beneath the surface. Whether a client needs career coaching or breakup recovery, this team is all over it with streamlined classes and resources to get them up and running in no time.

Dr. Lisa said the team of counselors and coaches even take their services one step further by offering hands-on assistance in the online dating scene. They have a dedicated personal assistant who can edit profiles, field messages, and curate matches based on years of professional experience. This administrative support takes the stress and uncertainty out of online dating.

“We found a lot of our clients are overwhelmed by the experience of online dating because it does require a lot of time to be successful with it,” she said. “We can act as your personal assistant to make the experience more manageable.”

The Diverse Team Supports People Facing a Variety of Issues

Dr. Lisa has made a name for herself as a love and growth expert, but she is also a well-known authority on breakup recovery. She wrote a self-help book to help singles get over an ex and move on with their lives. “Exaholics: Breaking Your Addition to an Ex Love” is her way of talking sense into readers who are hung up on what could have been and have lost sight of what’s right in front of them.

Throughout her career, Dr. Lisa has looked out for opportunities to help people learn and grow on their own time. She can expand her influence by writing books, hosting her “Love, Happiness and Success Podcast,” and she can expand her audience by growing her counseling team, which she has been doing slowly but surely in the past couple years.

Dr. Lisa told us she has a diverse team of counselors, intended to help people of all backgrounds feel safe and supported. She has added Spanish-speaking, French-speaking, and Hungarian-speaking team members, and she is seeking to add Hindi and Arabic-speaking counselors and coaches. She hopes to bring on more LGBTQ counselors to her community so everyone can have a voice and speak to particular challenges faced by LGBTQ daters.

“When your counselor is someone who speaks your language and understands your culture, it’s a breath of fresh air,” she said. “The client doesn’t have to do a lot of explaining, and they feel more comfortable opening up.”

Screenshot of Growing Self's website

Growing Self offers a diverse array of services to help singles and couples of all backgrounds.

Dr. Lisa carefully selects team members who will support her compassionate mission and carry a positive message into the dating scene.

“Everybody on the team genuinely cares about people and got into this profession out of a sincere desire to help people,” Dr. Lisa said. “Every single day we’re doing our best for our clients.”

She isn’t the only one who is happy with her team’s success. Many Growing Self clients also praise the team. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything,” wrote one former coaching client. “I feel like the adventure of my life is beginning right now thanks to our work.”

Growing Self: Dating Success Starts With Personal Growth

Growing Self builds people up with consistent support and empowering advice. Dr. Lisa and her team of trained therapists and coaches dive deep into emotional issues and educate clients on what they can do to deepen their relationships.

In the past few years, Dr. Lisa has extended her coaching resources and grown her team to better represent the myriad of difficulties facing modern singles. This team has become more diverse as time goes by, and that has been good news for Growing Self’s clientele. The marriage-positive counseling center has dispensed sage advice that has resonated with people of all backgrounds, from young people trying to figure out who they are in relationships, to established couples seeking to strengthen their bond, to hopeful singles of all ages.

Whether you’re trying online dating for the first time or still recovering from a breakup or divorce, you can trust Growing Self to provide you the compassionate support you need to move forward and grow along the way.

“A lot of what we do is prepare people to do growth work,” Dr. Lisa said. “I want to help people wounded by past relationships. I can help them not just heal but grow, so they move on to get in a relationship and have a family if that’s what they want. It’s very meaningful work.”

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