I’m Samaneh. I help capable people get clear on what they want, and get better at the relationships that matter most.

I’m a relational and life coach working online from Montreal. My work is warm, direct and practical: part pattern-reading, part skill-building, part honest conversation about what a good life looks like by your own standard, not mine.

Samaneh smiling, in a sage embroidered jacket over a white tee — Samaneh. Relational & life coach, online from Montreal.

Long linen curtains moving at a tall old window, plants on the sill, morning light

What it’s like in the room.

I lean in, with my attention and with my questions. I’ll ask the follow-up most conversations skip, because I’m trying to understand you past the usual surface.

Then I reflect back what I’m hearing. I conceptualize quickly and I’m good with words, so you’ll often hear your situation described more clearly than you’ve managed yourself. There’s real relief in that, in realizing you make sense.

I hold the structure, so you don’t have to. People often say, “Sorry, I just rambled for five minutes.” Then I tell them what I heard, and they relax. You never need to arrive making sense. Helping with that is my job, always.

I’m warm, and I won’t just nod along. I love a good challenge to an idea, yours and mine.

Borrow my clarity while you build your own.

Why coaching

My background in relational work, including psychotherapy, shapes how quickly I see patterns. I built Groundwork as coaching because it lets me work forward on skills, values and real-world change, and be a resource to my own community.

What I draw on.

Attachment & relational dynamics
How you connect, protect yourself and react under pressure, with a partner, a business partner or family. We make the patterns visible, find the skill gaps, and practise new moves.
Lonicera & Clematis. Two plants, one stake. Each shapes how the other grows.
Values & self-concept alignment
The gap between the identity you’ve built, what you think you should value, and what’s actually yours. When they line up, decisions get simpler and validation comes from the inside.
Silphium laciniatum. Its leaves line up north to south. It knows which way it’s facing.
Nervous system & emotional literacy
Some parts of being human can’t be bypassed with willpower. We learn how your system reads a moment, how to decode its signals, and how to trust them.
Mimosa pudica. Folds at a touch. Opens again once it’s safe.
Spiritual & philosophical grounding, if you want it
An optional add-on. Bring your faith or philosophy in, in your own language. If it doesn’t matter to you, we leave it out entirely.
Taraxacum officinale. Holds on, then lets go. The seeds travel.

All of it is trauma-informed: paced, consent-led, and respectful of what your system can handle.

Working with your wiring, not against it.

Part of being human is a protective system built to keep you alive, and to keep you from rejection, which for most of history was just as dangerous. You can’t bypass it with willpower or brute force. It’s wired in, and it can override what you consciously want for the sake of protection.

So we get to know it well. We learn to spot its false alarms, the moments it treats a hard conversation like a threat, and we stop letting those alarms make the decisions. That’s where real choice opens up: acting from what you love rather than from what you’re afraid of.

“Are you doing this because you’re scared of what happens if you don’t, or because it’s what you love?”

The Groundwork Loop: Knowing, Wanting, Moving.

Self-reflection isn’t meant to go on forever. Its job is to get you to an honest answer to one question, what do I actually want?, and then help you move. We loop through three stages and go back whenever we need to.

Hit a block? Loop back, clear it, keep going.

KnowingWe map your self-concept, your relational patterns, and the coping moves that used to protect you. Just long enough to see what’s in the way.Move on when the analysis has done its job, before it turns into spinning.
WantingWe clear away choices made from fear, guilt or the need for approval, and reach the part of you that knows what a good life looks like by your standard.We test it: relief, or resonance? Like hunger, your body can tell the difference.
MovingWe turn clarity into real conversations, boundaries and choices, in steps sized to prove to your nervous system that moving toward what you want is safe.When a block shows up, we step back into Knowing or Wanting, clear it, and keep going.

Paced isn’t small.

Freezing isn’t laziness. It’s your nervous system saying it isn’t sure you’re ready. Each step is sized to your capacity, so you get lived proof that the thing your system thought you couldn’t do is more within reach than it expected, and that you can handle the feelings when it doesn’t land the first time.

A hard day can still be a good one.

The Pillow Standard is a clear, personal definition of the values and daily behaviours that let you put your head on the pillow at night and know you showed up as a good version of yourself, without needing anyone else’s sign-off.

For perfectionists, we often swap “get it right the first time” for values like adaptable, resourceful, ready to learn. If that’s how you showed up today, today was a success, whatever the outcome. The outcome isn’t the measure. Living your values is.

A one-page nightly check-in is in the works. Letters readers will get it first.

A corner of a study: a wooden bookshelf of cloth-bound books, a brass lamp, and a mandarin on a saucer — The shelf. Read, argued with, read again.

On my shelf.

I’m a reader and a debater at heart. I love thinking about how to live, and challenging ideas until they hold up. A few influences you might notice in our work:

Letting Go
David R. Hawkins
On noticing feelings and releasing them, instead of being run by them.
Book · 2012
A Return to Love
Marianne Williamson
On choosing love over fear.
Book · 1992
The School of Life
Founded by Alain de Botton
Philosophy made practical, for everyday emotional life.
Creator · Since 2008

Not required reading. Just good company.

Is this a fit?

A good fit if…

you’re capable on the outside and ready for more on the inside.
you’d rather build skills than vent.
you want honest reflection, not a cheerleader.
you’re willing to try new moves in real life between sessions.

Not the right fit if…

you’re in crisis or need mental-health care. Please reach out to a licensed provider, or call or text 988 in Canada.
you’re looking for someone to agree with you.
you want a quick fix without practice.

Ways to work together.

Every package is personalized after the discovery call. There’s no price list and no pressure. Sessions are weekly and online, by video.

Get started: A focused arc to build momentum, then you carry on independently.
The full arc: Support all the way through. Longer packages cost less per session.

GroundworkNº 02

One-on-one

Contents: Weekly sessions, just you
Rhythm: Weekly, by video
Shape: For example, 12 sessions over three months

Book a Consultation

GroundworkNº 03

Couples

Contents: Joint and individual sessions
Rhythm: Weekly, by video
Shape: Shaped together after the call

Book a Consultation

Questions about the approach

What does a session actually look like?

Structured but human. We start where you are. I hold the frame so we don’t drift, and we finish with something concrete to try before next time: a conversation, a boundary, a small risk.

How long do people usually work with you?

It depends on your goals. Some people want a strong start and then carry on independently, and others want support all the way through. A common shape is weekly sessions over three months.

How much does coaching cost?

Every package is personalized, so there’s no price list here. Packages are built around how often we meet and for how long, for example weekly sessions over three months, and longer commitments cost less per session. We’ll go through options together after your discovery call.

Is it online or in person?

Online, by video, so you can join from home, the office, or the truck.

Do we talk about the past?

Enough to see the pattern, and no more than that. The point of looking back is to answer “what do I want?” honestly. Then we move.

I’m skeptical of the “emotional stuff.” Is that a problem?

Not at all. Healthy skepticism is welcome. We treat emotions as data: signals, like hunger or fatigue, that tell you what you need. You don’t have to love talking about feelings. You just have to be curious about what’s driving your decisions.

We might know people in common. Is that awkward?

It’s part of why Groundwork is coaching: it lets me work with people in my own community. What you share stays between us, and I’ll go over confidentiality and its limits on our first call.

Is spirituality part of it?

Only if you want it to be. Bring your faith or philosophy in, or leave it out. Either way works.

“Paced” sounds slow. Isn’t that playing small?

Paced means sized to your capacity, so the progress sticks. Each step is proof to your nervous system that you can handle more. Ambitious people often move faster this way.

Is this only for business owners?

No. Groundwork was shaped with builders and business owners in mind, but it’s for anyone who’s capable on the outside and ready for more on the inside.