Ryan Barton
Socratic Counselor
Co-Founder, Socratic Counseling
“The term “transformational” is overused but it is an accurate description of Ryan’s counselling gifts, at least for me” -Client
About Me
It is my honor to come alongside others in the messy realities of their inner life and their outer life. It is my joy to see, care, and help to unlock what is stuck. I experience a session as being one half of a tuning fork - it is only with two prongs on a tuning fork that a note can sound out clearly. By joining deeply, giving language to what is unformed, noticing what comes up in both of us, and offering inquiry, we can explore, midwife the life within, and find new perspective.
I have started and led multiple organizations, including Mainstay Technologies (a ~100 person tech services firm that focuses on a business model aligned to long-term good and a genuine care of people), Orchestrate AI Labs (an Artificial Intelligence integrator and thought leader), and the Vervaeke Foundation (a nonprofit that surrounds the work of one of the world's leading cognitive scientists and wisdom researchers, Dr. John Vervaeke).
It is precisely where business success was unable to answer the true needs in my own life (including my deep pain and existential questions) that my own inner journey deepened, and my journey into Socratic Counseling began. Carl Jung wrote of the analyst that “It is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal." It has been my suffering, and the journey it has occasioned, that grants me anything I have to offer with clients in Socratic Counseling.
For many years, I coached leaders in the business world. As my own pursuit of transformation took me through much practice, many modalities, and numerous teachers, that coaching began to shift and include more and more aspects of the psyche and of philosophy. Through practice, training, and feedback from clients, it became a formalized approach of Socratic Counseling. My own continual pursuit of wisdom now also serves for the clients I'm honored to join in the questions of their life.
I continue to move through life as an entrepreneur, a creative, a strategist, a counselor, a student and practitioner of philosophy and psychology, a husband, and a father of three.
My approach
I seek to offer myself as a partner in inquiry. I revel in complexity, delight in that which cannot be categorized, and love to join clients in places where they feel most alone, most stuck, most unsure how to proceed.
One of my greatest joys is to help someone feel seen and understood, along with offering language and shared understanding for that which is yet unformed.
Over time, the movements of a session with me tend to be through three layers:
The present: surveying life, pausing at important areas, helping us both understand your experience, understand you, name more accurately, and gain conscious understanding of what's occurring. Sometimes all that’s needed is practical ideas in the here and now.
The within: Exploring the depth of emotion, identifying patterns, exploring hidden beliefs, and surfacing that which is stuck within, to be examined and brought into dialog.
The source: Connecting to the deepest places within us through the inner journey, and without through philosophical inquiry - to connect that infinite source which always renews, heals, and draws us up, further on our path of individuation, of wisdom cultivation, of wholeness, and of transformation.
Fields of Particular Interest
Vocations, and the pursuit of unlocking skills and finding deeper vocational paths
Ecologies of practice (meditation, contemplation, yoga, depth therapy, psychedelics, dialectic-into-dialogos, lectio divina, etc.)
The Meaning Crisis and the Metacrisis
Attachment theory and attachment work
Cognitive Science (and the work of Dr. John Vervaeke in particular)
Jungian depth psychology and the path of individuation
Internal Family Systems and its intersection with the pursuit of wisdom
Story work (informed largely by Allender Theory / Narrative Focused Trauma Care methodology)
Leadership development, with a pursuit of meaning and excellence
Business and capitalism that is aligned to the Good
Practical wisdom in business, finance, career, leadership, family, and life's hard choices
Philosophy as a way of life
Gender and sexuality
Spirituality and religion
Technology and artificial intelligence
Deep Philosophy
Stories from Clients
“Over the past five-plus years, my experience with Ryan has been transformative. His ability to listen, distill, and provide insightful and often challenging feedback has transformed every aspect of my life and leadership. He has compassionately "contained" my story, allowing for a level of vulnerability not easily achieved elsewhere.”
-Client
“The term “transformational” is overused but it is an accurate description of Ryan’s counselling gifts, at least for me.
I am a pretty unusual person, with a very large capacity to feel. I have worked with dozens of therapists and coaches over the years, and none has really helped me. In fact, many have done worse than that, by attempting to impose their own standards of what “healthy” or “successful” looks like. It has taken years for me to realise that those definitions were quite wrong for me. Ryan’s approach to counselling feels completely different. He goes beyond listening to me, he helps me listen to me. And to not just let the ways I’ve navigated the world in the past (nor the narratives I’ve wrapped those experiences in) dictate the future. It continually amazes me that a man I’ve never met in person, who grew up thousands of miles away and who has a very different life to mine, understands me better than most people I’ve known for years, and people with far more shared cultural referents.
I like to think I am pretty self-aware, but with Ryan that understanding has sharpened and deepened. With his help, I have given myself permission to handle challenges and dilemmas in different, creative ways. One of the things I enjoy most about our conversations is that we weave together esoteric theory, practical sense-making and tuning into the wisdom of the body. We both listen to what is coming up for us in a participatory sense, and are also free to take a short runs down propositional rabbit-holes. This way it feels like I’m drawing on all of what it means to be human - the insights stored culturally, the wisdom stored biologically, and the cognitive flexibility afforded by a dialogical process - to confront uncertainty and take action despite it.
I’m now three decades through adulthood, and I had nearly given up on the idea of counselling. Not only did it seem to hurt me, but it also seemed to hurt the counsellor. I was a failure as a client. One of the things that Ryan used to break down that wall was constantly signalling that walking this path with me brought him something too. If seeing the un-masked version of me, raw and unconventional though it is, brought joy, this motivated me to carry on. His boundaries are strong, and so strong that he can show far more of himself than most professional listeners do.
Given that we can’t clone him, and that all of us have finite time on this planet, I really hope he is able to teach others how to do even a small amount of what he can. I suspect that much of it is the product of an exceptional mind, heart and spirit. Either way, it has been a true privilege to connect with him and to be a partner in testing and refining those gifts.”
-Client
Ryan embodies what it’s like to truly have someone “with” you. There is something incredibly helpful and holy that occurs when I am truly listened to. Ryan not only listens to my words, but he is highly attuned to what I am communicating beneath my words. As a result, Ryan is able to get to the root of an issue quickly—with great kindness and tenderness. He is a passionate pursuer of the path of wisdom. And his passion is contagious.
-Client
“Working with Ryan Barton has been an extraordinary journey of self-discovery, personal and professional growth. Ryan has a unique ability to bridge the gap between professional coaching and personal therapy, offering something truly transformative. He listens well and motivates me to be better in clear and kind ways. Through our work together, Ryan helped me to hone my wisdom practices that have not only enhanced my understanding of myself but also significantly improved my overall life. I wasn’t seeing all my strengths, value and past my obstacles prior to working with Ryan and I am forever grateful.
His approach to Socratic Counseling, rooted in philosophy and psychology, has empowered me to engage deeply with my life’s challenges and aspirations. I am more self-aware, more resourced and I’ve gained clarity and insight that I didn't know were previously possible. Ryan's guidance has been invaluable, and I wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone seeking to live a more beautiful and meaningful life.”
-Client
“Working with Ryan has been transformative and deeply meaningful. He has helped me shape major life decisions in life in general and also in business. Ryan has an intuitive sense for how to hold a caring and nonjudgmental space for your feelings and thoughts. He validates them and helps you understand that there is wisdom in them. He then helps you get to the core of the underlying feelings and draw the insights they hold. I am deeply honored and grateful to spend time with Ryan.”
-Client
Intro sessions
There is no cost for an initial introductory session. Contact us to schedule.
Sessions offered online or in Charlotte, NC, USA.