Throughout the coaching process, Project New Day (PND) coaches strive to create a sense of connection by careful listening and holding their clients in unconditional positive regard. In tandem, PND coaches use a knowledge-based coaching model to present life-improving methods that open both hearts and minds to new possibilities.
This means participants are not told what to think, they are given practical knowledge they can understand and use to improve their own lives.
“Project New Day’s organized, knowledge-based, coaching model, provides an orderly, positive structure for one’s thoughts and feelings. Not just any structure, but one derived from the wisdom of veteran leaders in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and philosophy.”
According to the authors of The Handbook of Knowledge-Based Coaching (2011), “Knowledge-Based Coaching is an approach that involves adapting theories, knowledge, and traditions from a whole range of disciplines and applying them to the coaching engagement, as and when appropriate.”
“The relationship between coaching and psychology is dynamic. We continue to draw on research from psychology, neuroscience, and other related fields; such knowledge is not the exclusive territory of the specialist, any more than mathematical knowledge is to be used only by mathematicians … And we recognize that while our work with clients is pragmatic and forward-looking, we should not be frightened of the kinds or personal issues that have traditionally been considered the domain of psychologists.”
Traditional life coaching emphasizes powerful questioning and reflection. Project New Day builds on that foundation by also offering practical, evidence-informed knowledge when it supports growth.
The Project New Day program is built on evidence-based knowledge drawn from neuroscience, positive psychology, and trauma-informed growth models. Participants are not treated as patients, but as capable learners who can understand and apply powerful tools for change.
Key areas we cover include:
Foundational Neuroscience
Participants learn how stress, habit loops, and emotional responses work in the brain. We explain practical ways to support healthy regulation of key neurotransmitters such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins through daily behaviors, connection, and purpose-driven action.
Positive Psychology in Practice
Drawing from Martin Seligman’s research, we introduce strengths-based development, gratitude practices, and the science of optimism. Participants learn how cultivating meaning, purpose, and future orientation measurably improves resilience and well-being.
Building a Personal Life Philosophy
Veterans are guided through clarifying their values, defining what matters most, and shaping a forward-looking sense of purpose. This creates a stabilizing framework for decision-making, relationships, and long-term growth.
Understanding the “Parts” of Ourselves (IFS-Informed Education)
Project New Day introduces concepts inspired by Internal Family Systems (IFS), a well-known therapeutic model. We teach participants how different “parts” of the personality can form in response to life experiences and stress, and how some parts may carry protective roles while others carry emotional burdens.
Importantly, this is education — not therapy. We do not conduct trauma processing or clinical interventions. Instead, we help participants understand these inner dynamics with clarity and self-compassion, and we demonstrate how approaches like IFS aim to reduce internal conflict and promote healing. Veterans who wish to go deeper are encouraged to explore these methods further on their own or with a licensed mental health professional.
Releasing Regret, Self-Blame, and Old Protective Patterns
Through structured exercises, participants learn about forgiveness, self-compassion, and how rigid defensive patterns often form earlier in life as survival strategies. We explain the psychology behind these patterns and how therapeutic approaches work to help people “unburden” them — while keeping the work firmly in an educational, coaching-based framework.
Project New Day is coaching and education, not psychotherapy. We do not diagnose, treat, or process trauma. Instead, we equip veterans with knowledge, practical tools, and a deeper understanding of how healing modalities work, so they can make informed choices and pursue further support if and when they choose.
Coaching outcomes are generally most effective when combining both traditional and knowledge-based coaching. For example, a coach might suggest sharing one of the dozens of Project New Day coaching videos with a client by saying, “I can share a short video with you that may be helpful. Would that be alright?” After the video, the coach might ask, “What do you think about that?” and then transition back to questioning and reflecting.
In practice, this means participants receive clear, organized life-improvement knowledge and are then supported through thoughtful reflection so insights come from within.
The Project New Day Coaching model contains more than 40 powerful and informative multimedia pages. These pages present many dozens of life-improvement concepts in a highly organized way, combining many evidence-based concepts and methods to help both coaches and their clients pursue their best lives possible.
The coaching model’s “Upstairs Downstairs” page suggests that a powerful path toward healing is one of compassionate inquiry. We begin with the understanding that trauma is not only what happened, but how the mind and nervous system adapted in order to survive. From this perspective, many of the reactions that later cause distress originally formed as intelligent forms of protection.
Project New Day draws on educational concepts inspired by Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help participants understand these inner dynamics. We introduce the idea that each person has a core, steady center, often called the Self, that naturally embodies qualities like calm, clarity, compassion, confidence, courage, curiosity, creativity, and connectedness (sometimes referred to as the 8 C’s). From this grounded state also emerge natural capacities such as presence, patience, perspective, persistence, and playfulness (the 5 P’s).
Rather than trying to “fight” difficult thoughts or emotions, participants learn to begin identifying with this steadier, healthier center of themselves, the part that is fundamentally okay. From that perspective, they can start to relate differently to other “parts” that may be anxious, shut down, overly driven, or reactive as a result of past experiences. These parts are understood not as flaws, but as protective strategies that once helped and now may be working too hard. The overall goal is not to eliminate these parts, but to help them come back into balance under the guidance of the Self, a process that often allows the mind and nervous system to settle, reducing internal tension and restoring a greater sense of steadiness and vitality.
The Project New Day approach encourages an honest, compassionate relationship with one’s inner world. Through reflective practices, guided discussions, and education about how healing models work, participants can begin softening old self-protective barriers that were put in place long ago out of necessity. Over time, this shift in relationship, from self-criticism to self-understanding, can reduce rigid thought patterns that often contribute to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and addiction. (See the Project New Day coaching model “Connecting With Your Deeper Feelings” page for more information.)
Encouraging participants to try these life-improvement methods fosters genuine optimism that life can improve. In this way, the coach helps create possibilities. Because the methods are evidence-informed, coaches can confidently say, “This approach has helped many people, you may find it helpful too.” Even more powerful, coaches who practice these tools themselves can speak from lived experience.
Thoughtful self-disclosure can also help participants feel less alone in their struggles. At the same time, coaches should be mindful not to dominate the conversation. The focus remains on supporting the participant in recognizing their own inner strengths and moving forward at a pace that feels safe and self-directed.
Here are some additional benefits to using the Project New Day coaching model:
Multimedia presentations keep sessions engaging and dynamic.
Offers science-backed tools that many participants find immediately useful.
Provides multiple ways to understand and apply growth concepts
Project New Day believes healing is not a destination but an ongoing direction, toward greater self-understanding, stronger connection, and meaningful contribution. Knowledge-based coaching supports this journey by helping people understand how growth works, so they can move forward with clarity and confidence.