Sharon Cottor, MSW

19475 N. Grayhawk Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255

Phone: 480-513-7748
Email: rscottor@cox.net

Sharon Cottor, MSW, was a family therapist, a life coach, and a relationship and business consultant for more than 45 years. She shared a collaborative private practice with her husband, Bob Cottor M.D., in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1971 until they retired from their clinical practice in 2007. Sharon has been actively involved with the Taos Institute since its inception in 1993 and has been a Taos Associate since 1996.

Sharon was a pioneer and leader in marriage and family therapy in Arizona. She was the cofounder in 1980 of the Institute for Creative Change in Phoenix, a community training program for healthcare, organizational development and education professionals to generate effective change practices in their work with individuals, couples, families, businesses and organizations. More than 300 therapists, coaches and consultants trained with Sharon at the Institute in a constructionist, collaborative, appreciative and relational approach to creative change during the 20 years that she was a lead trainer. Sharon received a special citation for Outstanding Contributions to the Field from the Arizona Association of Marriage and Family Therapy in 1992. She also received an Award for Significant Contribution to Family Law from the Arizona Association of Family and Conciliation Courts in February 2008.

Sharon co-authored a chapter, Relational Inquiry and Relational Responsibility: The Practice of Change, in the book Relational Responsibility: Resources for Sustainable Dialogue edited by Sheila McNamee and Ken Gergen and published by Sage in 1998. She also served on the Board of Advisors to the Spirit of Enterprise Center at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Sharon’s change practice evolved into coaching and consulting regarding relationships, communication and conflict issues with individuals, couples, family businesses and nonprofit organizations. Sharon focused on imagining and creating new and satisfying futures with her clients. She continues to have a special interest in the art of positive living, positive aging and appreciative relationships. Sharon is known for her highly innovative relational, collaborative and social constructionist approach in all of her work as well as her life in general.

Sharon has also become involved in pediatric palliative care and family respite care. The Cottor family, in 2004, founded Ryan House, a nonprofit healthcare provider in Phoenix that now offers an innovative collaborative/appreciative program of pediatric palliative care, family respite care and end-of-life care in a free-standing home-like facility built for families with children with life limiting illnesses and conditions. Ryan House is a legacy honoring Sharon’s grandson Ryan.