The Philosophy Shop was set up by Michael Picard in 1996 to offer various philosophical services, including, consulting, counseling, editing, tutoring and dialogue facilitation. Cafe Philosophy is the flagship service, a drop-in conversation group that explores philosophical topics voted in by participants. Reading groups in Western and Eastern Philosophy, known as Salon Philosophy, also ran for a few years.
Philosophical Coaching (that is, individual philosophy-based counselling) is another key service of the Philosophy Shop. Subjects covered in past coaching sessions include: Ethics; Meaning; God; Logic; Philosophy of Mind; Metaphysics; Mind-Body Problem; yoga psychology and philosophy; Marx; Nietzsche; Russell; Jung; Merleau-Ponty; Foucault; etc..
Picard is an APPA certified Philosophical Counselor, and also taught a Directed Studies course (Psyc 390) on Philosophical Counseling in 2006.