Specializing in Career/ Education Guidance, Health Issues, Sleep & More
My Approach
My coaching format has three streams of learning:
1. Do It Yourself (PDFs, Books & Online Courses available here)
2. Webinars (Hosted Quarterly here)
3. Private One-on-One Coaching
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Depending on your needs, we can create a plan just for you. Read below to see the areas I specialize in and contact me to discuss a plan for you!
Career & Education Guidance
I'm a life coach with 15 plus years as a professional life coach and more than 25 years as a manager. I work with clients who are wanting to make a career or education path change in their life and feel an objective third party is the best resource to guide them in this process.
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I began assisting clients when company leaders started referring employees for performance management issues prior to taking disciplinary action, and when university students facing disciplinary or university board reviews requested my assistance in helping them look at clinical performance management or changing direction in careers.
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As a private business and life coach, I work outside government, healthcare, insurance or regulated Employee Assistance Program. I do not depend on specific Human Resources tools or assessments that are designed to type cast employees to fit into industry standards. All information and coaching is private and confidential.
My focus with the client is that of being a unique energy being, totally responsible for their life journey and career outcomes. I assess, monitor, and hold the client accountable for all coaching work. They leave with a totally different perception of their personal habits and traits and how these impact their life. They understand their power over their life, understand their decisions and choices at a whole new level. They have skills they did not possess prior to the coaching experience.
Health Issues
I had the privilege of addressing a group of healthcare students as they began their career path and related this story to the students:
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“A man was walking on his property one morning and he sat down for a moment to admire the view, and happened to glance down and noticed a cocoon lying in the grass. He watched in fascination as the cocoon was moving this way and that and he wondered, “What would eventually emerge from the shell? As he watched, he noticed a leg appear and as the cocoon continue to move and vibrate the tip of a wing became visible.
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This continuous movement went on for some time, and the gentleman, fascinated with nature, wanted very much to see this amazing metamorphosis and witness a new life emerging from the protective bubble. He continued to watch, and as each tiny piece of what was obviously going to become a butterfly emerged, he began to grow impatient to see the final result. He started thinking “this is taking so long”; “my wife needs to go for groceries soon” and other time related thoughts ran through his head.
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But, because he did not want to miss the birth of the butterfly, he decided to help nature along. He took out a very sharp knife and every so gently cut the cocoon open and the butterfly spilled out onto the grass, curled up and died. The gentleman was stunned. How could this have happened??? What went wrong??? – Well, the answer is simple. In the struggle of breaking free, an oil is released into the butterfly’s wings that allows it to withstand the wind, rain, and sun it will deal with over its short lifetime. Also, in the struggle of breaking out of the cocoon, the butterfly’s legs, wings, and body gain strength needed to fly and hunt for food. When the farmer cut the sheath, it took away the need for those things and the butterfly could not survive"
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Very early in my nursing training I came to recognize that not all people are created equal when it comes to life, it’s struggle, their journey, health, and wellness choices. Health professionals and coaches are often like this gentleman. We have the knowledge and training; feel we are the experts and know best what to do so we help you avoid the struggle or make the best choices. They fail to understand the need for the struggle, the personal energy of the living organism, and that we have differences in culture, upbringing etc. Some clients CANNOT SEE THEIR CHOICES. They need to do work before they get to the choosing part. Like the butterfly their struggle and journey are for them only. It does not fit into an intake assessment form, register on any aptitude test or fit into a regulated system of processes. This understanding is the role of the coach.
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For this reason, I have an energy-based approach to my coaching based on my studies in Complementary and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Every client is different. I never know what the issue is until I asked many questions and assess each client and listen to what they tell me. I am not the expert, they are. They just don’t know it yet, and have not had the opportunity to think differently about their issues. Sleep, nutrition, exercise, health approach and values and beliefs issues, all start with the client’s energy.
First Offence Return to Society
While I have had a fair amount of experience dealing with our prison systems though my university teaching and community volunteer roles, it was not until I entered private coaching that I could effectively help low-risk, non-violent first-time offenders regain their life. My first client was a lady who had been incarcerated for something she maintained she did not do. The legal system said otherwise with the evidence, testimony etc. She was sentenced to two years in prison and had just completed her time when she contacted me for help. Her goal was to regain her pre-incarceration reputation and place in society. She came to me because she felt I could help her. She understood mine was a private practice and not dependant on any corporate or legal system. What she told me was confidential and not shared with everyone in the system. I could work with her, and as long as she met her parole requirements etc., she was free to put her life back together.
Since that time, I have worked with a number of first-time offenders. I do not start my work with them until they are outside the prison system because of the lack of right to privacy and confidentiality involved in any inmate’s incarceration. I help them with the difficult task of facing what they have been through, what their goals are and coach them every step of the way and follow them post process for a period of up to a year I are not bound by heavy case loads, nor a system that has to approve every detail. These clients are as important to my business as the rest of my clients when it comes to their getting results.
Women Seeking Escape from Abuse
I worked with physicians to put together information packages for patients who were looking to leave an abusive situation. At one time I found myself in such a relationship. It took my then husband breaking a bone in my face and having to have surgery to repair the damage to wake me up. I quickly became frustrated that, while there were tones of services out there, there was not one service who could help me like I needed help. Social Services, the courts, the police all have a role to play in escaping from an abusive situation and if the situation is deadly, which it most likely is, then including these critical services in a working plan is vital to your safety. Having said that, I was frustrated that there was not one of these services who took the time and energy to help me focus on what I needed to know and do to get the hell out of Dodge.
I was one of a number of thousands other clients in the Social Services courts, and police file systems. Everything hinged on my husband harming me before any steps could be taken. The safe houses for abuse women are hampered by not enough locations, no money in their systems for all but basic education and do not do enough in their scope of practice, assessment and skill building for women caught in these situations. I had no idea that a systematically, step by step action plan was needed to ensure my safety and that of my daughter. Family and friends are powerless in this situation and may be your worst enemy in certain scenarios. I found that out the hard way. So I started working privately with women in abusive situations and taking them from making the decision to leave (or being forced to leave) to learning how to take back their life and not become dependant on someone else to save them.
Sleep Issues
Many of my clients either buy into two big myths when it comes to the idea of the perfect night’s sleep. They either feel it is hard to achieve and hard work or they think that once they achieve the perfect nights sleep, it is automatic and for the rest of your life. Good luck with that! Like everything else, a good night’s sleep takes some changes in behavior, how fast and how hard you make those changes depends on you.
In addition, I personally think it is very boring having a great night’s sleep and missing out on the good times in life with my family and friends’ special occasions. It doesn’t have to be traumatic to miss out on the 7 hours of sleep on occasion. You simply adjust your routine at those times and get back on track. The problem for most people is that they see themselves as helpless, things are outside of their control, and they suffer for that attitude when it comes to sleep.
Change your thinking, change your approach, and change your behavior when it comes to sleeping. I can help with that.
Procrastination
My mother used to have an old saying that she piped up with every once in awhile: “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” This was my first knowledge of the concept of procrastination. However, I never understood why she quoted this. She was one of the most organized, hardest working, talented woman I knew. Good luck trying to get out of any of my chores. She certainly never procrastinated in anything.
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However, procrastination is one of the most broad, frequent, over used labels my clients apply to their life story or themselves in one form or another. Bottom line… everyone does it at some point and it can be an effective self-care tool from time to time. What becomes the issue is when and why are you procrastinating, letting things slip, and missing out on great opportunities in your life. While I have done a fair amount of mental health nursing in my time, I am not a psychologist. My question to you is simple. Is procrastination affecting your life in a negative manner? Do you understand WHY you procrastinate? Do you want to stop doing that? If the answers are yes to these questions, then I can help you change all that so you understand why, when and how you compensate using the procrastination as a coping mechanism. PS If I think you need a psychologist, I will let you know and help you get the referral.