www.LivingIntoYourVision.com

Location

St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

Languages

English

Coaching SpecialtieS INCLUDE:

About This coach

My strengths as a parent coach come from three main sources: my personal experience, my Jai training, and my study of trauma. I have three adult children who are living wonderful lives pursuing their dreams. In addition, each of them choose to invite me, their dad, and each other into their lives. We are a well-connected family, even though their dad and I are no longer married. I was their primary parent as they were growing up, working to create safety in hearts, minds, and bodies through connections grounded in love. I was an intentional parent, thinking and feeling my way. It was not easy; I worked hard at parenting. Parenting was challenging for me as it is for every parent. I particularly struggled with remaining in touch with the other aspects of myself - What am I in addition to mother and wife? Especially when children are young, being a parent can overshadow other parts of ourselves.

My training with Jai helped me to name many aspects of my earlier parenting. I learned the technicolor details of different theories and practices, such as non-violent communication and setting boundaries based on family values, which I had intuitively done in black and white with my own children. My Jai training also expanded my coaching abilities which I first learned as a college-level instructor. The neurobiology and emotional regulation taught at Jai was already familiar from many years of studying trauma. Initially, my interest in trauma was focused on my own journey of healing. As my journey continued, I became more interested in how I could help those around me to heal as well.

I believe that every generation wants to give their children the best environment to thrive as human beings. New understandings from scientific studies have shown that physical, emotional, and psychological safety and connection are necessary for thriving. Yet how do we give something to our children that we did not have ourselves? One answer is to work with a parent coach to learn what you need to know and practice what you need to do within a supportive, non-judgmental coach-client relationship.

When I am not coaching, I am usually learning or creating. I actively think about things most of my waking hours, often in conversations with friends and colleagues. I love to read both fiction and non-fiction. I create through crocheting, painting (Foundation for Hospital Art), writing, and problem solving. I enjoy pulling weeds and swimming in the ocean as meditation.

What Makes THEM Special?

I love working with parents who want to parent differently than their own parents. I was terrified to become a mom because I felt like I knew what not to do but had no clue about what to do. I needed a parent coach but didn’t know they were available. My parenting journey was full of both joy and frustration, both deep connection and aching loneliness. To cope, I created a vision of what I wanted our family to be like when the kids were adults. This vision guided my big decisions. My little decisions were guided by the question "How do I want my child to think about this interaction later today, tomorrow, next week?" This question helped me to pause so that I could respond to my child in the situation, rather than react without thinking. I found this pause was the magic of parenting as my best self.

I am also an educator and I know that homework is a source of frustration and stress in many families. I have a 4 week program to help parents learn how to support their child’s success in learning, no matter how the parents feel about the particular subjects. School occupies a large part of children’s lives for over a decade and parents can be a critical part of their child’s success in school. My experiences as a teacher and as a parent of three children who learn very differently come together to provide unique support for families struggling with school.

Finally, I am a trauma-informed coach. I continue to work on my own trauma healing and have studied traumatology under the Rev. Dr. Shannon Michael Pater. Using Pater's definition of trauma as the ruptures and residues from broken or missing connections to Self, others, Spirit, and planet, I believe that everyone has trauma healing work to do. My goal is to be an empathetic companion with my clients on their healing journeys.

Ready to start parenting with peace and connection?