FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

In 2013, I had an epiphany in my coaching career through non-profit work. I suddenly realized that my clients were not getting their needs met in terms of trauma support. A clinical, more pathogenic approach that lacks genuine trauma informed care, is not always supportive of trauma survivors and meeting their needs. I know that sounds contradicting, and it is. I became skeptical of people in positions of power using the term "trauma informed" but also knew that I didn't know enough about it, myself.

I needed to step up and get educated on trauma so that I could provide them better quality care and find a way to fill the relational gaps that were missing within service provision -- when it wasn't really focused on trauma informed care and trauma responsiveness, even when some people claimed that it was. Harm reduction and prevention have been the focus of my work since May of 2013.

I have been coaching for eleven years. I have helped my clients get their needs met, learn the necessity of thinking critically, and accomplish goals by offering support in a way that accommodates differences in learning, processing, and applying information.

I've helped them create a plan of action that feels aligned with how they want to show up within their lives, within their passions and hobbies, and through their service work -- Without sacrificing their autonomy, values, and dignity. I could go on, but the credit does not belong to me, it belongs to my clients. ​

Transitioning From In-Person Services to The Online Space

In 2020 I realized that the people I worked with also needed me to support them in more of a consulting role, and I expanded my services. Doing so has been helpful, particularly to those who at times, need more direct support. This is not something traditional coaching model accommodates, which means that for some people, coaching can often feel overwhelming, and ambiguous.

Many people shared their stories with me about working with coaches who did not do the work to understand their needs and working on relationship building to cultivate the trust and felt sense of safety that they need first and foremost to be able to take consistent aligned action.

Eventually, I moved into educating on trauma informed care and ethics in practice to promote integrity among providers and restore trust in coach-client relationships. Many people are being under-served, shamed, and excluded because they don't fit the "preferred picture" of what a coach or client should be like.

Clients end up struggling harder when working with a coach who would prefer that they already be ten steps ahead of where they really are because that would make them "easier clients" that "require less work." The possibility of trauma, adversity, toxic stress, neurodivergence, disabilities, and social determinants of health are not taken into consideration as clients attempt to move forward with their healing, and/or business building.

Natural biological responses are labeled and woven into stories as laziness, a lack of self-worth, lack of willingness, or just not wanting it bad enough. I may not be perfect, and I am a flawed human myself, but I know that there are other reasons behind this. There are different stories that people hold, that aren't close to the ones people write about them in their marketing posts and copy and paste attempts to build authority.

​My life has come full circle. Today I work in the area of ethics, compliance, and personal and professional integrity. I've made it my job to educate people and organizations on these topics, sharing information that will help with what they don't know, while also working with their natural strengths and assets to help them confidently embrace what they do already know. I aim to reduce instances of client harm and traumatization

Absolutely! All I ask is that you come to the table with some idea of what your goals are and what you would like to do. I can't help you if you have not yet made any decisions or have no idea at all what you want to do. We need to have something to go on in order for you to get the most out of our time together.

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​​​It's okay if you are just starting out, or even just exploring the idea of being a coach. You don't have to have consistent clients or an income coming in, to work with me.

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Maybe you aren't sure what your role is. Let me help reduce the overwhelm from all the noise out there telling you what to do. I want you to follow the path your heart is telling you and operate from a place that feels like home to you. I can answer your questions and we can explore what feels good to you. Then, if you feel like we are on the same page and heading in the direction you want to go, we can build some foundational framework pieces into your service or practice.

​I am not going to tell you that you need to work with me. It's your choice. I will never tell you that you need to hire a coach to be successful, as a coach. I didn't have one when I first started. I reached out for mentorship and training around specific areas when I needed it. I don't believe that anyone needs to have a coach 24/7 to be qualified, they just need the right support.

I don't associate high cost with credibility because that is no longer the case in our industry. There are people charging high prices solely based on the constant outcries to "charge your worth" or who are starting out high because of the majority belief among our peers is that if you offer lower prices than your neighbor, you are "undercharging."

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More often than I'd like to see, this tends to come from coaches who are not prepared to actually coach, who are under-delivering services, and pushing away prospects by labeling them as unmotivated, lazy, or cheap when they ask for the price up-front or decline to work with them.

This is what I recommend. When making any kind of investment, please know that it’s okay to ask for the price up front and take action that aligns with your financial situation and availability.