Live the Life You Love!
“Believe you can and you are halfway there.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
Interview with Heidi
How would I get started working with you?
First, we have a get acquainted call. I ask you to read this interview to get to know me beforehand. I also assign a short list of questions to be answered and submitted before the call so I get to know you better. I want our first conversation to be all about YOU because the coaching relationship is all about YOU and reaching your dreams. Once I know you better and you have a keen sense of what you want from coaching you will decide on a package that best suits your needs. We agree to a written contract and begin working together.
Who are your clients exactly?
My clients are insightful, motivated people who feel a deep need to close the gap between their current situation and what they really want in life.
With whom does your coaching NOT work?
There are many people who may think they are ready for life coaching but they’re just not there yet. These are people not ready to take brave actions to change old patterns. These are people unwilling to look at themselves and uncover the self-imposed barriers that hold them back. Coaching also won’t work for people who look for external circumstances to explain their reluctance to try something new. If the prospective client is unwilling to be playful and experiment within the coaching, there will be no benefit.
How long have you been coaching and how did you get to be an expert in Life Transitions?
In some ways I have been coaching my entire life. A high school friend called me, out of the blue, and asked if I had ever considered coaching. I laughed, because at the time I was in coach training and asked why she wanted to know. She said I had coached her when we were 17 years old and that I was right. She called to encourage me to use this gift to help others. I viewed that exchange as confirmation that I was on the right path.
After many years as a clinical monitor and corporate trainer and manager, I became a stay-at-home mom of our adopted Chinese daughter, Rebecca. Motherhood brought about the most significant emotional and spiritual healing of my life. I came to terms with my abusive past and attacked the haunting images with a vengeance so the cycle of abuse would end with me. In this process, I recovered from sugar addiction and compulsive eating and I continue daily recovery practices to ensure I maintain a constant connection to God.
It was probably my family of origin experience that prompted me to study healthy, normal human development in graduate school. I wanted to know what “normal” was. My area of study included adolescence through adulthood and aging. I already had concentrated education in Gerontology as an undergrad, so it seemed only natural to study retirement and life satisfaction as a thesis topic.
I also developed a love for service and non-profit boards during this time. I have served almost 20 years collectively on two different boards. I have served in various officer positions including chairperson. I continue to volunteer on one board and do contract work for other agencies. I plan and facilitate board retreats/meetings for a reasonable fee as part of my business. It has been a great way to use my corporate experience to benefit the private sector.
I am a certified and accredited professional coach and a very active member of the International Coach Federation (ICF).
What is your style
and philosophy?
I believe that everyone is naturally creative, resourceful and whole even if their behavior doesn’t reflect that in the present moment. It is my job to engage clients with their deepest held values and ask the questions that will connect their values with their decisions and actions. My role in each session is to deepen the learning and further the action. It is NOT my role to advise or find answers. I empower individuals to find the answers for themselves. I do hold clients accountable to the goals they set for themselves. I am energetic, creative and intelligent. Sessions with me can be strenuous and invigorating or deeply solemn and profound. Ultimately, the client is responsible for the agenda each session and the results overall. The more open a person is to share and be vulnerable the more growth and change that person will experience.
I am fully invested in each of my clients and their goals and dreams. It is my job to maintain a safe place for full and honest expression, free of any judgement whatsoever. It is in this safe place you will be heard, truly heard, and allowed to find your unique self.
How are you
unique?
I have been broken and thwarted in just about every way imaginable – abuse, addiction, bankruptcy, infertility, mental illness, divorce, stroke and cancer. Yet, I live a full and blessed life that is also beyond imagining though incredibly real and grounded and healthy. I am happily remarried with a lovely child. I am a successful business woman. I have reconciled family relations. I am a volunteer, optimist, faith-filled, contributing adult to my church and community. My education combined with my experience and God given talents make me a quick study of character and life situations. My scars – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual give me empathy for others, and an understanding that goes beyond the intellectual but also in a deep and experiential way. I “get it.” I really do “get it.” I also have an enduring positive outlook that has served me well, and I convey that in all aspects of my life. If I have been able to accomplish all that I have, then certainly you CAN-DO it too! I know it!