I believe coaching works best if there is a personal connection, an understanding of each other and where they are/have been in life. The coach/client relationship is most effective when everyone involved can relate to what the client is dealing with. As your coach, I will help you set, and achieve, short-term and long-term personal development plans. I am your sounding board and learning partner; not an expert on you or your needs. My position is to be action oriented; I want to help you reach your goals and do away with procrastination.
 
Coaching involves posing the tough questions that no one else around you would dare to ask, I will challenge you and hold you accountable for your actions. I cannot, and do not, promise you will take any specific action or attain any specific goals. I am only a vehicle to use on your journey, you must be the one who decides on your route and your destination. The roller coaster ride of infertility may involve difficult choices from treatment options, to deciding to stop treatment permanently or temporary to deciding to adopt or live child-free. This is not an easy ride and it is best taken with someone who has been there - done that.

 

As an adoptive mom, I have dealt with all the levels of 'family planning', the hopes, the dreams, the losses and the gains of a special daughter; in a different way. I have ridden the roller coaster to the top, considering all my treatment options than rode it down the winding fast pace route that lead to our domestic adoption of our wonderful little girl. We have a mostly open adoption, so that has its own issues. Now, as the mom of a child with special needs, my experience with people with special needs comes in very handy.

 

When my husband passed away, I found a new means of helping others. I found a wonderful life coach who encouraged me to combine my grief counseling training with my life challenges and take additional training to become a life/business coach. I have been fortunate enough to have opportunities to train with some of the best life coaches in the world (you will find some links to their training and educational materials at this site). Because my heart is still with ‘family planning’, I have decided to help others work their way through this terrible roller coaster ride through writing and coaching. I know how alone we can feel, how little there is for supports and how much need there is for ‘family planning coaches’ who have actually been there, done that and are not affiliated with any fertility clinics.

 

Some of my articles have been used and recognized by some of the leading infertility organizations and web sites. ‘Dealing with Loss Due to Infertility’ will soon be released as an e-book. ‘The Fertility Workbook’ is almost completed and hopefully will be released late 2011. The companion coaching book ‘The Fertility Handbook’ will hopefully be released by the mid 2012.