I started my coaching relationship with Stephanie in May 2017. I had just left a career due to mental health, and personal issues, and was faced with the daunting task of figuring out where I wanted to take my life.
I had never dealt with a personal coach and wasn’t too sure how to feel about it. I was familiar with therapy, but never a partner to help motivate me through the twists and turns of life and keep me on track with my goals. I always saw myself as a goal driven person and thought I could carve my own way through life.
I was wrong.
After a few sessions with Stephanie it became very clear to me that while I was perfectly capable with formulating goals and working extremely hard at them, I was also overqualified in beating myself up, running myself down and having emotional breakdowns during the whole process. if I couldn’t enjoy (or even just fully function) during the process of reaching my goal, was the end result truly worth it?
Over the months we worked on rewiring my brain to better understand what motivated me, why it did, and more importantly how to sustainably reach my goals. She taught me a great deal about myself, my relationships with those around me, and about all the hidden things I didn’t know still lurked in the back of my mind….. the outstanding weight they carried and how they impacted my present decisions.
I cannot speak highly enough of Stephanie. I have never felt such a wonderful, supportive and nurturing connection with any of my other therapists, or mentors. She has an outstanding ability to understand and provide personal (and often funny) relatable references. She has helped me uncover the path to goals that I had long stashed away thinking they were impossible to reach and get me on track to obtaining them. I have shared some of the tips and exercises that she has given me with my friends and family who are going through a rough time, and they are always enthralled with them. It seems that her teachings can cover a broad range of people and tap into many different situations a person might be going through.
While we have worked hard with goal setting and coaching sessions, we have also discussed mental health and wellbeing. As a person who suffers from Bi-Polar Depression, Generalized and Social Anxiety and an unhealthy relationship with perfection, there have been many interesting conversations had during our sessions. Stephanie has provided me with many different tools to help tackle what can be daily struggles. Including challenging the reality of my anxiety fears, understanding what “healthy” can look like, building self-confidence and self-worth, and how to better deal with situations when faced with them.
While this note does not begin to cover all the things that I have learned (and will continue to learn I am sure) from working with Stephanie, I hope that it serves as a base for anyone who is considering working with her. Take it from me, if you think you are fine, or if you think you are not, no have no idea what you could be missing out on. I truly believe if you take the time to talk with Stephanie, you will be amazed at just how much you didn’t know you were missing in your life.
Melissa, ON