I have been working in the health and wellness field in various roles since 2003. My areas of focus have been smoking cessation, healthy weight loss, and nutrition. I have made lifestyle changes in all of those areas and I believe that part of my purpose is to empower others to make healthy changes as well. I shifted from educator/clinician to health and wellness coaching in 2013 and that is when I was introduced to the wonderful world of motivational interviewing. I am a board certified health & wellness coach (NBC-HWC) and became a member of MINT in 2020. I am a mother to two exuberant boys and two dogs, an avid gardener and hiker, and a lover of the Great Outdoors.
Before I started working as a wellness coach, I was a clinical nutritionist. I became a nutritionist because I learned about how intricately connected our own human health is to that of our planet's and I wanted to be able to broadly influence positive changes on all fronts. What I realized in my practice was that education alone wasn't always enough to spark change. What I learned practicing MI as a health coach, and now teaching it to other wellness coaches, is that by helping people connect to their own values and align their actions with what they believe to be the most important things in their lives, creative pathways towards change open up. MI breaks away from the paradigm of teacher/student, master/apprentice, expert/layperson. The practice of MI allows for true human connection which can then lead to healing from a place of empowerment rather than dependence. These kinds of shifts are what I believe will truly lead to global healing. And that is why I would be honored to be able to teach the practice of MI to others, especially to those stepping into the role of healers. To get a taste of how I like to train, you can find some of my videos on You Tube: @KaraokeWellnessCoach
Questions vs Reflections (youtube.com)
Motivational Interviewing Tips: The Yeah Buts (youtube.com)
Baby Let's Motivate! (youtube.com)