I am excited to announce the start of my newest endeavor in life, Serenity Horse Coaching!  For the past fourteen years I have been blessed to be an elementary school teacher, which continues to be amazing.  Teaching is an incredible profession that continually provides me with opportunities to grow. I have learned so much about myself, about children and parents, and about being human in general.   Anyone who knows me knows that I am also passionate about animals!  I have had many dogs, cats and horses in my life, as well as chickens, rabbits, ducks and a goat, whom I have always referred to as my friends.  A few years ago I started searching for a way to incorporate this love of animals into my professional life, as well as for a way to make additional income.  I needed a second career to add to teaching for financial health, so I began a deep exploration into what my life’s next chapter would be. I was led to the elite Touched by a Horse, Equine Gestalt Coaching Method.  After two years of intense study, I am incredibly proud to be a certified Equine Gestalt Coach.  With a horse as my partner, I support parents who are aware of issues from their own childhoods that they don’t want to pass on to their children.  This work is for people desiring personal growth and self awareness. It can be done in individual or group sessions, where clients actively participate in their own personal work.  I create a confidential and safe space for my clients to explore difficult emotions as well as to explore emotional choices to learn and use in the future. In group, members support each other through the experiential process of Gestalt, which is about coming to wholeness in the present moment.  Combined with the healing power of horses and positive coaching, the client is supported in finding their truth. The results are often swift and maintainable. In co active coaching, we believe that each person has their own answers buried inside…we just help you uncover them and stand in your truth! Through all aspects of this deep work, the horses assist. Whether by elevating and balancing a client’s energy as they uncover the pain of past trauma, or by bringing the client’s truth into conscious awareness so that she can move towards her goals with clarity, the horses not only guide the client, but help her to heal. One aspect of my world-renowned coaching training has been to learn in depth about trauma.  Did you know that teachers are now being taught how to spot and support children affected by trauma in their classrooms?  During the 2017-2018 school year, I spent several hours in professional development training around this important topic. When children experience trauma at home, they are less able to access the academic curriculum presented in their classrooms.  With my comprehensive Gestalt Coaching training in family of origin issues, human development stages, and how trauma manifests at different ages, for example, my ability to support students in my classroom is enhanced. Read article: How Trauma is Changing Children’s Brains. Another main aspect of my coaching training has been to provide me with an arsenal of tools to help individuals set and achieve goals.  As a standard teaching expectation, I have done this every year with my students for setting and reviewing reading, writing and math goals, as well as for social and emotional goals.  Now, however, I will be able to implement the tools I have learned as a coach with my 4th graders, thus deepening the internalization of their goals. What a huge opportunity for my classroom to benefit from my new coaching skill set! I feel gratified that my coaching and teaching will support each other.  And what is the bottom line in both of my professions anyway? The children!  As a teacher, I can best assist each of my students by understanding them socially and emotionally in order to reach them academically, as well as treat each child and their family with compassion and kindness.  As a coach, I can best support children by helping their parents to work through unfinished trauma that they carry from their own childhoods, so that they may parent from a place of healthy nurturance and stability.   What a gift I have been given!  I am so fortunate to have two amazing and fulfilling professions that boost each other, that my passion for animals is now integrated more fully into my life, and that I can bring in enough income to survive in this ever changing world.  If you know any parents or caregivers that might benefit from my coaching, I would be appreciative of any client referrals. Thank you for taking the time to learn about my newest venture!