I have 30 years of experience as a counselor and life coach working with people of many different backgrounds, cultural, religious, educational, the whole range. I also have 15 years of experience as a trainer of behavioral health clinicians. I have taught at the University of Alaska, Union Institute Vermont, and DePaul University. My background also includes hospital and university chaplaincy, retreat facilitation, and spiritual direction.  For 20 years I worked with Alaskan Native elders and healers to facilitate healing intensives for adult trauma survivors by combining indigenous ways of healing with western counseling practices. I co-designed an intensive curriculum for at-risk teens which incorporated emotional intelligence, life skill development, sacred stories, elder/youth mentoring, and service to others. I began coaching ten years ago. I have a passion for it because I believe that people have within them the wisdom to live their lives fully even with all the challenges life can bring at times. It's a joy to assist someone in discovering and pursuing their personal or professional goals. I am a mother, a grandmother, a published poet and essayist, winner of the Drogheda Amergin Poetry Award (Ireland) in 2005, and the author of two books: Holy Madness (Chanting Press 2007) and Doing It Another Way (Chanting Press 2008).