It all started during my sabbatical in Fall 2020. I was feeling a bit burnt out and questioning my direction, so I decided to try coaching for myself. That experience was transformative—it helped me gain such clarity about my work and values that I thought, “I need to learn how to do this for others.” That’s when I decided to become a coach.
I never originally planned this career path, but it evolved naturally from my work as a social worker and a teacher. After eight years working in communities and over a decade teaching social work, I started noticing a pattern—when people align what they do with what they truly value, everything works better. They’re happier, more resilient, and their work has more impact.
So I trained with Dr. Katie Linder’s Higher Ed Coach Training Program and earned my Associate Certified Coach certification with the International Coaching Federation. My focus became clear: I wanted to help academics find clarity and capacity in their work lives.
Here’s the funny thing – while I was going through this certification process, my colleague Allison was doing the exact same thing! We’d been collaborating on social work education projects for years, but neither knew the other was pursuing coaching. Talk about being on the same wavelength!
The difference was in our focus. I gravitated toward helping academics align their actions with their values, while Allison was drawn to coaching women through life transitions like career changes, relationship shifts, and leadership challenges.
When we finally discovered our shared interest, it was like finding a missing puzzle piece. We immediately started peer coaching each other, which has been incredibly valuable. We quickly realized our social work background gave us a head start with coaching skills like active listening and building rapport. But it also created some interesting tensions – sometimes we’d catch ourselves slipping back into social work mode when we should be in coaching mode!
My coaching philosophy is pretty straightforward. I help academics in four main areas:
- Aligning their values with their actions
- Planning for meaningful productivity (not just being busy!)
- Building in self-care and self-compassion
The irony is that becoming a coach completely transformed my own relationship with work. I used to fall into the same traps as my clients—saying yes to everything, struggling with boundaries, and feeling constant pressure to produce without time to reflect. Sound familiar?
Once I started applying coaching principles to my own life, everything shifted. I became much more intentional about which projects I took on, focusing on what truly mattered to me rather than just padding my CV. I identified my peak creative times and protected them fiercely. And I finally started practicing the self-care I was always preaching to others!
Working with Allison through peer coaching has also been a game-changer. We challenge each other to navigate the line between social work and coaching, which has made me much more effective with clients facing complex challenges.
While academics are my main focus, I’m open to working with anyone seeking more intention and meaning in their lives. After all, who couldn’t use a little more alignment between their values and actions?