From one of the most painful experiences of her life, she was able to grow into the person she wanted to be.
“As difficult as it was, it was also a tremendous opportunity,” said Jodi Seery, life coach with Shift Life Design.
“I myself had an intense divorce about five years ago. I had been going through a period of change. I lost a family member, moved, separated, lost another family member, then moved again. So, I needed help.”
She decided to hire a life coach and it changed her life. Now Seery helps other women get through the same experience that she needed help with, half a decade ago. She coaches women and couples through difficult times in their relationship, as well as coaches women through divorce.
She describes her work as “helping women who are experiencing divorce make peace with the change and rebuild their lives.”
It is a philosophy and strategy that she picked up, in part, from a woman who is making quite a name for herself lately.
If you have ever opened O The Oprah Magazine, you may have heard of her. Bestselling author Martha Beck, PhD, is a columnist for the magazine.
“I wanted to train with the best, and I discovered Martha Beck,” said Seery.
After making it through her divorce with the help of her life coach, Seery found that people would approach her, commend her on her growth, and ask for her advice.
“I was doing it unofficially anyway, so I decided to get the training and do it for real,” she said.
Through online courses and some time spent in Arizona, Seery soaked up all the knowledge she could from Beck, and started her own business, Shift Life Design.
The training was very enlightening said Seery, but it is her personal experience that helps her connect with her clients who are going through divorces themselves.
“The basic experience of divorce is the same even though the details are different,” she said. “We all go through the same life-changing cycle.”
And despite the painful road it took to get there, Seery now finds herself in a very fulfilling place.
“It’s so rewarding to see people who start out in tremendous pain, and come out of it transformed,” she said.
“Divorce is a cycle of change,” said Seery. “And I try to help people move through that cycle.”
Everyone heals at their own rate, but often a 12 week program is enough to get people through the cycle once, said Seery.
“Sometimes people need to go back and repeat steps.”
Life coaching is a fairly new profession, but it is gaining momentum, says Seery. Although it has the same ultimate goal as other forms of therapy, it differs in its approach.
“Life coaching deals with the present, and moves forward from there,” said Seery. “It doesn’t involve the past.”
More traditional forms of therapy tend to focus a lot of time on analysing one’s childhood, which Seery says is not always necessary.
“If we deal with how issues present themselves in the present, it tends to release the problem in the past,” she said.
As a primarily phone and internet based company, Seery has clients from all over the world. She offers one-on-one coaching, telecourses and workshops. For more information about Seery and her services go to www.shiftlifedesign.com.
