Thanks for taking a moment to read a bit about me. You deserve to know the
kind of person you’re putting your trust in, to help you move ahead.
When I was eight years old my beloved grandfather, who lived upstairs from us, died. For an entire year I dreamed of him nightly and grieved deeply. I started asking the big questions. What happens when we die? Why am I here? What’s the point of it all anyway?
At age 21, partly influenced by my grandfather’s love, I moved to Israel, alone. I missed my family. My father had always advised his four children to “be your own boss and do what you love,” but I had no career direction. I survived in Jerusalem on poorly paid jobs, from counselling street kids, teaching English and selling jewellery and ice cream, to running a small senior center.
Finally, my love of listening to people’s stories drew me to study counselling psychology, in which I earned my MA in 1983. Much later, a night vision prompted me to launch my own coaching business. I try to apply as much of my personal experience as possible to my work, such as my loving mother’s advice on family issues: “Always keep the lines of communication open.”
But one experience – carelessly dashing across a street into an unbelievable near-miss with a speeding car – powerfully drove into me that sense of life’s preciousness and fragility. It taught me to stop postponing dreams, to do my best to live without regrets, and to love myself even with my biggest “mistakes.”
Living in Israel, with its many security issues, offers powerful lessons for living each day fully. Most everyone knows someone who has been wounded, killed or bereaved, yet the national mantra is “it’ll be OK.” It has taught me to take action despite my doubts. For example, at age 52 I backpacked a 1000-km trail through Israel with my husband and son, while raising $40,000 for ALS research in Israel.
