Elan

A lot of how I show up in this work comes from my own life. Growing up, I was the “perfect child,” which really just meant I was good at reading the room and putting my own feelings aside to keep things easy for everyone around me. For a long time, that left me feeling pretty disconnected from my body and from myself, and avoiding discomfort became a familiar, easy way to cope.

Avoiding discomfort is one of the biggest things that keeps people stuck. We need to feel things in order to move through them. The longer we avoid a feeling, a habit, or a goal, the bigger it becomes. I’ve seen this in my own healing through yoga and therapy, and in my work as an executive function coach and RBT. Kids, especially neurodivergent kids, have more capacity for change than we usually give them credit for, but that change happens on their own terms. My job is to believe in them and help guide them there.

When I first meet a client, I try to meet them where they’re at, learn as much as I can about who they are, and make sure they feel heard and seen. That comes before anything else. When someone feels like you’re actually on their level, not talking down to them or trying to fix them, that’s when they start to open up. And that’s when the real work can begin.

Today, I bring all of this into my work as a mentor, helping clients build the self awareness, regulation skills, and confidence to navigate their own lives. My hope is that anyone who works with me walks away feeling more present in their body, more grounded in who they are, and with enough structure around them that the hard things feel a little more manageable — along with tools they can keep using long after our work together ends.