Hello!

Welcome to my corner of the internet!

First and foremost, I am a trauma survivor myself. I endured years of abuse as both a child and an adult at the hands of those who were supposed to love and protect me. As a result of my trauma I endured decades of severe depression and was re-traumatized at the hands of those with whom I sought help. I bounced in and out of seven different psychiatric wards, was disabled and even homeless for a period of time. As a queer, neurodivergent woman with a history of mental illness I have been “othered” for most of my life. I know what it’s like to endure trauma, struggle to recover and be marginalized in a society that sees many aspects of who I am as weaknesses. In graduate school I was told I had “no potential to contribute to the field” because of my mental health struggles.

And yet here I am, founding and leading an organization that has educated more than 600 coaches around the globe. We offer six different certification programs — I wrote and developed them all. I started this program so that no one had to endure the challenges I did while trying to recover. My goal is to offer a comprehensive, high quality, effective and inclusive coaching program to anyone who wants to coach. Ninety-nine percent of our students are trauma survivors themselves.

So if you’ve lived a life with trauma, know that I understand. I fully believe you can both build and live a life you love to live, because I’ve done it and I help other survivors do it every day. I hope you’ll join me, as either a client or a student. Everyone is welcome!

we are trauma survivors

Bobbi was sexually abused for almost a decade of her childhood. As a result, she felt broken, unworthy, and crushed under an enormous weight of shame. She believed she would never be good enough, deserving of love or valuable unless she was perfect in every way. All of the trauma and lies that her abuser had taught her caused depression so severe she spent many years in and out of psychiatric wards. After finally being diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and finding excellent trauma informed mental health providers she began to make progress in her recovery. Then, she married a toxic man and ended up homeless and deeply mired in depression once again. Working with a new psychiatrist with excellent trauma recovery knowledge, Bobbi finally reached a place of recovery. Now it's her goal to teach other survivors what she learned to prevent them from having to take decades to recover.

Sarah has experienced multiple interpersonal traumas throughout her life, which gave her severe depression and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She started her recovery journey in her late thirties. The majority of her work was combating the lies that her trauma taught her; that she was unlovable and not good enough to deserve anything. Sarah has worked hard in her recovery and building the life she loves to live utilizing therapy, coaching and energy healing modalities.

we are trauma recovery Coaches

Bobbi earned her Master's Degree is in Marriage and Family Therapy 22 years ago. She had a private practice in Portland, Oregon. Six years ago Bobbi moved into coaching because she found its collaborative nature to be more successful in helping trauma survivors. Much of the damage trauma survivors sustain occurs within a relationship (they are abused by parents or battered by a spouse). As a result, much of their recovery work needs to occur within the context of a safe, healthy relationship. Bobbi works very hard to establish this type of relationship with her clients:

“I earn their trust. I let them know I genuinely care about them. I empower them to make good decisions in their recovery journey. I guide and advise them, but never tell them what to do or how to do it. I believe every survivor is in charge of their recovery. We may not have had much power when we were in the midst of our trauma. But we do now. My goal is to help my clients grasp that power and use it to their best advantage to move through their recovery and into the space where they are reclaiming a joyful, fulfilling life.”

Sarah began her training as a Trauma Recovery Coach three years ago and received her Certification in 2018. She has attended all three levels of training: Initial Certificate, Advanced Certificate and Supervisor Certificate. She also holds a Trauma Informed Coaching Certification.

“I have always had a passion to make a difference in someone else’s lives. Trauma Recovery Coaching allows me to do that. I use my lived experience as a trauma survivor to help my clients. It’s powerful for them to realize that I have been where they are, and I can help them build the life they love to live.”

we are here to change the world

Bobbi and Sarah began teaching Certified Trauma Recovery Coaching courses in 2017, after realizing that millions of trauma survivors don’t have access to high quality, effective recovery help.

“We realized we had a choice: to keep helping one tree at a time, or to teach others to help those trees and in that way we could help forests of trees.”

Bobbi and Sarah have the amazing privilege of leading the International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching (IAOTRC), with Bobbi as the Executive Director and Sarah as Deputy Director. Together they teach and mentor students as they travel through the Coaching Certification process. We offer three levels of certification as well as continuing education courses. The IAOTRC represents and supports Trauma Recovery Coaches as they work with trauma survivors from every walk of life anywhere there is an internet connection.