SWIHA Blog

As an alumni, I wanted to share a response of mine that I gave in a recent interview. The question was “Why did you choose transformational life coaching at SWIHA?” Here is my response, “Thank you for your thoughtful question. My journey toward the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts and to transformational life coaching was not a straight path, it was a winding road, full of learning experiences, self-discovery, and a deepening of my faith.”

Diane’s Journey to Life Coaching

Before becoming a Life Coach, Diane Jones was working a normal 9 to 5 job that gave her no personal satisfaction or feeling of purpose. Diane knew she wanted to make a positive impact on the world and help those who want to live a better life and don’t have the tools to get there. The path became clear, and Diane came to SWIHA to gain the education to become a Life Coach. SWIHA quickly became a home away from home for Diane. Diane shares, “It felt like the home I needed! I felt welcomed every time I stepped onto the campus.”

"I was seeking something that was the right fit for me, a school that had purpose, supportive staff and instructors, where I felt like I was a part of something great and SWIHA embodied all those things and more for me. I had a client that provided me great reviews about the school and from her testimony, I knew SWIHA was the place for me.”

The start of a new year often brings with it a sense of new beginnings. It is a time when many people reflect on the past year and contemplate what they want to achieve in the year ahead. For some, the new year is an opportunity to create resolutions or set personal growth or career advancement goals. Others may use the new year as a time to make positive changes in their lifestyle, such as adopting healthy habits or pursuing new hobbies.

Celebrate Life Coaching Month!

“I have always been an empath and someone that others sought for counsel. It was something that I pushed away for many years before attending SWIHA,” Michelle Buonincontri tells us.

As in many stories we hear from our graduates, Michelle describes her discovery of Southwest Institute of Healing Arts as “serendipitous”. She had moved from New York to Arizona and attended a Celebrate Your Life event on campus. “I immediately loved the curriculum and knew I had to do the Life Coaching program,” she says.

“I love being a Life Coach because I love helping people! Since I was a kid, people have always come up to me and just started pouring their hearts out,” Chavon Laurén of Unapologetically Me, tells us, “Over time, I accepted this as a gift and now I feel like I've come full circle.”

Before becoming a Life Coach, Chavon served in the military and worked a Personal Trainer. During training sessions, she came to realize that her clients wanted to talk about more than just exercise.

“I never stopped them because it was clear they needed to speak these thoughts out of their system as a form of stress relief, rather than try to move it out through physical fitness,” she explains, “I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment. I knew I needed to be more and do more, for my clients and myself.“

“Life Coaching for me was a bridge to another part of myself and my higher calling,” explains Holly Meyer, “I was already successful and driven in my ‘day job’ and really enjoyed my role in business.”

Holly describes herself as someone who has always been a person that others seem comfortable opening up to: “Quite honestly, having gifts of being an empath with mediumship abilities has been an instrumental part of my success and ability to connect with so many throughout my life.”

“Just before finding out about SWIHA, I was in a soul sucking job in Corporate America. I dreaded going to work,” recalls Mel Rhoden, describing a path that we often hear of those who choose to serve others in a new way, “Every day that I was there, the cubicle walls seemed to be getting taller and darker. That office was quickly becoming lifeless, and I needed to get out.”

Mel had already left Corporate America once to travel the world as a missionary and journalist. She had sworn never to go back, however, after living overseas and having to raise financial support for so long, she needed to create some stability.

“For me, it is absolute alignment. I am showing up in absolute alignment doing this work,” says Carmen Payne, who has been a practicing Life Coach since 2013, “It gives my soul so much joy to be serving others in this capacity and be a messenger.”

Carmen had spent twenty years working an IT job, and slowly found the stress of the job compounding until she had the overwhelming feeling that she needed to be doing something more in alignment with her passions. That’s when Carmen pulled out her resume and asked herself some hard questions, including the last time she felt excited and energized to come to work: “The role that literally lifted itself off the page at me was when I was training and coaching people.”