This week, we continue honoring outstanding Student Health Coaches from our alumni community. I would like to thank these five exceptional coaches, as well as those who were honored last week, for the guidance they have provided to students in the Health Coach Training Program.

Laura Lehrhaupt – Website – Blog
Six years ago I was suddenly ill. It hit me from out of nowhere. After running frantically from doctor to doctor I still got no relief. I began exploring my natural options. By changing my lifestyle, I was able to heal myself. It was then I realized how powerful we are and how what we put in our bodies really matters. I knew I wanted to work with others and that led me to IIN.

Susan McDermott Reade – Website
After working many years in education (which I loved), I was ready to shift into a career where I could continue to connect with others, really make a difference and still have the flexibility I needed to take care of my young kids. I couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered IIN. Every day I have the joy and privilege of working with incredible women and I feel so grateful to love what I do every day – it sounds cliché, but it honestly does not feel like work.  My IIN mentors told me that our clients are like “mirrors for us”, and this has certainly been true for me.  Helping clients work through their health and wellness challenges has, in turn, helped me shine the light of awareness on areas of my own life that I had been ignoring. 

Susan Vallelunga –  Website
At 41, I was living in New Zealand (where I was born and had been a professional actress for 20 years), still single but finally healthy after 13 years of dealing with Hashimoto’s Disease and all sorts of digestive issues. I decided I needed to leap into the unknown, so I sold my apartment and moved to NYC for 6 months to see what would happen. Well, I fell in love! I also realized I didn’t want to play the acting game in US, and craved something more connected, more true. I had studied naturopathy for a while and was a certified Personal Trainer, so when IIN called, it was my leap into the unknown…. with the softest, fluffiest, bounciest landing!

Tammi Hoerner – Website – Blog – Facebook
This school has been a completely transformational experience for me! The education is like no other, approaching learning in a format I could embrace and easily absorb alongside a full time job, being a mother of two children, and managing a household. I unfolded and learned so much in the time I was in school, and continue to do so as an Immersion Student and a Student Coach. I am always going back for more, and I am never let down!

Rochelle Blank-Zimmer – Website – Facebook – Twitter
My advice for emerging health leaders is to understand your desire, your passion and create a practice that allows you to practice that. You don’t have to know everything; you just have to be the one willing to hold the flashlight out of the tunnel. You are the guide, meeting your client where they are. It is not your journey but theirs that you are honored to be a part of. Your job is not to fix someone but to bear witness to their experiences and be the guide on their journey - to help discover what nourishes them and restores them to the health they want to experience.