Mandy Greene is a former marine, originally from New England. She currently lives in Rhode Island and studies Neuroscience. To top it off, Mandy is what she calls, \u201ca lucky mother of three\u201d and a full-time Health Coach with eight clients\u2014four of which are paying $1000 for her Health Coaching program\u2014and she has yet to graduate from Become A Health Coach (BHC) and receive her certification. It was a pleasure interviewing her for our Spotlight blog post today. Here\u2019s Mandy\u2019s inspiring story.<\/p>\n
What made you choose to become a Health Coach?<\/b>
\nI went through a lot of trauma in my childhood and young adult life and that led me on my own journey into Western medicine (and antianxiety and antidepressant medication.) Going through that phase myself, I got to see what it was like so I decided to go into a nursing program because I had all this love inside of me and and all this healing that I wanted to do, that was stuck inside of me, so I went the route of the nursing program. But there I saw a way that I didn\u2019t agree with such as treating with drugs first. So I left the nursing program and went into Neuroscience studies because I had it in my head that, \u201cIf I can figure out my own brain, I can heal myself fully and everybody else. I just need to understand the brain.\u201d Through everything I learned about the brain and how it works, I saw this huge gap between how our bodies truly heal and operate and what had been going on in my own experience in the nursing program and in Western medicine so I started looking for a career that would bridge the gap between the two and that\u2019s when I found Health Coaching. I took a semester off (from my Neuroscience studies) during my (Become A Health Coach) training but I\u2019m still pursuing Neuroscience. I love it. I\u2019ll probably be in school forever. I love it that much.<\/p>\n
Six months into BHC what results or progress are you most excited about?<\/b>
\nThe right thing would be to say the healing that\u2019s transpired with my clients\u2014and that is a huge part of it\u2014but if i\u2019m being really honest, my answer would be my own healing and my own growth. I wasn\u2019t expecting to have this much transformation in my journey of learning to become a Health Coach and learning to do it with other people. So my own learning has been the biggest part of it\u2014all In six months! Through my lifetime there have been so many pushes and tries and looking for the new thing and healing and not being complacent by nature. So for me to see this much personal growth, in this short amount of time, feels like a miracle, like everything I\u2019ve been praying for.<\/p>\n
What five words would you use to describe Mandy before BHC and Mandy now?<\/b>
\nBefore BHC I was confused, in pain, burnt out, desperate and losing hope.
\nNow I am lighter, happier, my spark is back, I\u2019m consistently inspired and I\u2019m healthy.<\/p>\n
Wow! So in your BHC experience, what was the active ingredient that gave you access to that transformation? \u00a0<\/b>
\nStacey and Carey\u2019s teachings. They felt like the parents I never had. It sounds dramatic but that\u2019s how it felt. Like this is how other people, who were raised with healthy teachings from their parents or grandparents or people in their community, feel. This is the stuff they knew and I didn\u2019t know this stuff. So much of it was new and about connecting the dots and the domino effect. Also having community to bounce stuff off of and to support me and encourage me to be really honest and say things the way they were. Altogether that created an awesome, thriving environment for me to just grow in.<\/p>\n
How is your personal growth and transformation impacting your coaching?<\/b>
\nExponentially. We learn (in BHC) that you can only take your clients as far as you can go and I thought, \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m pretty clever\u2026\u201d Honestly, I really thought that and as I go through this process I\u2019m realizing you really can\u2019t (take your clients further than you can go) because there are so many voices that come up and you get stuck in places and you need support. You just do. I currently have eight clients. Four paying $997 each. My last client paid $1000 and now I\u2019m bumping up to the next level. The commitment I made to myself at the beginning of this journey was that once I have a few clients and they\u2019re really getting profound results, then I will step forward a little bit to increase my growth.<\/p>\n
What<\/b>\u00a0are you experiencing with your clients that has you confident that just six months into BHC you can be paid well to coach people?<\/b>
\nIt\u2019s funny, I never thought I\u2019d say this but it\u2019s really true\u2014they are getting a huge deal. If they knew at the beginning that they were going to get x, y, z results from this would they pay $1000? They\u2019d be like \u201cWhat?! Yeah!\u201d But nobody believes that they\u2019ll really get this. And I\u2019m a person who felt like the sun, moon and stars needed to align for me to be able to heal from something and get the results I want\u2014I lost 40 pounds since my journey with Health Coaching started. So to be able to see this transformation personally, makes it easy for me to have the confidence that my clients will get it too. And when I\u2019m watching them in the places I\u2019ve gone through, getting their Aha\u2019s and their momentum, there\u2019s a buzz that comes with it. So it\u2019s easy to have confidence because I\u2019ve been through it, I know it works, and I\u2019m watching them go through the same process. On top of that I\u2019m not just guessing. I was trained really well in this 90-day program. After being able to hear Stacey herself coach, I now know what\u2019s coming next with my clients. I now know when they\u2019re going to have knee jerks, when they\u2019re going to want to run away\u2014all because my training really prepared me well.<\/p>\n
Did you say you lost 40 pounds in these past six months?<\/b>
\nI know right? Let me tell you that I\u2019ve been trying to lose weight for six years! And I\u2019m not even dieting.<\/p>\n
How did you lose 40 pounds without dieting?<\/b>
\n[Laughing] If I tell you that, then I\u2019d have to tell you the secret of my 90-day program. It\u2019s honestly because of the transformational work that we are taught in the 90-day intensive. I did the work. I slowed down. It was because of all the stuff that we learned about healthy habits that people don\u2019t do because it\u2019s not taught in our culture, honestly.<\/p>\n
What would you say to someone considering Health Coaching but nervous to make the leap?<\/b>
\nHmmm\u2026Nervous is good. I would say you are good enough. This particular program is genuinely all that it promises to be. And it\u2019s funny because there have been moments when I\u2019ve felt like it\u2019s not going to work. It goes up, down, up, down but as you trust the process and go through it, it\u2019s everything it says it\u2019s going to be but it\u2019s so much more. Looking back, nobody told me that I\u2019m going to get a family out of this and life lessons and stand-in parents. I didn\u2019t know any of that. I didn\u2019t know I was going to get all this personal growth. I thought I was just going to be taught how to coach. So I would say it\u2019s more than you expect it to be. And you are good enough and you can do it and you should do it.<\/p>\n
What final words of motivation do you want to leave readers with? \u00a0<\/b>
\nI learned this from a wise mentor (my Success Coach): \u201cSilver and gold, I have none but what I have I give to you.\u201d So this is how I translate it: it\u2019s not about being perfect or having all the answers. It\u2019s about me knowing I have pushed myself, I have learned, I\u2019ve been trained by awesome mentors, I\u2019ve learned this stuff, I know it, I\u2019ve done the work and so now what I have inside of me I\u2019m going to give to you\u2014all of it.<\/p>\n