(she/her)
Hi, I’m Lisa.
Coaching has been a part of my career for decades, along with making art, teaching art, facilitating creative groups and workshops, with professional housekeeping, organizing, house painting, caregiving for older people and people with disabilities, as well as bookkeeping, officiating wedding ceremonies and heading up community mutual aid projects along the way.
I often thought that since I couldn’t knuckle down to just one career path, there was something wrong with me, or that I was missing some key information that would allow me to find a “real job.”
As I look at it now, I see that all these aspects of exploration, listening, learning, skill-building and working with people from many walks of life are really patches in a larger quilt. That this lifetime of experiences allows me to bring much more to coaching.
I love coaching.
Working with people as they discover what they truly want and what matters most to them feels very meaningful to me. Thirty-five years of teaching experience has shown me how people access information and process their experience. Listening intently reveals how I can adapt accordingly to best serve them, a foundational practice I also use in coaching.
Yet coaching differs from teaching, where the goal isn’t to instruct, assess, or even to validate. Instead, my role is to guide by getting out of the way, by allowing the client’s exploration and path to unfold. Having this presence and witnessing how clients are able to remember their abilities, to develop skills, to find the courage to change a situation, or to achieve what had seemed impossible creates genuine hope.
Working as a mixed-media quilt artist also helps me offer a creative approach to coaching. In my studio, I’m problem-solving and fine tuning details to make an idea become real. Sewing and quilting carry memories. Knowing hearts, working hands, life’s scraps transformed into something beautiful and authentic, made with skill, care, honesty and earnest effort.
From losses and trauma at an early age, grief has heightened my awareness of joy. Both inspire my commitment to transform and heal, to look for the cracks of light in shadowy places, to soften and receive Grace, to find purpose in supporting others. This journey has deepened self-knowledge, yet I’m also becoming more aware of how my life and lineage impact my community and the world, that there is always much more to learn, and with that perspective, I actually know very little.
My Grandmother’s Hands by Dr. Resmaa Menakem, along with authors like myisha t. hill, Gareth Higgins, Lisa Olivera, and many more teachers, artists and guides, are helping me understand both my place within and my responsibility to the global community. Learning keeps me moving, growing, flexible and appreciative of even the smallest moments of ease and sweetness. Savoring these moments reminds me that beauty can be found in the world and people are capable of great ingenuity, kindness and generosity.
Renewal & Resilience is an offering that acknowledges the reality of needing care and support as a human being, and at the same time, wanting to become stronger, more connected, and better equipped to give meaningful support to others in our shared world.
Proceeds from Renewal & Resilience support The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Equitable Giving Circle, and the Oregon Food Bank.
