“I had been vaguely mulling the possibility of retirement from my long government career for some time but was unable to sort out all of the related issues such as potential loss of identity, income, autonomy, structure, focus, work colleagues, impact on my family, whether to move or not to move, and just plain fear of change. I remained “stuck” and realized that I might need some help to clarify my thoughts and to develop a plan. Woman’s Encore, with its emphasis on mature women in transition, seemed like an ideal place to start. I found the coaching sessions with Andrea enormously helpful and enjoyable. Andrea is an extremely intelligent, empathetic and non-judgmental listener who gently guided me through my issues with free-ranging discussion and occasional suggestions.

What had seemed initially to be an impenetrable tangle of barriers became, over the course of the coaching sessions, a much clearer path to decision making.”

“I began working with Andrea about a year after a separation from my husband of 25 years, from whom I am now divorced. For that first year before I started working with her, I was immobilized. I felt abandoned, I cried all the time, I could barely get out of bed in the morning. I was spinning around in circles—I couldn’t take action so how was I going to recover?

The first thing that struck me about Andrea from the moment I met her was how calm and compassionate she was. She helped me understand that the story I told about myself could be changed and we tried a new story where I was reaching out to people and not so wrapped up in myself. Andrea guided me toward my own self-discovery. What at first seemed to be a mess that I could never get out of became a situation I could manage.”

“I met Andrea when I hired her as a consultant to do some training for my staff on generational issues in the workplace. She is a great trainer and has a very good way with people. My staff, who usually hate staff in-service days, were raving about her.

In the context of talking about older adults starting new careers rather than retiring, she told the group that she was being trained as a life coach and would be starting a practice focused on mature women. I remember thinking at the time that it was a great idea, but I didn’t think much about it until a year or so later when I found myself at cross-roads.

I am a single woman and had been caring for my aging parents. They died within a few months of each other, and I was left in their huge old house with no one to care for or even talk to. Their passing was a blessing for them but a great emptiness for me. On top of that I had this big, very old and somewhat dilapidated house and all of their possessions to deal with. I was really stuck and didn’t know what to do first-or at all. I thought about seeing a therapist but realized my needs were about how to move forward, so I called Andrea.

She is a really good listener, and she is gentle in the way she talks. She made suggestions about things I could be doing about the house, but she also knew that I was grieving and that often got in the way of my actually doing what needed to be done. She helped me through the grieving process, and I was finally able to take care of the house and make new living arrangements for myself. I feel freer than I have in years.”