“Metamorphosis from Trauma to Triumph: Sharon Ann’s Journey as a Coach and Advocate”

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Alright. So we have Sharon Ann here with us today. And Sharon Ann, can you talk a little bit about yourself?

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So, basically, I'm a talent coach for women battling anxiety, depression, PTSD Association.

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I've been at Coach for 2 years. I started that October of 2018 around my niece's birthday. I

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got into coaching as a drift result of working in the mental health system for the last 17 years.

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I started off as a professional staff, and I'm like, okay. I have a job. I have, like, 3 to

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6 first. When the job added my income ends from a job, hence, like, I have the thing in place.

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So after going from job to job, I'm like, you know what? She spent 17 years working in the mental

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health system and a professional tech. Why not take your training and use that to further other

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people? Why not take your training that you have all the different directions you have in NLP

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or psychology, play therapy? Why not take all those and bring it to the next step? Why not work

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for yourself? You have flexibility, have room to do as you please. So in 2018, I stopped doing

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tough work. I still do it every now and then, but not ever since I used to. So I stopped doing

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that, went completely online, went out there, and I had all these social media platforms to

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choose from, like, Ring Kin, Instagram, Twitter, and stuff. I'm like, do what? My online presence.

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So I've been the very online for 5 years. I wasn't getting anywhere of, like, what am I doing

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wrong? And I'm like, maybe if I switch to a different platform, I'll have success. So I switched

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to Lincoln, and at first, I wouldn't show my face on Lincoln or anything. I like I looked too

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ugly. I looked too that. But once I started showing my face, everything completely changed.

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It's like, oh my god. People were relating to me. I was putting myself out there. It was a completely

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different world. You're like, you need to see your state. People need to see your present. It

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doesn't matter what you look like. It's your message. Just get out your message. People wanna

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see as a real bot and you with video. They wanna see the real you. They wanna see the raw stuff

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that you see. And when I did that, people tried to plug in in. They're like, oh my gosh. For

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so many months, you wouldn't show it to taste. So I did that. It completely changed. Like, I

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was training standardized. People are like, I can relate to you. And I was getting glasses.

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TVs coming in. They're like, we can relate to the first we can relate to the habits. And coaching

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just completely took off from there. Like, I have my graduate students. And in case you're wondering

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what that is, it's like they're in school trying to be like nurses, doctors, psychologists,

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and they're working through their own mental health issues before they get back to the community.

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That was a way to win. Like, they're learning from me because I have the training, and I'm learning

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from them because they're starting off. I'm able to see where they are.

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Oh, that is a great story. And just so you know, and I'm not just saying this, our audience

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can't see you today because I only do audio, but you're beautiful. So I'm glad you finally put

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your face out there. Yeah. So tell me a little bit personally, was there something that drew

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this business, this line of work to Yes.

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I'm a trauma survivor and abuse survivor from ages to 10 to 24. And in 24, I'm like, enough

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is enough. There has to be a better way after all of the threats, after going up there and being

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in victim mentality and victim bonding where, like, your perpetrator slash become your child,

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your life becomes your life, you don't see any different. I'm like, there has to be something

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better than just, like, living from one day to the next. And bringing spirituality into it,

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I'm like, god, if things get better, I wanna get back to other people. And back then, I just

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said that just to say it and wanna be old because, like, I'll show you. I'll prove you different.

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You're gonna do this for a living.

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Wow. Where did you say you were at when that happened?

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I was 24 years old at the time. I was a baby baby. So revealing my age, it was, like, 3 years

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after I graduated high school. I came out and I said enough is enough.

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Right. And where were you living?

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I was here in Florida. I live in Florida people, Central Florida.

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Oh, okay. Okay. Was the I hate to get too personal, but was that family that was abusing you?

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It was a family friend. It's okay. I'm pretty open about my story.

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Okay. Because that's hard to get away from family or family friends. So good for you for being

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so strong. So do you ever when you're working with your clients, does that ever trigger you

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what they're going through to remind you of what you've been through?

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Yes. Sometimes it does. But as a trauma coach, you have to learn sometimes to shut off your

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emotions because it's not about you. It's about them. And each client, I see a level of representation

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of them in my story through them. I was like, no. You're not here for you. You're here for them.

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There comes a fine line where it's like you can reveal and share your story, but you need to

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let them have that space. Let them have that time.

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Yes. I agree. So what do you do for self care to make sure you are okay through all of this?

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I do a lot of positive self talk. I do a lot of affirmations, like I'm strong. I'm brave. I'm

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courageous. Pray through the scriptures. I'm a 5 ks walker, so I love to walk and be out in nature.

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Wow. Oh, okay. I just listened to a podcast the other day about how important it is to be out

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in nature and connecting with the trees and the land and the plants and how that feeds your soul.

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It definitely does. Once you're out in nature, it completely changes your mind. You're gonna

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be dark and depressed and just going outside, it's just very healing Stimulation sometimes.

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I agree. And so tell me a little bit about how you help your clients. What do you do for them?

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I know you have some support groups.

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Yes. I do lead support groups mainly. I work with women. I try working with both genders, but

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women's team at the be my the best. I lead support groups for, like, women of anxiety, depression,

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association, and I teach some grounding skills and how to recognize safe people because as trauma

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survivors, we have the mentality that everyone is safe. We can share our current habits and

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hang up with anybody. But, no, you don't wanna reveal your story just to anybody. You don't

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know if they're safe. They're gonna take it and use it against you. So I teach some techniques

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to recognize safe people that you trust a little bit before you get trusting them with a lot

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of things. You reveal little by little. I teach them, like, boundaries, but your yes, be yes,

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your no, be no. Because as I was saying earlier, as trauma survivors, we have the mentality

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to say yes to everything, but no needs to be no. No needs to be no, and you don't owe anybody

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an explanation. Like, taking back their power when you say no.

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That's great advice.

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Thank you. I also the employee being there's a lot of guided imagery. Guided imagery is basically

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taking the client back to an incident that happened to them. So say they were involved in a

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car accident. You're gonna have them close their eyes, and it's gonna be like, tell me what

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you can see. See what you can see. Feel what you can feel. Smell what you can smell. And through

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that, you're taking them back to the incident to recreate it to a more positive outcome. Let's

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say they were involved in a car accident and they lost a loved one. You're gonna guide them

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through imagery and be like, see what you can see. See that individual. If you can change the

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situation, how would you change it? And through that, you're helping them to get in touch with

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their senses, to get in touch with reality, to be able to go out there and bring healing to their life.

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That's beautiful. Is that NLP?

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That is NLP. But as a coach, I learned that as a coach, you can't really call it NLP. You have

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to be careful in how you word things because of, like, legal legalities. I'm not really a therapist,

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so I have to go around things very carefully. I have to reword different techniques.

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Okay. Well, that's good to know. But it sounds like you've definitely had some NLP training.

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I do. Yes.

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Yeah. That's great. And so what about your support groups? I saw on your website that you had

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a few different support groups. What are the differences?

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So the difference is on Monday night, I actually have a book group. We're working through a

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book called CPSD, filling through a CPSD. And right now, I'm working with another woman in the

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group. We started off with 10 people. It's just now me and her. And we're working through the

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CT CTPSD, which is chronic post traumatic stress disorder, and we're learning about left brain,

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right brain. And then on Tuesday night, it's a general group where anybody can come in and talk

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about their hurts, habits, and hang ups. So, say, that week you're struggling with depression

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and you just need an event. You have a group of women here to support you.

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That would be amazing. I would love that. K. So I wanna go back to something you said earlier.

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You said you worked with women with trauma, anxiety, disassociation, that kind of thing. Not

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everybody knows what disassociating is. Can you talk a little bit about that?

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Sure. Absolutely. So dissociation is basically where you're present, but you're not really there.

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So, like, saying you're at a stoplight, normal people dissociate at a stoplight where we just,

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like, look around. We're there. We're just going through different emotions. With DID and other

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dissociations, it's like different alters take over. It's like where your fragment So, like,

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say, I'm Sharon, but another part takes over who remembers the trauma, but they may not really

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be you. They're just a fragmented version of you. That's what association is.

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Now is that similar or the same thing as what they used to call multiple personality disorder

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or is that different?

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It is the same same thing. Now they call it, like, dissociation or dissociative identities.

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They are very similar.

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Very interesting. So I know on your website, it said that you had something that you actually

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do to kinda help people out in the beginning and make sure that it'd be a good fit with you.

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Is that a free initial session that you offer?

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Yes. I offer a 30 minute consultation to anybody who work through any hurt habit or hang up

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you have. It's totally free. Come in as you are, and you'll get, like, a taste of how I work,

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what we like for us to work together.

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Right. And this is all online?

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Yes. I do everything strictly online. I have clients all over the world. Most of my clients

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are, like, in Dubai. I have a large population in the United Kingdom and Australia, and I only

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have one person in America.

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That's interesting. Are there any language barriers?

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There are hardly any language barriers at most. It's just talking really slow in projecting, enunciating.

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Okay. And can you tell me about your podcast?

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Yes. I just recently started a podcast. It's a labor of love. I wanted to go out there and basically

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give back to other people. I wanted to go out there and be like, there's people who wanna share

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this story. There's people who wanna get their presence out there, who wanna grow through social

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media. And I'm, like, all about giving back to other people. So I started my podcast in January,

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and I'm, like, what happens happens. I am 6 episodes into recording. It's titled metamorphosis

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from trauma to thriver. And I got the title because metamorphosis means change. We're all willing

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to grow. We're all willing to change. We're all willing to evolve. And the cyber part is because

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I don't want people to go out there and be like, oh, I have schizophrenia, or, oh, I have borderline

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personality in order to define them. I want them to be able to realize that they can thrive.

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They can move past that. And then they thrive or so. But a work assist with to Thriver. Is it

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my title? It talks about anxiety, depression, dissociation, anything centered around mental

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health. I basically record through Zoom and then I air it through the YouTube.

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Well, you know, I could have just said everything you said. I started my podcast for the same

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reason, and I started in January, and I've done about 6 episodes so far. So we're gonna have

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to stay in touch and kind of help each other out on this journey.

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Definitely. And I think that with anything in life, it is a journey. You learn through trial

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and error. You learn from the experiences of others.

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Oh, yeah.

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If we're not learning, we're not really, we're not developing. We're staying static.

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Right. I agree with you, and I have learned so much about myself and about others just since

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I started this in January. Have you experienced that as well?

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I have too. Exactly. When I first started, I was like, oh my gosh. How do I do this? I don't

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know what I'm doing. Oh my gosh. I see other people so successful. But, no, you can't go up

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there and do the coulda, shoulda, woulda things. You are where you are. You learn as you go.

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Right. I learned that you just have to publish it even if it's not perfect and and just learn,

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and every time you get a little better.

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Right. And people love the blue people love to see you messed up because they know that you're

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human and nothing is perfect. We all create our own level of perfection.

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Exactly. So if you had to say something to someone that's struggling right now and listening

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to this, what would you wanna leave them with today?

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I would want them to know that your past doesn't have to define who you are. You don't have

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to live in victim mentality. You're meant for success. You don't have to go up there and let

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your abuser thoughts become your thoughts. His words become your words. You deserve better.

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You deserve a life of your own. You deserve to think for yourself, to feel for yourself.

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I love that. That is great. And then where can people find you?

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People can find me on Linktree. It would be sharon_a. And through my Linktree, I have their

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app set up where you can set an appointment with me. I have a Instagram, my YouTube, my email.

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I'm very big on LinkedIn. I'm very big on Facebook, and I have a private Facebook group.

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That's great. I actually follow you on LinkedIn, and I listen to your podcast today. So I highly

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recommend what you're doing to everybody out here. If you get a chance to go to the podcast,

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The Metamorphosis From Trauma TO Thriver, I recommend that. And I also would like to say that

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she posts some good stuff on LinkedIn, so check that out. Alright. Well, thank you so much,

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Sharonette and for joining us today. I hope you have a great afternoon.

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Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

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You're very welcome. Have a great day. Thank you. Alright. Bye bye.

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Bye.