Tatrit

Wondering who am I?

Here you will find out more about me.

Q: How did you get into coaching and retirement coaching?

When I was a kid my family used to go watch every ethnographic movie which came to our town’s movie theater This started me thinking in a slightly fuzzy way about how people from varied cultures were in some ways very different but also in other ways very similar.

I was always interested in personal development (my own, of course), and musing about life’s meaning while doing other things. No, I did not become a psychologist but an economist specialized in agricultural development! 

Still, personal development was always with me in my life, along with learning. I traveled, lived, and worked in different countries and cultures. My husband is from a different country than mine and we have been raising our children in 3 different cultures: my husband's, mine, and whichever country where we live.  By this time I had become convinced that people from all over the world are much more similar than different, even though there are important cultural differences. 

Eventually we moved to Italy, where in 1999 I “happened” to read a very ironical and actually rather negative article about coaching (in the USA) in a French publication.  Somehow though my gut feeling told me that this was what I was looking for. I enrolled in “Coach U” (Coach University, in the US) and 3 years later I became one of the first Continental European graduate coaches.

Why retirement coaching?  It’s because years ago, at the time when I was just starting my professional life and trying learn the hard juggling trick of keeping both my private and professional lives in balance, my father was retiring.  

I had organized a year-end trekking trip in the Sahara Desert and my mother was really interested and excited about coming along. My parents were building a new house in a quieter area of their town and going to move in as soon as it possible, but the construction work was moving rather slower than my father had expected (though this seems to always happen with houses). And just at this time my father retired.

He had prepared for retirement in the financial aspects, but not in any other way. Slowly he became more and more depressed, and in the end though I myself went to the desert, my mother never came with me because she wanted to stay with my father in that tough time of his life.

Frankly, at the time I didn’t understand what my father, who finally at long last didn’t have to spend hours driving to his work in addition to all the long working hours, was depressed about: he was free to do what he liked!

I’m now living in a situation where I’m surrounded by people near retirement age or who have just retired and guess what -  some of them are depressed when this should be just when they’re leading into the grand culmination of their life,  when they’ve got it all (nearly) worked out and it is just (almost) perfect. 


Q: What interests you, maybe even fascinates you about your field?
 
As I said, I’ve always been fascinated by personal development and personal learning. But eventually I realized that many people are not at all aware of what having an active personal development can do for them.  They erratically try to cope with what they feel is out of balance in themselves.  I believe this happens because there is a wrong attitude towards ones own personal development. 

Psychology and related field like coaching are constantly progressing, developing permanently but hardly anybody is really aware of this outside the professional circles. One of the reasons is because in many cultures going to a psychologist for example carries very negative connotations. 

Another reason is that self development and the techniques which can catalyze it are a subjects which are fundamentally important for each human being, but it’s never explicitly taught in school or at home.

I believe there is huge potential for people to learn that they are in charge of their life and responsible for it, at any age of their adulthood: 20, 40, or 80 years old.  And that there are things they can learn which will help them do this effectively.


Q:  What's your philosophy and approach to working with clients?
 
From my professional experience, as well as from my personal one, I strongly believe that a person can sustainably move forward only when they are ready.  The client’s own rhythm and pace must be respected, providing the transitional support and training necessary for them to build their own permanent multi-dimensional support system  - for their projects, their dreams, and their learning.

My philosophy is:

Knowing who the client is
    + support
        + personalized tools    
            = sustainable results.

Q: What's you educational background, degrees, advanced education and training, etc.?

I am one of the first continental European graduates from Coach U, and the first certified Retirement and Life Option Coach in Italy. I’m a founding member of CoachVille (a coach training school in the US) and of the International Association of Coaches. 

I also have a Child Development Certificate from the Open University (UK), a university degree in agricultural economics (Sorbonne, France) and a master’s degree agricultural development. I speak and work in French, English, and Italian.

[Note :Because of my French background, and the insistence of French culture on grammatical accuracy in one's writing, my website contents have been edited for grammatical correctness.  My spoken and written English is fluent, but does sometimes contain some foreign ways of phrasing things. My clients  - generally open-minded types - have never complained about it or found that it gets in the way of our working together.]


Q  Have you had some unusual experiences?

For some years I was  a professional guide for backpacking trekking tours in the Sahara Desert.  I loved the desert, the hot days, the freezing nights, the bright stars, and the something ever new just over the next hill, dune or turn. And I also am fascinated how it reveals people to themselves.

I do have very fond memories of the desert sands, but my life has moved on to other things.  I look forward to the grape harvest, to producing a good organic red wine, and to getting a mule and raising some of the older rustic varieties of sheep, goats, chickens and donkeys.


Q  What do you do when you’re not working with clients?

I continue with my own training, mostly in coaching but also art. I enjoy living with my husband, and seeing our two children - who are now in University – when they come home.   With my husband we run a small organic farm in the Sabina hills of Italy  and I take care of my numerous animals who most of the time make me smile ... when they haven’t been up to some mischief or insisting on getting attention when I’m trying finish up something on the laptop.

And I love cooking.

If you wish to get in touch with me, Contact me and learn how I could help you or you may want to visit the services I offer.

A BIG THANKS.

I want to thank my colleague and friend Grace Judson http://www.svahaconcepts.com/ and my husband Jan Johnson for their help in editing this website.