This is the first time in my life that my authentic self has been seen and understood, and it is having a profound impact on my life. I am learning to stop censoring myself and to allow myself to grieve the years I’ve tried but not succeeded in finding understanding from my social circle. I spent so many self-destructive years trying to fix and change myself so that I could fit in, when now I can see that there was nothing wrong with me; I just needed space to be and explore myself as I am. I’m getting that space in gifted coaching, and discovering how much value I have just as I am. And while sometimes it’s scary and confronting, it is also profoundly liberating and affirming. If you’re thinking about the possibility of coaching with an InterGifted coach, don’t delay. You’ll thank yourself later!

Sandra was a wonderful guide throughout my introduction to learning about my giftedness. Sandra and I clicked because she is also gifted and because I am finally experienced what’s known as “mirroring”. Genuine mirroring is crucial to a gifted person’s development and is rare. The mirroring I experienced with Sandra cannot be manufactured despite what many experts teach. Genuine mirroring is natural, reliable and authentic. Sandra taught me everyday guiding principles that were customized to me. Most frequently, I apply that I can slow down and stop any time I choose. I remind myself of this principle not only when I go into perfectionist mode, but also when others expect me to be perfect; to do and be it all. I also use it when I’m going down a new path and something doesn’t feel quite right or isn’t flowing. People have told me to slow down my whole life, but Sandra’s words were the first to hit home for me. She showed me that it’s my choice. Sandra helped me to realize that I have a tendency to “fill in” where I’m needed and wanted, which is a passive way of living life for others and not myself. I promptly resigned as President for an organization that no longer resonated with me. People have asked me if I was living the life I wanted, but Sandra’s words of “filling in” were the first to hit home for me. I believe that I can learn anything and that, in areas where I struggle, it would only require someone explaining it to me in a way that no one else had before. Sandra’s quick and simple explanations just click and have improved my life in a very short, painless, period of time. It has been a wonderful experience working with Sandra.

I have had two inspiring coaching sessions with Jen. I chose to be coached by her because of the click and her specific expertise. Being able to talk with someone with the same level and thinking speed as well as with the same humor, is important as a highly gifted individual. During the deep discussion we had about personality types, I felt understood, challenged and supported to take my possibilities to the next level. I got valuable information to help me understand how things work in my head, based on my personality type. Since talking with Jen, I understand better why I fare better in some situations than others, and where my focus should be. I am ready to explore different opportunities for myself work and study wise. Jen also helped me explore where my existential depression stems from and how to prevent or deal with it, when it arises again. Thank you Jen, for your great insights and support!

What can I say about Jennifer’s coaching work? I can’t even begin to find the words.

As a profoundly gifted adult, I have found other consultants, counsellors and psychologists to be a poor fit for my rapidly evolving and fractally intense needs. Therefore, even though I actively sought mentoring for years, I never, ever, felt genuinely helped by any of the professionals I’d spoken to. I was always left sad and disappointed and just made do with what little I got. Most of the time, I would overwhelm them with the ways and means I’d already researched, applied and tackled. Many were the times I would prepare extensively for a session, going in with all my notes, hoping to tell them, “Well, here’s what I’ve done, so I was wondering if you have anything further to suggest?” and to receive a response along the lines of, “Oh okay, well if those haven’t worked as well as you desired, here’s what more you can do.” No. In fact, every time it’s either a blank face, an overwhelmed face, a bored face, or even a threatened face, and then complete change of subject or a reversion to patent basics, again and again. It was mutually frustrating and resource depleting.

With Jennifer, however, I realised that what I needed and craved all these decades was challenge. I needed a coach who could challenge me to push my comfort zones beyond what I was capable of on my own, without a professionally neutral third-party perspective. I needed a coach who was not only as driven as I am myself to constantly evolve, self-actualise and even self-transcend, but who also approaches those goals as a profoundly gifted person would. This made such a difference to my sense of self, identity and worth, when I realised that I wasn’t wrong all these years, I was simply working with the wrong people out of sheer ignorance.

Gifted people need gifted coaches. There is no two ways about it. We need a gifted coach who can not only match our speed, intensity and diversity but who is also trained and personally experienced with all the skills and toolsets required to achieve what we desire.

Jennifer is an extremely wise, compassionate and skillful coach who not only has the professional training and capacity but also a unique kindness and genuine curiosity that allows her to connect with her gifted clients as fellow human beings, and that is a quality is so rare to find in coaches and mentors these days. My sessions with Jennifer always leave me feeling seen and heard, appreciated and supported and most importantly of all, spiritually, psychologically and practically empowered to take the next right small step toward creating the life I desire and deserve as who I am.

I’m twice-exceptional – gifted and autistic. I spent most of my life feeling ashamed of the way my mind worked and trying so hard to make it fit into the mould of what people expected of me. At the age of forty, I found InterGifted and started coaching with Jen. She understood me more in just a couple conversations than anyone had in my whole life, even my closest friends and family. In coaching with Jen, I finally understood that I am a meta-thinker, and that this makes my mental process very different than the norm (even more different than I already thought, considering my autism). I have known about my autism much longer than I have known about my giftedness, so now I have a lot of knowledge to integrate. But I feel very hopeful for the first time in a long time, as now I can evaluate my true potential and build upon it, rather than continuing to try to be something I’m not or fulfill others’ ideas of my potential. I am reaching a level of self-acceptance and hope through coaching that I never thought was possible for me. Thank you Jen!

If you’re considering coaching but haven’t decided, my recommendation is to just do it. Yes you’re smart, and over time you could figure it out all on your own, but that’s just the point: your time is worth something – a lot more than what you will pay your coach. One coaching session with Jen was the equivalent of at least 2 months of reading, searching, journaling, pondering, and experimenting on my own. The fact is, a lot of what we need to know and do as gifted people is counterintuitive and differs greatly from what ‘normal’ people do. The typical common sense wisdom doesn’t work for us, not because we’re necessarily better, but because we see, think, and feel about things with much greater complexity than others. Having a coach who understands this and has spent years of study and effort figuring out what works is invaluable on your quest (for whatever it is you’re seeking – for me it was happiness and fulfillment). The great thing is, InterGifted is run by people who actually know what it’s like to have a complex or intense mind, and many of the coaches were drawn to this work precisely because they were once ‘coachees’ and saw first hand what coaching could do for them. They won’t pressure you or try to sell you what you don’t need – they will do your best to help you, whether or not it’s profitable for them. The bottom line is, had InterGifted coaching been available when I was young, it could have saved me from decades of personal struggle. You owe it to yourself to see what it can do for you.

The work I do with Karin has helped me articulate who I am and has in a way, given me permission to step in to that identity. On top of being incredibly knowledgeable as a gifted coach, she is gracious and kind which creates a space where I feel safe, and seen. I’m incredibly grateful that I get the opportunity to work with Karin and would highly, highly recommend her.

Thank you so much for your help in allowing me to understand my giftedness. I started the year not even knowing I was gifted but thanks to a chance encounter which led me to the InterGifted website I was able to receive some coaching and mentoring from the wonderful Jen who identified me as gifted in our first session. Thank you very much for helping me discover my true self, it has been a wonderful journey which I am looking forward to continuing.

I’m doing a formal coaching trajectory with Willem Kuipers around work-related issues. It’s fantastic! His (academic) knowledge of giftedness is enormous, which helps a lot in understanding myself in context, plus understanding the context itself better. Because of this specific knowledge Willem is able to exactly explain why things work the way they do, and that’s based on thorough research combined with the right kind of intuition. Besides this, he is a gentle and sensitive person who very carefully phrases his thoughts and suggestions. Willem has also developed practical tools about personal preferences and career parameters that are very helpful. His way of coaching has very little to do with the regular Human Resources approach, and is an adventurous journey into learning about all aspects of giftedness that are useful for you in your given situation. For me, it all really works very well.”

Connecting with Karin was life-changing. It’s been great to hear that I’m not crazy and that most of the things that happen to me are shared by others. Finding my identity is sometimes confusing and pushes me to confront some things I’ve never confronted. It’s great to do this with someone supporting me, at my pace. I love the fact that Karin is just there when you need it, with a tailored coaching method, not pushing me with a pre-established way of working. Every time we finish a session I have a smile and I feel peaceful, back on track. It’s been a great process and I’m excited for what’s coming. If you are looking for a coach, I can’t recommend Karin enough.

Karin works with me in the form of an informal conversation in a safe atmosphere. She picks me up from where I’m in my actual developmental state. I feel encouraged to try new steps, gain other point of views – expansion of consciousness. I learned to realize and acknowledge that I’m really gifted. She helps me to develop my authentic self. I learn about myself, how I’m functioning, about healthy boundaries that help me, as an empathic, overexcitable person to be in the outer world, without self-betrayal. I feel answered, legitimized and alive. Thank you Karin for your loving support.

It has been very valuable to put some focus my intensities and how they can work for me and not against me. It is brilliant to have someone on the other side of the world cheering for me, believing in me and making sure that I progress and don’t get side-tracked. And the best part: I can be myself and not hold back.

There have been quite a few therapists and coaches in my past, but most could at best offer only very fragmented help. Often the suggestions made by them were not appropriate for me and were less than helpful on my journey to discover who I am and why I struggle with being me so much. Of course all of this became lessons in life in itself, but not the kind of lessons I had anticipated or hoped for. They were rather the negative kind of lessons: what I really did not want to have to deal with anymore.

Just before joining IG I had the privilege of sharing some thoughts with Willem Kuipers, who is also a coach within the IG coaching network. He was the first person to respond to me in a way that was open, respectful and containing all the elements I needed to progress. His view of Xi connected deeply with me and his insights have been very meaningful and extremely helpful.

When I joined IG there was an instant chemistry with Jen that resulted in a couple of coaching sessions. Those were not the obligatory prefab meetings I had become accustomed to from the past. Jen engages in to the point and highly relevant discussions on high priority issues. Those issues were addressed in a way that completely suited me and helped me to continue my journey much richer in thought and armour. The way in which Jen communicates on an energetic level, being compassionate and driven and fully capable of viewing not just a fragment of me but holistically approaching triggering events, changed my disillusionment regarding helpful guidance into deep trust and utmost gratitude. The manner in which she provides suggestions and answers completely matches my lightening speed way of thinking and analyzing. She doesn’t beat around the bush but gives direct and straight in depth qualifications to issues I had previously not been able to wrap my head around. Jen offers knowledge from interesting literature and provides links that enable self-help, which is a way of learning I prefer. She is always available for opening up deeper cognitive and structurized solutions. Issues that seem to pose specific problems to highly gifted persons are no challenge for her and she will honestly and passionately provide insight in all these matters.