For the first few years after learning I was gifted, determining my level of giftedness seemed like something unnecessary to pursue. It was enough to know why I was different. But after talking to Jen, I discovered that identifying my level was actually a necessary key for unlocking the ways in which I mask my giftedness, not only from others, but also from myself. Thanks to Jen’s insights, I’m making meaningful progress in understanding my gifted needs and nature. If you’d like to move to the next level of connecting with your gifted self, I recommend Jen as an excellent guide!

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.

Jen has it down to a fine art form. The quality of her mind-to-mind interactions is so brilliantly resonant and fluid that she gets to the ‘magic point’ in a way that is fast, congruent, and rings true. I have found her work effective because she embodies it as a living process.

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.

Jen is truly compassionate, understanding, generous and accommodating – and seems to ‘get’ exactly what you are thinking, feeling and fearing. She’s very accessible and approachable, in spite of being busy and is so authentic that you feel, continually, that she is on your side and identifies with and shares your challenges. I strongly recommend that you contact Jen directly if you feel the need for a consummately professional and highly competent advice and support: she’ll direct you to the best coach to work with, if she isn’t the best option or if she can’t fit you in.

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.”

It is always a joy speaking with Jen. It is a form of syncing, speaking and thinking in tandem, profound and meaningful, in a way that might send us both into a wild laughing fit. At last, here is a conversation where communication feels crisp and clear, unmuddled and deconfused. And at the same time there is a fluidity to the whole. For once, I let my administrator role go, I forget who said what and when, and stop trying to manipulate the conversation. Complex becomes simple, when you speak with Jen.

I’ve been blessed and guided to meet my coach, Jen, which has started a new journey for me that I never thought was an option: finding out that all this time, what I thought, felt and experienced was not madness but a gift that wasn’t recognized and nurtured. Looking back, my Soul was like a child in a corner tethered by whirlwinds of rejection, defeat, fear, confusion and an overwhelming mix of emotions, in a room full of kids, and not understanding why I couldn’t I be like them.  It only took one hand of another gifted mentor to help me feel safe enough to start getting in touch and love my Being. What a beautiful thing we get by coming together to love, live, learn and support one another!!!  I can now play with the kids!  Thank you with all my heart!

If, like me, you’re new to the whole giftedness thing and turning over stones in the hope of finding something that you don’t know you don’t know, book a session to get unbiased and your-need focused advice and insights. It’s very interactive and results in as much self-discovery as new insight offered.

I’ve been doing hypnosis sessions with Georges and he’s helped me beyond my expectations. He’s helped me better affront my perfectionism and stress management related to my academic demands, but also more generally related to unhealthy coping mechanisms I’ve developed through the years. Since working with him, I find I am better able to respond to my stress in healthy ways. I highly recommend Georges for those who want to explore an insightful view on their current situation and feelings. You will notice the positive results immediately in your life!

Thank you so much for what you do. I was so confused about my identity, and learning about giftedness has been incredibly healing. I no longer feel alone and I have hope now, because I’ve figured out what I need help for and I know where it get it. This is such an amazing journey of self-discovery and recovery!

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!

For quite a few years, I felt like a crazy, nervous wreck. There was an almost constant struggle with almost everything in my life. I saw therapists and counsellors and talked about my feelings and my childhood, and I learnt some useful tools. I knew, of course, that I was different. That I was extra everything. That I needed extra care, so to speak. I used to tell myself that I was too sensitive for my brain, or too intelligent for my sensitivity. I was definitely too much for most, including myself a lot of the time. Then I heard about HSP some five years ago and got a lot out of studying that. I started exercising and minding what I ate – that also really improved the general state of things. And then one day, in a conversation about bored children at school, a friend tipped me off about an organisation called “Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted.” That’s when I understood that giftedness is an actual thing; an actual research field. Going through the SENG website, I cried. Then I started reading everything I could get my hands on. And then, googling around about a year later, I found InterGifted and Jennifer Harvey Sallin.

Now, I think it’s wise to live as though you’re destined to do something very good. To strive to leave this world a little better than we found it – you know. I figured the time had come for me to step up and finally do something real. Took some shaky steps. Sure I can manage on my own, I thought. But the thing is, doing everything on your own isn’t the way to go. At some point in the coaching process, it felt a little remarkable to me that I hadn’t already done this work on my own. Studied Jung’s ‘cognitive functions,’ for instance. Or even just found out my personality type according to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. I guess that a part of this pretty wonderful and long overdue affair has, well, shown me how lonely I’ve been. I knew I could do a lot of things. And I have, and I do. The difference is, now I’m doing them with such grounded purpose. With more love, perhaps. It’s like I’m able to inhabit … my spot. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but the way I live my life has changed.

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.