Gifted Kids, Parents & Families Coaching

Before I met Fabienne, I was not aware of many things. I hardly knew my gifted/very sensitive and neurodiverse side, which I kept ignoring out of habit, ignorance, insecurity. The work with Fabienne addressed exactly this part of my inner being, which remained hidden for a long time and needs support in ‘coming out’ and growing, building up self-esteem. This has strengthened me on many levels, especially because in Fabienne I found someone who could be a mirror to myself – to my needs, perceptions. I felt heard and supported and I knew, I am not alone in my path finding myself.

I experience Fabienne as very dedicated, focused and listening, she understands very well from her own experience how complex and different one’s own perception can be and she has encouraged me to pursue this.

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Bevor ich Fabienne traf, war mir vieles gar nicht bewusst. Meine begabte/sehr sensible und neurodiverse Seite kannte ich bis dato kaum, hatte sie aus Gewohnheit, Unwissenheit, Unsicherheit immer wieder ignoriert. Die Arbeit mit Fabienne hat genau diesen Teil im inneren Sein angesprochen, der lange versteckt blieb und nun Unterstützung dabei braucht, um “herauszukommen” und zu wachsen, ein Selbstwertgefühl aufzubauen. Das hat mich auf vielen Ebenen gestärkt, vor allem weil ich in Fabienne jemanden gefunden habe, der mir selbst – in meinen Bedürfnissen – ein Spiegel sein konnte und damit dem Wunsch, damit nicht allein zu sein, Halt gegeben wurde.

Fabienne erlebe ich als sehr aufmerksam, konzentriert und zuhörend, sie versteht es sehr gut aus eigener Erfahrung wie komplex und anders die eigene Wahrnehmung sein kann und sie hat mich darin bestärkt, diesem nachzugehen.

I do not know how it all happened, but Intergifted Coaching was pivotal in pointing out the obvious that was concealed within a lifelong swirl of complexities. My Intergifted Coach provided compassionate insight without shaming my brain. Together, we redirected my intensities to support only the most potent Actionables. The result? I took these elevated possibilities and ran! The simplified Actionables expanded in fabulous ways. Intergifted Coaching has triggered a momentum of freedom and creative manifestation in all areas of my life!

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.

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.

Thank you InterGifted for providing such a unique and well suited coaching setup for your target audience. Being able to mix and match from the group of coaches has in itself been inspiring and has provided me with renewed hope and energy. I have been searching for an appropriate coach for quite some time and had never found someone that I felt would understand all of the aspects that I wanted to discuss. When Jennifer offered the opportunity to meet with more than one coach, the profound relief of finding a solution better suited to my needs washed over me and filled my soul. Such a fantastic program of ‘custom plans’ being created for the coaching process goes a long way towards instilling a sense of being understood and anchors in the feeling of finding a community wherein I can express myself freely. With appreciation and gratitude to Jennifer and all involved with InterGifted.

I was so relieved to discover that something like gifted coaching exists! I’ve had help from many other therapists and coaches over the years, with only partial results. Now for the first time in my life, I feel like someone understands me, and I’ve made more progress in two sessions than I had in all my years of therapy! Thank you so much.

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!

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!

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.

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.

Jen was the right light at the right time for me. I had spent a good portion of my early adult life trying to figure myself out and how I fit into the world, and while I had made significant progress, there were missing pieces – the gifted pieces – that were keeping me stuck. Jen helped me fill in those missing pieces and ‘unlock the whole’ so that I could move forward. Without her coaching and guidance, there were aspects of myself I don’t think I would have ever embraced, let alone even recognized. Jen is an exceptional coach and human being, and should you ever have the opportunity to work with her, grab it with arms wide open!

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!