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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

“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!”

We connected with Lea as we needed advice and support in regards to parenting our gifted daughter. It was great to speak with someone who is familiar with parenting a gifted child. She provided us with valuable literature, information and support. Lea is a wonderful and warm person and she has an amazing energy. I highly recommend a chat with her for all parenting questions (or non-parenting questions).

When people ask me what it’s like working with Jen, I tell them it’s like having someone understand you without you having to explain anything to them. Jen seems to know and be able to articulate my complex thoughts, motivations and needs in a way no one ever has in my life; and because of this, I understand myself and can, in turn, communicate my inner world much more effectively than I could ever before. Working with Jen has helped me make it through an extreme positive disintegration, develop healthy relational boundaries, and hone in on a career path that, for the first time, makes sense for me and my unusual brain. In the midst of all of that, I was able to sort out and heal from patterns of intergenerational trauma that I hadn’t even known I was being affected by. All in all, Jen is an unusual human and I mean that in the best sense. Thank you Jen.

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!

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!

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 finally feel like I can go at my speed and I don’t have to slow down or explain everything – my coach just gets me. This is a game-changer for me!

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.

Talking to Silver was crucial for me and still is, every time. I encounter a person who looks further into infinity than I ever knew when we talk. Silver really does that. She stands firm and—as she uses the word “intrepid”—really owns up to the name “Intrepid Integrity”. I am blown away. Views I held dear and that were actually doing me more harm than anything else, I could finally see as such : just thoughts. And that was the case only after ONE session. I thought about what she said ALL the time and still do. When there is a tough situation for me, I wonder, “What would I tell Silver and how would I tell her?” and the words arise naturally, as well as the attitude that I need. I meet a fellow human and a person I look up to whenever we connect and I take this opportunity again—here—to say, “Thank you Silver, for all you did for me, for all you do even when you are not around—in a sense you still are. Meeting you is a great gift to me and the help you provide allows me to fix up family members’ stories and therefore put back together a situation that is a big mess and was so for generations. Big, big issues are taken care of, which would otherwise be impossible to handle on my own. The world needs this contribution. I do. Thank you for being who you are and doing what you do.

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.