I Needed Someone To Tell Me That It Was Going To Be OK

Before my coaching series, I was struggling with coming to terms with childhood trauma whilst also navigating the overwhelming role of motherhood.

I was so lost in the depths of my own struggles (having always depended on myself) that I had come to a point where I knew that I could no longer hold space for myself whilst navigating all of life’s other obstacles.

I needed someone to hold space for me, to guide me and to tell me that it was going to be ok. That I was going to be ok. That I had got this. And that I no longer had to do it alone.

As a health and life coach myself, I have had a lot of experience with coaches, psychologists and many other types of therapies. But Lavinia was well above and beyond each and every coach I have ever come across in terms of her knowledge, empathy, compassion and ability to hold space for a very strong minded, guarded woman/girl.

Before our first session, I was nervous. And even for the first 2 or so sessions I still felt that sense of nervousness because I was trusting another person who was holding me in a way in which I had not previously been held or seen before.

It took a few sessions for me to allow my inner child’s walls to come down enough to see that Lavinia was there FOR me. That Lavinia was a powerful, amazing woman and that I didn't have to fear her.

The first few sessions of trepidation were well worth the gold I received in working with this magnificent woman.

Allowing Lavinia to see me in all of my vulnerability, in all of my wounding, in all of my shame in a way no one else has ever seen me before was the thing that surprised me the most about our series. I saw both how desperately I had been craving to be seen, as well as just how many protective walls I had built around myself in order to never allow myself that opportunity.

Since the coaching series, my relationship with my husband has strengthened and my relationship with my kids has shifted dramatically.

I feel that I am more able now to be strong and vulnerable at the same time. To be a powerful woman but also to be HELD by a powerful woman.

Not many were able to break through my strong hold but Lavinia did with strength, love and compassion.

They say that you can't buy happiness but you can definitely choose to invest in your happiness, and this was an investment that will create return within my life for decades to come.

~ Alwynn Hynes, health and life coach & mama, Australia