Meet your Coach, Jessica Stern CTA Certified Coach

I have come to coaching after many years working as an individual and family therapist.  For the past 17 years I lived and worked in beautiful New Hampshire, first at an agency and then in private practice.

I moved to Georgia  because of my husband's job and started thinking really hard about what I wanted to do.  Even though I loved what I was doing, I felt somewhat constrained by the medical model and decided to explore coaching.

I  bring to coaching my desire to help people succeed, my counseling  background and the fact that I have successfully navigated many life  transitions.

I  was born in New York but left as a young child to live in Colombia where  my mother's family had emigrated when they escaped Europe in WWII. I  became a Psychologist, got married and had 2 daughters.  At that time,  things in Colombia were getting pretty rough and my husband and I  decided to move to the US seeking a better place to raise our children.   

We first moved to Western New York where I worked as a bilingual  therapist at Family Services of Jamestown NY.   In  order to do this job, it became apparent that I needed to do some  community work both with the Hispanic community and the community at  large.

Once we  moved to New Hampshire, I started working for Child and Family Services  of NH where I was a family therapist and also did outreach to the  Hispanic community and a lot of work in cultural diversity. 

Though  I left for private practice, I continued to be involved in the  community in many different ways.  I served as a commissioner on the NH  Commission on the Status of Women where among other things, I translated  the Legal Handbook for Women in NH into Spanish,  and I served on the board  of the NH Coalition against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

I  was also very involved with Temple Beth Jacob where I chaired the Adult  Education Committee, was a board member, was a member of the  fundraising committee, taught 7th grade Hebrew School and sang in the  Choir.  I ran a Jewish Parenting group both at TBJ and at the NH Jewish  Federation.

In 2009, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and had  extensive treatment including surgery, chemo, radiation and medication. This  was a very tough time but I had the best medical care and the most  amazing support group that anyone can wish for.  I believe that it is  not enough to survive, that it is important to thrive.

As soon as I was allowed to, I started volunteering at NH Oncology Hematology at the Concord Hospital.  It was a wonderful way to give back to my amazing treatment team and to be able to help patients during their chemo journey.  

And so today, I am feeling well, excited about starting this new chapter in my life.
Life  has taught me that things often don't work out as planned, no matter  how well we planned, that change is scary but necessary and that it is  very hard to carry the burden alone.  I also know that when we are in  midst of making big decisions, navigating life transitions, it is  sometimes hard to see the big picture and that we benefit from having a  sounding board, someone who can help us keep on eye on the ball, find  our own answers to reach our goals.