MY RETIREMENT STORY

Coaching has given me a second career that I am passionate about!

When I retired from a full-time career as a community college instructor and department chair, I was done with the stress of administrative duties, though I still loved teaching . I continued to stay connected to my profession through part-time teaching and teacher training for several years. However, my needs to serve others and to try new things weren’t being met either there or in my family life. I had planned to help care for my mom, who passed away, and my grandson, whose family moved across the county. Yes, I loved the opportunity to sing, travel, focus on my spiritual growth, and volunteer, but my purpose in all this was unclear.

About four years after I had retired, a door opened. I was invited to become a life coach at a community college. I was working with students again but helping them grow in life skills. For example, after showing a widowed Iraqi mom with two sons to use her planner, she fit in enough studying to raise her grades. Another student developed the confidence, after my coaching on study skills and test taking, to complete and pass the four-hour engineering exam. I had found a way to serve that matched my skills .

I wanted to be a better coach so enrolled in a coach certification program. After nine months of coaching training weekends, coaching, being coached, weekly teleseminars, and lots of personal growth, I became a Certified Professional Coach! And the learning didn’t stop there. I found that I loved and was successful at inspiring my fellow retirees to discover their next life adventure so completed a certificate in retirement coaching.

Seven years after my retirement, I started a coaching business. Those seven years were filled with great experiences and opportunities, but they would have been more fulfilling and vibrant if I had had a clearer vision of what I wanted to do in retirement from the start- to serve and inspire others through coaching.

VIRGINIA’S CREDENTIALS

Virginia has successfully navigated the transition from a 60-hour-plus full-time position, to part-time work in the same field, to starting a business in the completely new and exciting field of coaching.

Virginia holds an undergraduate degree in Education from Adelphi University, a master’s in Teacher Education from the University of Southern California and a master’s in Applied Linguistics from San Diego State University. After thirty years as an educator, Virginia retired from teaching English as a Second Language full-time at the community college level.

In 2009, Virginia started her coaching career helping at-risk community college students successfully transition to the demands of the academic world. She is now a Certified Professional Coach and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner. She is further credentialed as a Certified Retirement Coach by Retirement Options. To support her interest in the transition to aging, Virginia became a trained facilitator for the Conscious Aging Workshops developed by the IONS Institute.

I feel more of a sense of calm and inner security about my retirement.

When I started working with Virginia, I had just retired from a full-time teaching position. I was feeling a little disoriented and directionless without a schedule to follow or a purpose for my life. Since I live alone, I really missed the contact with students and colleagues and was feeling isolated and bored. I wasn’t sure how to stay connected socially to my work friends and how to reach out to new friends. I also was challenged to find a new career or reinvent my former one in retirement .

After coaching with Virginia, I’m clear about the professional path I want to pursue and will be traveling overseas to do some related work. I’m closer to my family, in touch with them more often. I now have a plan to develop meaningful and supportive relationships in retirement.

Most importantly I realized that health has to be my primary focus at this point. Virginia helped me create a daily schedule that allows me to take care of myself through better eating habits, exercise, and time for quiet reflection.

These changes have helped me feel more of a sense of calm and inner security. Now I feel very optimistic about life after retirement.

What I like the most about Virginia’s coaching is her willingness to listen with encouragement and not with judgment. I also admire her depth, intelligence, and sensitivity.

These qualities plus her self-examination of her own retirement process and specialized training make her an effective retirement coach.

Pat Bennett

Professor Emeritus,
Grossmont College
San Diego, California

Virginia helped me gain a greater sense of clarity, focus, and control over my life.

When I first started coaching with Virginia, I was transitioning from a full-time to a part-time teaching position as part of a Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP). My husband and I had also recently moved to a new city. While I thought I was adjusting well to this new chapter, I didn’t realize how much in my life was still fluid.

Retirement Coaching with Virginia helped me gain a greater sense of clarity, focus, and control over my life. With this came a growing sense of peace and joy. I’m excited because I see many new opportunities and possibilities I didn’t see before, and with Virginia’s help I’m taking steps to explore them.

Virginia has some wonderful specialized tools and knowledge that have helped me move forward in areas where I am seeking answers, such as in replacing work benefits and leisure activities.

She has also helped me clearly see and build on the areas I’m confident in, such as finances, relationships, and personal development.

What I like about working with Virginia is her intuitive and empathetic listening. She’s very good at reading between the lines, always alert to what I’m saying and in sync with me. Her insightful questions, observations and amazing capacity for clarity and encouragement support me in feeling very valued and loved.

I know that Virginia’s honesty, caring and support will free you to unleash your potential within, just as it has with me. If you’re looking for a retirement coach, Virginia’s the one!

Martha Doran
Professor Emeritus,
San Diego State University Ventura, CA