My Story
My story is honest and at times, raw. I share my story to help people understand that you don't have to become your adversity.
I am often asked, "How did you get into coaching?". Honestly is starts with my "old story" that is full of adversities and hardships.
My old story was 40 years in the making. It includes things like cancer, sexual abuse, a job layoff and loss of loved ones.
With that old story came guilt, shame, humiliation and an overarching theme of "never good enough". To counteract those feelings, I built my life on the unstable foundation of perfection.
Then, a series of events shook me to my core and proved that perfection is nonexistent; I'd need to find a new way to live.
Within 9 months, I had a double mastectomy to remove breast cancer. My 91-year-old father had brain surgery and one of my sister’s died of malignant melanoma in just 8 weeks. Talk about a punch in the gut!
After 2 years of critical care taking, I decided to get my coaching certification thinking I would go back to corporate. But, through coaching I’ve uncovered my purpose and am living my values.
It’s been a lot of work, but I now have a life of joy and meaning. And my old story is just that, an old story.
So, to answer the question, “How did you get into coaching?”, my journey to purpose, joy and meaning led me to coaching. Coaching fulfills my deepest desire to make a difference in peoples' lives every day and that is a key piece of giving my life meaning.
There are 4 key beliefs which I hold when it comes to adversity:
1) You are not your adversity. Adversity is something that happens to you, it does not define you.
2) You are worthy of joy- always. When going through hardships some people feel they can't experience joy and grief at the same time. JOY is your brief respite that gives you the energy to grieve well.
3) With adversity often comes a decrease in productivity. This is NOT a permanent change. Learning to alter your mindset and learning skills and tools to be mindful and compassionate and get your productivity back is key. Getting back to productivity and living your purpose can be done, I am living proof of that.
4) Finally, with any adversity, be gentle with yourself giving yourself time and space to heal. There is no time line for grief. Be as compassionate with yourself as you would be with your best friend and gift yourself the grieving process.
Hardships and adversities happen to ALL of us, 100% of us. They are part of the thing we call life. Please know that you are not alone and I can help you navigate this process and come out stronger, with more purpose, productivity, meaning and JOY!
My Bio
Trish Perry, PCC is a certified master results coach, trainer and speaker. She is the founder of Harmonize Coaching, LLC.
Trish has 20+ years of mentoring and coaching experience in corporate and non-profit worlds. She understands and is dedicated to delivering outstanding results on a consistent basis. Trish was a successful executive at Target for 20 years as well as other organizations. She works with all levels from CEOs to administrative assistants.
Trish’s specialty is coaching through adversities. A main tenet is “You are not your adversity”. Whether it is an individual dealing with illness, loss, life balance, work-related adversity or it is an organization or team wanting more engagement and productivity, there is usually an adversity that needs to be addressed. Trish has deep personal experience with powerful recovery from adversity including traumatic losses, breast cancer, layoffs, dysfunctional bosses and teams, and business crises. She has created the Power Path Process™️ of coaching to get outstanding results for her clients. She also is certified in team coaching and focuses on building strong cross functional leaders and teams.
Giving back to the community is one of Trish’s core values. She has given thousands of hours at non-profits such as The International Coaching Federation, Girl Scouts, Feed My Starving Children, MN Council of Churches and Minneapolis Public Schools. She has served as President on the board for the International Coach Federation for MN (ICF MN) and teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (Jon Kabat Zinn) to teens.
Trish lives in Minneapolis with her husband of 30+ years, Jay, and their 3 wonderful children.