Frequently Asked Questions

Who should consider life coaching with Honor Every Voice?

Although we are also love to coach neurotypical students to help them reach their full academic and personal potential, our specialty is to coach individuals with special needs. Our mission is to help neurodiverse individuals and their families who want more than what society expects of and will invest in them, and instead believe in their greater potential and are willing to work diligently with a growth mindset toward ever greater cognitive, emotional, and social capability.

 What is your philosophy (or secret sauce)?

• Acceptance and respect for the extent of the challenges coupled with a firm belief in lifelong development and every individual’s potential to change and grow

• Walking that narrow edge between challenge and success, ie encouraging growth and initiative while keeping the steps small and tangible enough to be readily doable

• Keeping self-agency and growth as a person the focus; we co-create goals that are meaningful to the person and match their individual profile rather than external benchmarks 

• Building trusting relationships between coaches and clients and clients and their family supports because an individual’s success depends on teamwork, and because love is the most essential ingredient to a person’s flourishing

• We are unique as life coaches to neurodiverse individuals and their families because we have had the life experience and have walked the walk; peers open up more to another peer and parents to another parent who understands.

Can Honoring Every Voice help me with my younger child?

As with all interventions, the younger you start, the greater the impact. Dr. Show will not substitute for your developmental pediatrician, child psychiatrist, or school or agency interventionalists, but is happy to collaborate with you and your team to add critical but oft-neglected support and guidance to the parent.

As she puts it, “Children don’t come with instruction manuals on how to grow them. Parents are just supposed to figure it out. But when your child has autism, or another major developmental issue, you can feel overwhelmed. Every child is an individual. Every child is completely different. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a mentor, someone with the experience, understanding, and professional background to help you figure out a path forward that would work for your individual child and family and walk it together with you for as long you needed it? Who could also focus on you and your particular gifts, challenges, and emotional needs? Everyone needs support, but especially the parent faced with the always challenging but sometimes Herculean job of raising a child with special needs.”

Potential questions to ask yourself if you are a parent considering peer life coaching for your teen or young adult:

• Does your son or daughter struggle with a neuropsychiatric challenge of some sort? Extreme shyness, anxiety, attention deficit, impulsivity, motivation issues for example or even autism, dyspraxia, OCD, cognitive or communication challenges? 

• Do you wish you could get more support to help guide your child through the teen and young adult transition years, to help them be more successful in and out of school, continue to grow in social emotional learning, discover their strengths and values, develop identity and vision, and learn to adopt a positive, growth mindset to serve them lifelong? 

• Wouldn’t it be great to have someone in their lives in addition to you to encourage and support them-someone skilled and experienced in nurturing development who could understand your child, really listen with caring, patience, and gentleness, affordable even for the long haul? 

• Wouldn’t it be great if that support came from a peer, someone your child could relate to and open up to, and see as both a coach and mentor? 

What is it like to be coached by a nonverbal coach?

Peter understands everything you say, so go ahead and speak normally. You can directly read his typed response in the chat on zoom or iPad screen in vivo, and his communication partner, Dr. Show, will also read it aloud.

To get a visual, take a look at his interview about being a nonverbal life coach at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oa4h2gwmfpp000z/AAAHcGRGSuBYgeoTsFRyIeBwa?dl=0

What does Peter feel he can offer his clients?

“We more excellently discern what we want and get the support we need with collaborative discussion. I hope I can help others clarify their thoughts as a coach. Life coaching is about engaging the heart so people who feel lost have a sounding board who can help them find themselves and their direction. The rest is a dance, to feel their lead, and keep them moving in that direction. Our mission is for every voice to be heard, honored, and nurtured.”  - Peter Tran