Barbara Shirvis

National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBHWC)
Mayo Clinic Certified Health and Wellness Coach 
PQ Certified Mental Fitness Coach

My clients trust that I have their best interests at heart and the professional training and expertise on which they can rely.

Beyond that, my whole life has led me to Wellness Coaching.  As with many “overly sensitive” people, early life was a challenge, filled with self-doubt and discomfort. But college was a relief and provided the opportunity to really fall in love with new ideas and people not exactly like me. After earning a Master of Music from a top New York conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music, I worked my way into a beautiful and exciting three-decade career as a professional classical singer. Traveling extensively to embody opera characters of all ages and cultures in a convincing way drew me out of my self-concerns and increased my natural empathy.  Along the way, I became one half of a nurturing marriage, and a mom to two beloved sons. I still love to teach singing and cherish connecting with people who like to go beyond the superficial. In the recent past, several personal setbacks ushered me into the universal club of grief and coping, while simultaneously showing me the grace and beauty that is everywhere at once. 

When a dear friend gently but insistently guided me toward the intensive, time-consuming work to become a Certified Health and Wellness Coach, my goal was “to be a better voice teacher”, and hopefully experience my own healing. As a singer myself, I easily recognized in my students the struggles with confidence, motivation, and mindset that cried out for self-love and understanding. And, as luck would have it, nearly all of my practicum hours for certification were coaching mid-life women… women imbued with wisdom and insight and a hunger to reinvent, restore, and reset. Now I embrace the soul-satisfying work of coaching anyone with an impulse to discover their full capacity. 

Allying with people on their extraordinary personal wellness journeys requires constant attention to my own well-being. Beyond my formal continuing education, I stay in contact with my mentor coaches, knowing that no one is meant to grow and thrive all alone. After all, if that were so, we would all have done it already.