Meet Roberta
If I had to pick one word to describe myself it would be grateful. My life has had some challenging times but at the end of the day I am grateful for it all.
As a former teacher with a master’s degree in counseling, I began my mission to help others early on. I loved my career as an educator but after 33 years life took me down a new path to becoming an author and speaker for survivors of sexual abuse. In 2014 my book, Say It Out Loud: Revealing and Healing the Scars of Sexual Abuse, was published. With a full schedule of speaking engagements, book promotion and just enjoying time with my husband, life presented me with yet another path to follow and the outcome has brought me to where I am today: Roberta Dolan, Certified Life Coach.
No one’s journey through life is linear. We are all faced with paths we never intended on taking, some more challenging than others. My challenges and choices are why I believe I can lead others to finding joy regardless of the challenges they’ve faced. Here’s a bit more of my story.
In the midst of living the good life as a proud wife, mother and educator an ugly truth from my past emerged. Repressed memories of a childhood of sexual abuse surfaced, fracturing every bit of stability in my life. Over a period of six years, with the love and unending support of my husband and therapist, I revealed and healed my scars of sexual abuse. Once again I was on a good path feeling joy, feeling whole and loving my life.
After Say It Out Loud was published my husband and I followed our dream of wintering in Florida and spending the rest of the year in New England with our family. Life was good! Life was good until we were sent down another unexpected and devastating path. In April of 2016 my husband Tim was diagnosed with a brain tumor and eleven months later he left this earth. For the next year and a half my life was consumed with grief and the disconcerting thought of how I would face each day without Tim by my side. I knew I had a choice to make; live in the murky waters of grief or find my way back to light and a life worth living. I chose to embrace life.
My yoga mat and a studio called Bloom became my new best friends. It is there that I began to write my Next Chapter. I practiced yoga, learned meditation and worked with a life coach to help me discover the perceptions that were blocking me from achieving balance and joy. It was through life coaching that I realized I had the skills and desire to become a life coach. After successfully completing the Holistic Life Coach certification program I began my own business. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience as I lead others to their Next Chapter. I know I can, because I have. Forever grateful, Roberta.
