Janelle's Bio

I may have walked in your shoes... and I help you walk the path more easily

In a nutshell
Some of my “her-story”
Personal bio
Professional bio
Defining the wealth of who I am - and how I can help you

In a nutshell...

I went through years of hating my body, having eating and body image problems, low self esteem, depression, fertility hassles, miscarriages, low libido and exhaustion from doing too much...but NOW I love my body, maintain a good healthy weight, enjoy my food and gentle exercise, feel sexy and sensual and I have six great kids and two grandchildren. I now lead a simpler and less stressed life and I feel the most content I have even been in years. I feel confident and successful in the part that I play in life and in the world. I have grown to love and appreciate who I am, and it is from this place, that my life in all its facets looks and feels very different...

Some of my “her-story”...

As I went through changes, transitions and my own health and body concerns over the years, I did a lot of soul searching and personal and spiritual development, I visited complimentary health practitioners alongside of the medical fraternity and I learned healing and coaching methods myself.

I noticed my own love-hate relationship with my body and my “body deficient” mindset and lifestyle. (click her for Body magnificent article) I also noticed the impact that this particular mindset and set of behaviours and lifestyle choices had on my health, weight, sexuality, fertility, relationships and self esteem, for example. It sent everything on a downward spiral with less than great results.

I knew for me too that medicine, diets, beauty treatments, surgery, invasive procedures and pills and potions would not “fix” things for me at the core level, nor long term. It would be like taking half a wart out and leaving the rest to spread again, or treating thrush with ointment or pills while eating loads of sugar! My lesson has been to have confidence in my body and to LOVE my body and love myself NO MATTER WHAT.

Listen to my body and what I am telling myself...
Observe my patterns, habits, emotional state...
Validate my body and myself more
Enjoy my body and myself NOW!

Do you want to feel more confident in your body and be a more confident YOU?
Do you want to address your health and confidence from a more holistic perspective?

These love principles form the foundation of the:

52 week online motivation and coaching programme and Janelle community membership
Body magnificent workshop
One-on-one coaching / healing

Click on these options to find out more and get started on something that suits you TODAY.

For many years too, I chose the identity of superwoman, and a very busy life packed with academic aspirations, activities, commitments and doing for others. Despite my accomplishments and many years of intensive mothering, studying and “busy-ness”, my success cup felt empty, my physical tank was depleted, my self esteem plummeted and my soul was dying.

My lesson has been approving of myself, rather than proving myself and redefining success from an internal, values encompassing perspective rather than from an external, achievement and accomplishment goal-driven perspective. My success is no longer defined solely by my role, job, bank balance, acquisitions, life experience or even other people’s opinions of me – this new definition being hugely liberating for me.

My separation at age 40 years and 364 days was the pivotal point for me coming back to what I call “my essence” The humbling in my personal circumstances left me feeling stripped and bare – at times I felt the devastating loss of what I once had and the identity that I had created for myself. At other times I felt liberated by the apparent “nothingness” in my life – yet in my nothingness I had everything. I had the chance to reclaim what was really important to me and to who I really was – a resourceful, powerful, courageous and successful woman.

Each of us has pivot points in our lives such as going through puberty, becoming an adult or parent, changing job or financial circumstances, losing someone, moving location, changing relationship status, disability, aging or changing health for example. I call such turning points “pivotal point of power” as these moments and experiences, as hard as they can be, are points in our lives when we can either “wither and die” or grow our potential, power and possibilities.

Do you want to get through some change or transition feeling more confident, successful, healthy and happy? Click here for Growing your greatness programme and/or 52 week online motivation and coaching programme.

Personal bio

Love alternative health, personal and spiritual development, family, travel, languages, pilates, walking, learning
Highly successful student and also exchange student in Germany
Many years of eating and body image issues (now I treat my body with great respect!)
Years of depression as a teenager (now I enjoy a far healthier mood and attitude)
Married a widower in 1993 and took on his 3 young children – including 1 with a disability
4 ½ years of infertility – with great success through alternative health modalities
2 miscarriages and a threatened third
3 healthy pregnancies – one caesarian and 2 natural births
Now have a family with six children – ranging in age of 19 years
Full time degree with 6th child born in the second year of study! (crazy in hindsight!)
Became a grandmother at 39
Significant world travel with family in tow
Juggler of many different personal and professional roles
Highly skilled in being incredibly time-efficient and very calm under pressure!

Professional bio and other training

Diploma of Occupational Therapy
BA (Languages)
Graduate Diploma of Language Teaching
RSA Cambridge Certificate TEFL
Sally Anderson Stepping out coaching programme
Aquarian Healing
NZ First Light Flower essences
Natural Fertility (Francesca Naish)
Post Abortion Healing (PATHS)
Celebrant studies (AUT)
Other short courses and workshops – particularly in personal and spiritual development
Chris Howard training – Breakthrough to Success, Performance Revolution Leadership programme, Presentation and Platform Skills training

Over the years, I have worked in Occupational Therapy, teaching, counselling and group facilitation roles – predominantly focusing on women’s health, well-being, self empowerment, quality information and educational resources and personal and spiritual growth.

I worked in Psychiatry at Auckland Hospital particularly in the acute area and also with the eating disorders team. At the Bethany Centre in Auckland I worked in a counselling role and ran the residential life-skills programme for young pregnant women and facilitated groups for prospective adoptive parents. I have also taught in Community Education with a variety of cultures and have balanced this with a very busy family life.

In 2004 I founded and created Vital Peace and since then, I have predominantly worked with women in a coaching and healing capacity, facilitating group work and workshops and I was also the leader of a small, but lovely Vital Peace community – supporting other health and wellness professionals in a personal and professional capacity. Since 2004 some of the resources and workshops I have created include:

Feminine identity – discovering and loving the real woman in me
Still blossoming – allowing your true essence to bloom –personal and spiritual development
Stillness and Simplicity – simplicity in a complex world
From Motherhood to Loverhood / Intimacy starts with “I”

I have also written for WOMENZ online magazine and other publications including Her Business and Family Health Diary, amongst others. While sole parenting of late, I have also been creating the fabulous internet resources which you can access here on this site.

2009 has been a year of making lines in the sand – both personally and professionally, hence my rebranding under Janelle – the essence of being yourself. This is my own professional “marker” of stepping up as leader, speaker and mind-body expert, which has grown out of me continuing to re-define and refine myself and my life.

Defining the wealth of who I am....and how I can help you

My key strengths are my creativity, intuitive abilities, and resourcefulness, my “let’s make it happen attitude” and the honesty and integrity that I bring with my own self-awareness – allowing others permission to open up, enquire into their lives and to make life-enhancing changes. Known for my enthusiasm and inspiring nature, my approach is a lot of fun, very personal and compassionate, yet highly challenging!
I am a visionary and a leader. I tend to lead rather than to follow and see the big picture as well as the individual steps.
I am a “zagger” rather than a “zigger”. I don’t typically fit the “norm”. In fact I have felt largely displaced all of my life but now feel at ease with “being myself”. My “place” now is supporting people to challenge the “status quo”, helping them define themselves and their individual path and supporting them walk that path.
I am a solution finder rather than a problem solver. I am highly creative, an ideas person extraordinaire and have a quick-thinking mind. I often see different perspectives on a situation and help people find “out of the square” solutions.
I love questions and the art of enquiry. I help people really dig deep by asking the questions that will help them get to the core and find their own answers to their “problems”. I work in a self-reflective way with people, rather than in a prescriptive way.
I like forward momentum. My expertise and ongoing commitment is to people who are serious about addressing “the hard stuff” and who want to get real and honest about their situation and who are willing to make changes and take new action. This is in contrast to someone who lacks commitment, has more investment playing “victim” and who finds excuses for not “moving on”.
I enjoy simplicity. From years of busy-ness, playing superwoman to the extreme and “suffering” the costs of that, I now choose a simple, quieter life doing things I enjoy doing - filling my soul with experiences that make me laugh and cry and having people in my life who see me in my greatness and inspire me to be great.
I am a down-to-earth and intuitive woman. A very grounded, practical, hard-working and intelligent Virgo, I am also very intuitive and enjoy a relationship with “Spirit” – this relationship being a very beautiful and unique part of the way that I work with people.
I am a hurdler of obstacles. My determined streak has given me the ability to jump the hurdles of my life with relative determination, courage, calmness and finesse and I help others do the same.
I am very resourceful, versatile and adaptable. My skills lie in determining individual or collective needs and creating the environment and resources, both material and personal, which will best support the desired outcome. I comfortably fit into many different situations with a variety of people.
I am a connector of people. I believe when people share connection and a common belief and intention, everything is possible and change can happen on a grand scale. Building and providing strong communities that support people holistically is an important foundation for people to grow, develop and shine.
I speak my mind and demand the best of myself and others. This has placed me in a very open firing range for attack because these qualities can be misinterpreted as “judgemental and critical”. I choose however to see people’s potential, to help them do things to the best of their ability and to see expansive possibilities rather than a more limited view of life.