“What you seek is with you.”
- A Rumi Interpretation
Meet Stacey
As a survivor of childhood trauma and a woman who has created
a content life, it is my mission to support others on their paths to wellness. The work I do centers around partnering with those empowered to move forward on their healing journeys yet are unsure of where to begin. And that did not come easily. This road I now know began with a shock, and the trip has taken a while. When I was thirty-two, I was living the fairy-tale I thought was meant for me: a marriage to a man I deeply cared for; a daughter and a son whom I cherished and adored; a new home on fourteen wooded acres; and a successful, professional career in a field I enjoyed. And then the memories of those horrible things that happened when I was just a girl returned, withering the dream I was living and me within it.
I became a shell of myself, once again terrified, and I had no idea how to climb back.
Until I did.
Step by step.
I began reading books written by other women who had survived similar experiences, and I discovered hope.
But that was not enough.
I started writing. I put words onto the page trying to understand what had happened to me and why. Once I began, I couldn’t stop.
Until I did.
The Girl in the Mirror: A Memoir of Healing from Hidden Trauma came to be, and I know today that she saved me.
Writing saved me.
While that might have been enough, I quested for more.
I went to counseling, I embarked on a spiritual journey, and I found a career and passions that lit my purpose.
However, when the two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, I was on the path alone. I had to determine where to go, when and how. I was a woman lost, yet I kept on.
Step by step.
To my resolve, throughout the journey, I indeed discovered that what I was seeking was with me, within me, me.
This, I can show you, be a guide.
One that I might have wished for when my quest began.
You are not alone.
I am here to remind you that what you seek is with you, within you, you.
And this path is yours and yours alone, in whatever way is your way.
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Writing as Healing Workshops & Circles, Creative Writing Workshops & Circles, & Journaling Circles
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One-on-one & Group Narrative Life Coaching
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Intuitive Readings, Workshops, & Circles
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Seeking Solace Retreats at Crooked Arbor Cottage & Gardens
Seeking Solace Retreats at Crooked Arbor Cottage & Gardens
Today, my days are beautifully full. I have an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, and teach writing at Pine Technical & Community College and facilitate workshops and circles through Pine Center for the Arts as well as other community organizations and through my online teaching platform. I am a certified narrative life coach practitioner through Learning Journeys International Center of Coaching in Woodbury, MN, which is accredited by the International Coach Federation, and I offer one-on-one and group coaching. As a tarot advisor certified through Biddy Tarot, which is recognized as an Approved Training Provider by the International Institute of Complimentary Therapies, I provide asynchronous intuitive readings. I am also the innkeeper of Crooked Arbor Cottage & Gardens. Presently, I rent the Cottage through Airbnb as a place for rest, respite, and reprieve with aspirations to hold Seeking Solace Retreats on-site ~ stay tuned.
When I am not within the joy above, you will find me reading stories of inspiration and books on the healing powers of expressive writing and the freedoms that can come from confronting trauma; writing my next memoir; gardening in my 2,000-square-foot vegetable, herb, and flower gardens that I’ve established on my one acre; cooking with the bounties (I might be known for my zucchini bread); or taking classes on astrology, dreams, intuition, meditation, and yoga. My days also include check-ins and visits with my now adult children, who are certainly the lights of my life. Unless you consider Junie, my daughter’s bernedoodle, and Huk, my son’s lab mix, of course.