Hi! I'm Cheryl, pleased to meet you!
I started Ignite Wellness Programs in January 2013. Going out on my own and starting my own business was pretty far out of my comfort zone, but I had this idea that had me excited - so excited that I would wake up in the morning feeling excited instead of just tired. I don't think that had ever happened before! It was hard to leave my job at the time - I loved my clients and I felt that the work I was doing as a domestic violence outreach worker was important, but the job wasn't a great fit for my family life. Plus I worried that no one would hire me or buy my programs.
The thing that made me start Ignite is that I really believe that I can help and that I have something valuable to say. I have always valued connection and wanted to help people, and the more experience I gain working with teens and their families, the more this desire to help has grown.
In university I majored in Psychology and minored in Sociology. I was going to learn how to help people! After university, I worked as a family and child services worker, a counsellor at an alternative high school, a group facilitator for a girl's leadership group, and then as an outreach worker for an organization that helps those experiencing domestic violence. I read and researched a lot because the things my clients needed weren't always things that I had learned in school.
My clients taught me a lot. I had the privilege of hearing their stories and earning their trust. I had the honour of witnessing their strength and their struggles. I got to sit with them and their doubts and their pain and see what real strength, determination, hope, and compassion looked like.
Most of the work I have done has been reactive - I meet people when they are in a unhealthy or crisis situation and I try to help them through it. Or the work we do together revolves around something bad that has happened in their past. Although rewarding, this type of work is draining. What I really would love to do is be proactive - to prevent these "bad" things from happening in the first place. Clearly an unrealistic goal. Or is it?
When I got to really thinking about it, the conversations I had with adults in an unhealthy relationship, revolved around the same themes as the conversations I had with the teenagers in the alternative school, the foster kids I worked with, and the teens in the leadership group. They may have been at different stages in their lives, but they all needed the same skills. What if I could teach young people those skills early on - would it make a difference? Would it prevent them from ending up in unhealthy or crisis situations later on in their lives? Would it help them to be happy? I don't know how measurable that is, but at the very least they would have the knowledge and skills to make healthy decisions for themselves, and that is a pretty good start.
That is why I started Ignite Wellness Programs. I truly believe that when people realize their self worth and value, have the knowledge of what a healthy relationship looks like, and have the skills and confidence to think critically and be resilient, then they have the best chance at a bright and beautiful future.
So that is what I do now - I write and lead programs and workshops based on research and my own experience that teach an assortment of resiliency skills. It feels great and I believe it makes kids and families stronger. I think my programs are kind of like vitamins - I give my kids vitamins every morning to keep their bodies strong and healthy. Teaching them resiliency skills are like vitamins that keep them mentally strong and healthy.
Thanks for stopping by to meet me! If you would like to find out more about what I do, please check out the rest of the website or fill out the contact form so we can get in touch. I'd love to meet you!