Kerri Lynn Bishop - Author. Speaker. Coach.
Just the Highlights
Life Coaching Certification
- Life Coach Certification from Professional Christian Coaching Institute
- ACC Coach Certification through the International Federation of Coaches
- Dave Ramsey Financial Coach Training
- SYMBIS Marriage Training
- 100+ client coaching hours to date
- Additional coursework in Group Coaching and more!
Education
- Bachelor of Science - Elementary Education/Spanish
- Masters of Arts - Elementary Education/Curriculum Development
- 60 College Credits to Attain 7-12 Math Certification using NYS Alternate "Never Been Done" Pathway!
- Current Dual Teaching Certification Elementary Ed & 7-12 Mathematics
In the Community
- Guest on Relevant Radio's Morning Air with John Harper and Glenn Lewerenz.
- Appeared on The T.D. Jakes Show
- Articles have appeared in
- Shalom Tidings
- Catholic Stand
- Various Newspapers
- Founder of Catholic Single Moms
- Admin for Saving Marriages through Prayer & Encouragement
Experience
- Single Mom of 5 boys
- Abuse Survivor
- Suddenly Abandoned Spouse
- Divorcee
- Crisis Pregnancy Advocate
- Entrepreneur
- International Test Prep Specialist
- Elementary School Teacher
- High School Math Teacher
- Volleyball & Basketball Coach
- Traveled & Camped in 42/50 US states, much of Canada, and Mexico
- Author. Speaker. Coach.
Meet Kerri - My Story of Struggle & Strength
I'm a single mom of five boys - yes FIVE!
That means I've frisked children guilty of smuggling toads into our house in jean pockets on warm spring afternoons.
It means I've learned to look before sitting in the bathroom because "good aim" is obviously a relative term.
It means I've laughed at friends who didn't believe Jerry Rice lived in our basement (He did! Just not THAT Jerry Rice!).
It means so much more too...
It means I understand struggle
On Mother's Day of 2009, my husband of 14 years suddenly announced he was leaving for a former girlfriend he had reconnected with on Facebook.
I was a stay at home mom and part time youth minister.
And I was 5 months pregnant with our 5th little boy.
What followed reads a bit like a Lifetime drama.
My boys and I lost our home in foreclosure caused by a lack of child support. Finding housing for a single, unemployed mom of 5 boys with a foreclosure on my credit report was next to impossible.
Abandonment, divorce, foreclosure, unemployment, crisis pregnancy, and parenting alone forced me into a struggle I never thought I'd find myself in.
In struggle, lies opportunity!
Heartbroken. Confused. Terrified. Hurt. Overwhelmed. Traumatized.
The ground under me had gone through a major shift, and I questioned everything I had once counted on - including my faith in God.
I didn't understand what God was doing in our lives, but I knew I needed to do something and do it fast!
I needed to change my focus and get out of my own head. I couldn't sit around crying, "woe is me," for long.
Struggle is where you discover what you're capable of!
I learned to face struggles in my past that I had ignored for too long. I took responsibility for changing what I needed to change. I learned to use struggle to my advantage.
I used a mix of pain and gratitude to propel me forward. I refused defeat. I chose to make big plans and implement them with small steps.
In the weeks following abandonment, I began the process of updating my elementary teaching certification. To do so, NYS demanded I attain 60 college credits beyond the Masters in Education I already had. At this time, I also learned it would take 60 credits to attain a more marketable 7-12 math certification. What's more, I could teach myself the material and test out of classes saving both time and money, so, despite not being a "math person," that's what I did!
Despite the struggle, I learned to like math too. Conquering it was more proof that we should never doubt that God will give us what we need when we need it if we work for it!
Struggle allows us to dig deeper to reach others!
It wasn't long before a woman I'd never met appeared on my doorstep sobbing about her own troubled Marriage.
I realized I was one in a long line of hurting people and I had a choice. I could bury my head in the sand and pretend I didn't hear God's call to help. I could hear the call but look the other way, admit I wasn't smart enough or eloquent enough. I could hide because I was too overwhelmed, tired, insecure (for whatever reason I could come up with and I had a bunch!), or I could leave my comfort zone and do what God asks each of us.
I could go back through my life and confront demons that had chased me for decades: abuse, insecurity, fear, worthlessness, so much more... I could overcome my own battles and help others or I could sit and stew in a comfort zone of powerlessness.
Either way, I knew one day God would ask what I'd done with the gift of struggle.
PTSD to PTG - Excited about Post Traumatic Growth
If I was going to help others, I wanted to be the best! In addition to my own research, I attended the Professional Christian Coaching Institute and attained ACC life coaching certification from the International Federation of Coaches, world leader in life coach certification.
Eager to learn more, I researched PTSD and was excited to discover what our Veteran heroes call PTG - Post Traumatic Growth. I studied the big steps and fine points needed to make this concept a reality for overcomers from all walks of life.
A New Curriculum, New Plan, & New Togetherness!
I used what I learned to help women embrace life's challenges as fuel to drive them forward rather than as weights pulling them back.
But a recurring theme kept popping up. Too often these amazing women felt alone and isolated in their struggle. I wanted to build a place they could come together and support one an other. I took what I knew of coaching and group work, of struggle and post traumatic growth, and my Masters in Curriculum Development and I got to work developing a plan for a coaching community that would take women from struggle to strength.
Life Trains You to Be a Certain Way.
If you are past real trauma and ready to move ahead but aren't sure how, you are ready for coaching.
My program doesn't provide a path to happiness in five easy steps or any such thing. There is no such thing.
What there is isn't easy, but it is better!
It takes courage to move through life's struggles. If you want to be courageous, I want to work with you!
Strahlen Grace Coaching Retrains You to Be YOU!
I will help you look at your unique struggle and find its hidden blessings. I will help you discover strengths you might have otherwise overlooked. You will be gently yet firmly held accountable for goals you set. You will discover how to unlearn damaging mindsets that have been ingrained in your psyche for too long. You will retrain physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to be your most beautiful self.
And when you're tempted to quit or run and hide or cry, when you want to give up or just feel all alone and wonder if any one understands, my coaching community will offer you support from a growing community of like-minded women seeking the power of overcoming and the Grace of God who Loves you completely.
I believe in what I do because I have seen the Blessing of Struggle. I hope you embrace the gift of struggle and join us on the journey!
