Trauma-Informed Coach – Shirley Gaudon

Like most humans I’m a product of generational trauma, and like everyone I’ve met I was trained and programeed from childhood to be seen and not heard and to follow the teaching of religion where girls as taught to be caregivers, put everyone’s needs above our own especially the male gender. My parents modelled a marriage that was emotionally and physically abusive and so all my adult relationships mirrored what I knew. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer into 18 years of marriage, that was my wake up call and I ended the marriage. I knew I wanted more out of life then the bread crumbs I was getting.

It’s here that I started my healing journey. I took many different courses, groups, therapy and cleaning up my relationships. I realized on the journey that many people experienced similar or worse trauma and I decided to make a difference for others and help them find their self-love. This lead me to sharing my cancer story with 8 other survivors in a book called Cancer Heroes, Creating Power Within – Rooted to Rise to help women find their Power and achieving a certification from University of Toronto for Life Coaching. Coaching people and the affects of Covid on people’s mental health, business shifts to accomodate led me to acquire more education and understanding of Trauma where I acquired 3 certifications in Trauma-Informed. I wanted to move beyond just helping women so I created Trauma-Smart Leadership for businesses to create emotionally safe environments where people can feel supported, confident and more emotionally intelligent.