A Celebration of Women
is excited to Celebrate the Life of this amazing woman.
In our world today, there is no longer a system whereby one finishes education and finds a lifelong niche in society from which to work from. Most people today have 4-5 careers throughout the social norm of a working life. This Woman is a Power of Example to all of us, in the realm of accepting the changes of industry, adapting oneself to maintain productivity and prosperity.
Her life philosophy rule to live by is grounded on the belief that “there are NO ACCIDENTS“. In her words,
One Journey, Several Paths
“As a coach and founder of Heart and Soul Works, I am a firm believer in the uniqueness of each person and the importance of growing in the awareness that each of us is the artist of our own life’s work.”
WOMAN of ACTION
Cath Mich M.S.
One Journey, Several Paths
For a bit of background to start with, I was born in Los Angeles, California to loving parents who had awaited my arrival for 8 long years. Needless to say, I had a great start and a firm foundation on which to build. When I was young, I had no idea how unusual my story really was. However, from early on I had the feeling of wanting to make life better for those who did not have it so good.
As I look back on my life at this time, I see myself following several different paths on the journey. After graduating from college and teaching at the secondary level for 6 years, I returned to Cal State University, Los Angeles and obtained a Master’s Degree in Counseling and a Pupil Personnel Credential in School Psychology. Subsequently, I developed a Counseling Center for the private girls high school where I had taught and really enjoyed working with students and growing the center in the process.
During my graduate work I came to see that I was very interested in developmental phases, particularly adult developmental phases. In the 70’s very little attention was being paid to adult development. Fortunately in the past 30 years that has changed.
Your Future lies somewhere beyond:
Change & Transition
This interest has been with me ever since;
and is a very real part of the ongoing coaching and consulting I do in change and transitions, like two bookends of life.
In 1980 I decided it was time for me to make a change and move into the business world. Through some very “ nothing by accident” connections I was hired to be the Marketing Director for an outpatient mental health insurance program which caused me to travel the state of California. This program, California Psychological Health Plan (CPHP) was unique in the country at the time. I found it very compelling, as it helped people pay for more generous outpatient mental health services than standard policies of the time were paying. I had worked with students whose families could not afford an additional $200-400 monthly. This was one of my early major changes and it convinced me that with some good coaching from experienced business people, many things are possible. By the end of my tenure at CPHP I had sold the services of CPHP to the largest for- profit employer in Los Angeles County.
This major change from academic work into the business world was the beginning of many more major changes.
An outgrowth of the CPHP years was an offer I received to begin my own consulting business in the area of designing and marketing mental health benefits. Two different clients whom I had met through CPHP helped me get launched by doing ongoing projects for them.
I had my own consulting business for four years and was based in Manhattan Beach, California, a very dynamic community.
So, you may be wondering about my personal life during this journey. Most of the projects I worked on were more than full-time in nature, so my social life became secondary to my business life. I have ever been fortunate to have many good friends both inside and outside of business.
In the late ‘80’s I was engaged and after a period of 4 years, we both agreed not to marry and move on with our lives.
The next major change takes me to the Big Island of Hawaii. In my undergraduate years in college I had a roommate from Hawaii. In the summer after our Freshman year, I visited her on Oahu and was introduced to a whole new way of life. Her Dad was from the Big Island and amidst touring several outer islands, we visited the Big Island. I was bit by the bug then and ultimately in 1988 I had an opportunity move to the Big Island and lived in Waimea, Parker Ranch country.
This was a real turning point.
Having been born and raised in a very large urban area of southern California, I had spent years adjusting to growth and increased traffic, new freeways, and a certain level of impersonality. Moving to Hawaii opened my eyes to the joys of living in a small rural area, where shopkeepers greet you by name, the pace is necessarily slower due to the tropical location, and life feels more satisfying. That experience in Hawaii was the perfect precursor to my life today in Sequim, Washington, a small rural environment on the North Olympic Peninsula. I feel very fortunate to have had 6 years on the Big Island.
While in Hawaii I obtained a real estate license and began what would become a 20-year commitment to this career area in 3 different states. In late 1993, I relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I had some friends from my work with CPHP. Clearly this was a major shift from Hawaii at all levels and at some level very bittersweet. I loved my time in the Islands, yet I knew with the downturn in the economy after the Gulf War, that I would not be able to stay over the long term.
Albuquerque and the Southwest generally proved to be places of beauty all their own. I was very fortunate to come into a rip roaring real estate market which caused me to run fast to get aboard the fast moving freight train. In 1996, I was very fortunate to join one of the best offices in Albuquerque and work with some of the best realtors I have known. From a corporate standpoint, Albuquerque was a stop along the way for people who were moving up within organizations. So the relocation process was going on all the time.
During my Albuquerque days I was inspired to develop a seminar for people who were relocating into and out of Albuquerque. This seminar was all about the relocation transition, not about selling real estate. It was well attended over the several years I offered it monthly.
While in New Mexico I was certified as a New Mexico Mental Health Counselor as well as a full-time realtor. Along the way I met Thomas Leonard, who was instrumental in the development of the life coaching profession. Thomas came through New Mexico a couple of times and I soon realized that all of my professional life in the mentalhealth area led me to this approach to working with people.
There had been several different areas of mental health service that just didnot fit for me. Coaching was perfect and I felt very fortunate to get involved on the front end of the coaching as a profession. So I began my work in coaching and consulting in the area of change and transitions at that time. When I moved to Sequim in 2000, I continued to hold a real estate license and worked very full time in that area.
However, I also began building my coaching practice.
Since much of coaching is done by phone sessions, it is very portable and flexible. In 2002 I seized the opportunity to be certified by William Bridges and Associates in offering Managing Organizational Transition workshops and seminars. In the past three years, while real estate has been slow, I have tapped back into this second life in coaching and consulting. In fact, I anticipate that this will be my only life downstream.
Website: www.heartandsoulworks.com
You may wonder why I have kept the two professional careers running in tandem. The simple answer is I am a Gemini through and through and I have many interests. Actually the two professional lives that I enjoy come together very nicely, as change and transition is wrapped into much of residential real estate.
In 2007 I published my first book,
Be the Artist of Your Own Life’s Work.
This is a mini-workbook which presents 101 ways of discovering your “artist” and building a fresh life on that foundation. I have done workshops and teleclasses around this theme and I have found this to be a subject very attractive to Groups of Women.
This is not to say that men are not interested.
They are, but in smaller numbers.
In late 2008, I became involved with the Entrepreneur Institute of Peninsula College in Port Angeles. Subsequently, I designed a class entitled “From Employee to Entrepreneur” and taught that class during the quarters of 2009-2010. This class focuses on the internal process of the transition from being an employee to becoming an entrepreneur. It met with a good response.
Recently I have published a workbook/guidebook of the same name which is designed to help people walk through this internal process.
Website: www.FromEmployeetoEntrepreneur.net
In the days and months ahead I am looking forward to filling out my coaching practice, doing workshops and classes, making presentations on the web through You Tube, and offering free webinars.
All of this feels very organic and right at this time.
FIND CATH HERE:
Cath Mich M.S.
Heart and Soul Works
A Transitions Coaching Enterprise
P.O. Box 3864
Sequim WA 98382
360.460.7950
WOMAN of ACTION – Cath Mich M.S.
April 28, 2012 by
