Coach Helene Van Manen

Helene Van Manen is a Master Certified Coach and a member of the International Coaching Federation. Her training began at Coach U in 1998; she
graduated with the Certified Coach U Graduate status. Currently on the Faculty of Coach U, Helene is a Professional Mentor Coach who works with new
Coaches in Training. Helene also specializes in training Coaches to lead retreats and has created a Certification Program for Retreat Coaches.

Helene's practice is a tapestry of clients, business owners, creative entrepreneurs, couples who want alive relationships, women who are finding their
voices, and Coaches who wish to build strong sustainable practices. She describes her practice as creative and fun, profitable and smart! Helene leads a
wide spectrum of retreats each year: for the professional woman, for executive teams, as well as for couples. Her retreats always include making a
connection to the natural world, because Helene is a lover of Nature and knows that Nature is the perfect catalyst for a successful retreat.

Before coaching, Helene was a clinical music therapist working with psychiatric patients. Additionally, she performed internationally with her
partner/husband, Dave Van Manen, as an environmental children's storyteller and musician and recorded albums used by educators and families. Her work
also included public speaking and workshop facilitation on the healing power of music.

The Van Manens' music is the recipient of the Parent's Choice Gold Award for Best Children's Album in 1991 for the album, We Recycle and Other
Songs for Earthkeepers. They released 4 albums and a video during their performance years. More recently, they released a CD titled: Earth Songs
Earth Chants. This CD is of special interest to Coaches who lead retreats as it contains songs that can be sung in groups of women!

Helene lives in the small hamlet of Beulah, Colorado in southern Colorado. Her husband Dave is the Director of the Mountain Park Environmental
Center, a not-for-profit environmental education and retreat center that creates opportunities for adults and children to learn about and connect with the
natural world. The newly-renovated Horseshoe Lodge, a part of the Mountain Park Environmental Center, is where Helene facilitates many of her retreats.

Helene and Dave raised their two children, Sierra and Sequoia, on a south facing mountainside in a solar-heated cabin. They home-schooled, public
schooled and private-schooled their children during the course of their parenting experience. The Van Manens traveled nationally as a family to performing
engagements; in the early years, both children performed on stage with them on occasion. Helene became a young grandmother to Jude in 2005 and now
Scarlett (both born at home) and assumes the title of "Grandmother Wolverine…best darn grandma you've ever seen."

Helene brings a wide range of experiences to her work as a Coach. Her background as a small business owner, entrepreneur, parent, music therapist and
performing artist offers her clients a Coach who is flexible, compassionate, and professional. Some of her personal interests include walking mountain
paths outside her house, building community through local service work, slow food cooking, collecting songs, writing poetry and more.