SHARON BIBEAU

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, OH and currently make my home with family in Centennial, Colorado.  Because of my passion for Native American History and Culture, I found myself at a young age moving west to attend college and deepen my studies.  As I began teaching, I found an additional calling in early literacy development.  I received a Reading Specialist certification, as well as a master’s degree in Literacy.  From there, my career spanned over 30 years in elementary education in AZ, SD, OH, and finally Colorado where I retired in 2019 from the Cherry Creek School District.

I found the Touched by a Horse Program shortly before retiring and began to consider coaching as a second career.  A life-long love of horses, the possibility of honing my skills as a horsewoman and helping others through the concept of “gestalt coaching” was pulling me energetically in a completely new and exciting direction.  My teacher-self, however, continued to teach, and I found myself working one-on-one with readers out of my home for the past few years.  We often worked in the barn as my equine companion, Poco, kept watch over our lessons offering the young student a sense of calm.  As the lessons progressed with my young readers, I began to see and understand how gestalt methodology fit beautifully.

Horses provide the space to release the tension and frustration that comes from the pain of feeling stuck or blocked whether it is as a young reader or adult.  They provide us with self-efficacy, a sense of calm, and lower our anxiety.  Where once a student was in the middle of a meltdown, wallowing in self-fulfilling prophecies and a low self-image, the experiential nature of gestalt allows the student a way to move through and out of these emotions and opens the mental and emotional space to do so.

During a gestalt reading lesson, children whose confidence, focus and self-esteem is lacking are provided the space to talk through feelings in a variety of experiential ways whether it be art therapy, grooming or otherwise.  This departure from the structured reading lesson, however brief or in-depth, affords the student the opportunity to do something the educational system is not necessarily equipped to do, no matter the passion for a student’s progress.

My teaching career has prepared me to work with young children and teens, but perhaps even more importantly, with parents.  I have experienced life as a single-parent before becoming a part of a healthy blended-family.  I have witnessed how gestalt coaching has helped my family and is enabling us to live a more joyful life.

Please visit my website to see if this process would be a solution that may benefit you, your child, or your family.