Sharmyn Townsend is a Trauma Informed Life Coach and SEP who received her certification for Transformational Coaching from SWIHA (Southwest Institute of the Healing Arts) in October 2009 and her certification for Somatic Experiencing from SEI in July 2022. Sharmyn began her career in 2007, working in dual diagnosis treatment centers as a coach, family liaison, and psycho-educator. There, she specialized in developing treatment and aftercare plans, educating families on addiction and how to create and maintain healthy boundaries, and helping individuals identify the roots of their resistance and defense mechanisms to promote vulnerability and sustainable change.
Sharmyn opened her private practice in 2016 and continues to further her education and training to better support the individuals she works with. In addition to her certifications as a Coach and SEP, Sharmyn has studied neuroscience with Dan Siegel, grief and loss with David Trelveane, and furthered her training in somatics and poly-vagal theory with Stephen Porges, Bessel van der Kolk, and Elizabeth Stanley and in 2020 began studying somatic abolitionism with Resmaa Menakem. Sharmyn is currently studying attachment theory with Diane Poole-Heller and has completed DARe modules 1-3. Sharmyn is committed to offering the most beneficial, individualized approach to her clients and works in a collaborative spirit, focusing on one’s strength and resilience. Her approach is designed to empower and encourage her clients in a way that promotes vulnerability, healing, and authenticity to deepen connections in their relationships and increase richness and depth in their lives.
Sharmyn has worked with individuals who have experienced trauma due to homelessness, incarceration, systemic racial trauma, and gender identity trauma. Sharmyn believes that doing her own work in order to create a sacred and safe container for healing to begin is the most important practice she engages in. She believes in meeting clients where they are at and tapping into the strengths and wisdom they already hold in order to support sustainable healing and change.