Meet Our Students

Sedef Orsel Ozcelik
 

After a long search for a meaningful way to combine a great wish to help others, advocating children, scientific knowledge and hands on experience I found myself reviewing the ACPI website. Although I wasn’t familiar with parental coaching before, I found myself at home at last. I have a BA in sociology. I earned my MS in Social Research from Hunter College, NY. After my graduation I worked both at the store settings and on office operations of different retail and research companies. This helped me accumulate management, research and marketing experiences. Yet I was never hundred percent satisfied with being a businessperson.

Having my two girls (Lidya 9….Mira 3) opened my heart ever more. I became a stay at-home mom and started to grow a desire to reach out to parents and children. So I started writing. I have several published children’s books, poems and articles. My writing career continues not only as a writer and as a translator but also as a member of the board of decision makers of a well-known Children’s Books Publishing Company (www.gunisigikitapligi.com) in Turkey. As a bilingual writer my knowledge extends in Children and Young Adult’s books printed in both in English and Turkish.

I have also gained a more holistic and spiritual approach after my kids were born. I have earned an Angelology Certificate Degree from Breyer State University in Alabama. I have also become a Reiki Master in the Classical Usui System. Besides teaching Reiki, I have created and conducted stress management and creativity seminars for adults.

As a thrilled new student I am looking forward to learn and share. I believe that becoming a parental coach will not only help me find a perfect way to help and reach out to other parents and children but also I believe that I will become a better mom and a better partner for my husband in our parenting team.

Shannon Kohler

My name is Shannon Kohler. I am 51 years old and have two sons with my husband of 23 years, Greg. Greg works at the top of Alaska on the North Slope for Conoco-Phillips as a production operator. He is up there for two weeks and home for two weeks. We have built our own home here but are ready to sell it and move to a warmer climate, probably near where our younger son will be playing baseball and going to college. The older son should be finishing college at ASU in Arizona next year. He will be 23 this summer and is married….no grandchildren, they are not at all ready for kids! Our other son is 16 and is a junior in high school here in Soldotna Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula. He is very involved in basketball and baseball and due to my nature and the team’s needs, I usually end up being the team mom, secretary and/or manager. The Peninsula has no cities but several medium size towns. We live on 2 ½ acres on a lake. It is amazingly beautiful in the summer but cold, dark and dreary in the winter.

I have an AAS in Early Childhood Education and CDA in Home Visiting. I have worked with special needs children and their families for about 12 years in various ways and with several different agencies. I did home visiting modeling parenting, providing education and case management for 4 years for Early Intervention serving families with special needs children. I have worked for Parents Inc. As Parents Anonymous parent group facilitator providing group meetings. I currently work in the school district for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe with children that have definite emotional differences (often special needs also)and need extra support to navigate the school system to be successful. I work in their ever evolving summer program, also. I am involved in this coaching program so that I can have my own business doing what I do naturally but having autonomy and much more freedom to be an advocate for parents and children. I need the personal space and my own time to encourage parents to be their own advocates without working for another agency.

I am looking forward to applying my learning from the Academy to my personal parenting as well as developing a coaching/consulting practice that integrates my business and parent coaching experiences.  Shannon can be reached at smkohler@gci.net.

Kristin Franco

I am married to my best friend, Chris, and we have one six-month old son,  Calvin. I have been in the service industry for over 15 years. Most recently, I’ve served as the Manager for the National Call Center for Quest Diagnostics. When the company moved their San Diego branch to Kansas City, the timing coincided with my son’s birth. What a great time to be  a stay-at-home mom!

I am looking forward to applying my learning from the Academy to my personal parenting as well as developing a coaching/consulting practice that integrates my business and parent coaching experiences. Kristin can be reached at kristin_franco@yahoo.com.

Debbie Katz

I have been a full time parent for 25 years. Marc, my dear husband of 32 years, and I have four wonderful sons. Each one is unique and has introduced us to an entirely new horizon in parenting One is adopted, one has ADD, and all four have some degree of language based learning disability. Today, each one is positive, creative and productive. Negotiating the many dramatic vicissitudes in the parenting journey has been the most enlarging and enlightening experience of my life. I think I was born to be a teacher. I graduated with honors from the Ohio State University as a teacher in high school chemistry, physics and mathematics. As a high school teacher, I found my greatest reward was on the interpersonal side of teaching. I loved working with students individually. I also enjoyed working as a team with my students' parents because I found it to be the most effective means of supporting the children as they tried to reach their potentials.

Since then, I have been a lay community leader and educator and a children's advocate in a wide variety of service venues. I also enjoy writing and speaking to groups. I am currently employed as the youth director of a large synagogue, where I strive to address the spiritual, social and educational needs of hundreds of children from preschool through high school. Along the way, I have come to know many parents and children. Many times I am asked for advice. I try to help parents focus their thinking and locate resources. I have been looking for my ideal niche for a very long time. I believe I have finally found it in parent coaching. I want to make a difference. I care deeply about helping children and helping families create healthy outcomes. And, I earnestly believe that helping parents raise positive, emotionally healthy children is the most direct means towards helping to create a better tomorrow.

Jenny Lace

Jenny Lace has extensive experience working with parents, single parents, foster parents and custodial grandparents raising special needs children. Her experience as a teacher, trainer, and educational specialist includes consultation and team collaboration with families and school district staff. Jenny has presented numerous workshops on positive intervention strategies and quality interactions with sensory impaired children, birth to adult. She currently works for the Texas Deafblind Outreach Project at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired as an Education Specialist providing technical assistance to families and school districts statewide. She serves on several state and national committees developing education programming and specialized materials for children with deafblindness.

Jenny’s education and expertise supports parents of typically developing children and teens as well as parents whose children have disabilities. Ms. Lace’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Speech and a Master of Education in Special Education from the University of Texas, Austin. Her areas of study include: infant and early childhood with NICU medical-educational team follow-up to families; deaf education; visual impairment; developmental disabilities; autism; elementary education. Jenny has 22 years experience as a teacher in early childhood through high school programs in Texas, New Hampshire, and Arizona and 11 years experience as an education specialist and consultant in Texas. She enjoys staying current in her field. Ms. Lace has a collaborative style, partnering with parents in co-creating interactions that work well for their child and their family.

"I appreciate being involved in supporting parents in realizing that their dream for their child to be a happy, productive and successful person in life is possible." Jenny looks forward to continuing her partnerships with parents through parent coaching and certification through the Academy for Coaching Parents International. She can be reached at: jlace@austin.rr.com.

Marti Genge

In 1988, I started a parenting magazine in Southern California until my family and I moved to Arkansas in 1994. For me it was moving back home. In 1997, I started working with a federal grant in Arkansas based on parenting education called Center for Effective Parenting. To this day, I publish their newsletter aimed at parents and parent educators. Since 2001, based on my 20 years of experience in parenting education, I have also been selling parenting books to all the schools in the state of Arkansas. This is part of the No Child Left Behind initiative. My website www.pagesofparenting.com along with my consultation assists many parents and parent educators on pertinent information on parenting issues. I am on the Board of Directors of Arkansas Support Network, and Board Chair of the American Amputee Foundation. I’m happily married and have two children ages 21 and 19.

Marlena Tsagaris

I have been married to my wonderful husband Van for 25 years, and we have three beautiful children--Teo age 21, Chris age 20, and Zoe age 18. My concerns as a mother have always been to foster confidence in my children, to honor and respect them for who they are, encourage them to speak their truth, to bond closely with each other, and to be in tune with their hearts. I have worked in the fields of real estate management, photography, nursing, and have been very active in my community, serving in all ranks of the PTA and athletic booster club. I am also a Reiki practitioner, and have explored many different forms of artistic expression, from creating sculptures out of tin cans, to drawing, painting and collage. You might say I’m the quintessential “Jill–of-all-trades”! Each endeavor in itself, however, never fully satisfied me. There was always something missing. I am certainly, above all, a “people person”, and my personality has always brought me close to others.

In my photography practice, I take pride in developing a close rapport with my subjects and producing intimate portraits. Connecting with individuals and helping them feel at ease, has brought me great satisfaction in my life, from leading others in the pursuit of goals to making it a more cheerful and friendly place for recovering hospitalized patients. I have taken care of many people in my life, including an elderly aunt, who lived with me for the last 3 of her 100 years. It is in taking care of people and being a support to them that I have always found my greatest joy and satisfaction, thus the opportunity of being a parent coach has inspired me greatly and feels like ‘IT’. It is my hope that the opportunity to assist parents in connecting more deeply with their children will channel my natural abilities into a fulfilling practice, and most importantly, help me and Van to become even better parents, and one day, nurturing grandparents! I am very grateful for this opportunity and look forward to learning and sharing.

Melissa Hager

Melissa is a native South Carolinian, originally from Florence, SC. She attending college at Covenant College, a small Presbyterian Liberal Arts college on Lookout Mountain, TN and completed her Bachelor degree in International Studies at the University of Tennessee, in Chattanooga, TN. Her love for studying cultures and the societies we build around those cultures, particularly non-western cultures, led her to the non-profit sector. Her work has been focused on assistance to the underserved of not only the far off places, but in her own community. She has worked with fundraising & grant writing, as well as organizational development, micro-business building and educational programs for entrepreneurs in developing countries. She later went on to complete a Master's Degree in Public Administration, which has added insight to the systems that public services work within and how to be successful in those networks.

As life has moved on and she now plays the role of mother and wife, her interests are focused more on youth and families. Her biggest aim is to equip parents with the needed tools to relate and connect with their children in a meaningful way so that they can be most successful in guiding their children through the tides of life. She is currently developing a program to guide youth through a journey of exploring the meaning of healthy relationships, boundaries, and discernment within our relationships. Her Parent Coaching career will focus on not only the relationship within the family members, but the relationships that extend beyond the family into society.

Melissa enjoys playing her violin, camping and other outings with her family. She is very thankful for the many blessings God has provided in her life, even those that were disguised in hardship. Her life's journey has taught her much about faith and perseverance and the basic need we all have for family and connection. Her hope is to support families as they travel to wholeness.

Juliet A. Marciano, MD

Juliet graduated with a Doctorate in Medicine from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1989. As a practicing pediatrician for over ten years, she had the privilege and the pleasure of counseling parents many times regarding the challenges and rewards of rearing children. Several years ago, because of the increasing needs of her four children (ages 4-11), Juliet retired from the practice of medicine.  Now as she prepares to return to the “work” world as an ACPI Certified Coach for Parents (ACPI CCP), she can realize her goal of mentoring parents, and continuing to contribute to family health and children’s wellness. Juliet currently serves as Vice-President of the Breastfeeding Resource Center in Glenside, PA.

Joan Gillman

My name is Joan Greig-Gillman. I am a city dweller. I am a licensed registered nurse. In the past I have worked in child psychiatry working with families with young children, in both hospital and clinic settings. I am the parent of four children very close in age 25, 24, 24 and 23, who have grown into young adults and are all working.

For 15 years I was a licensed family day care provider. I provided day care in an apt setting, and I have helped many families with their concerns regarding the growth and development of their infants, toddlers and preschool children. The day care served many different family configurations, including single parent and cross cultural adoptions, as well as single child families. I enjoy discussing with parents what they are learning from their children.  

Alan Carson