Jean Dawkins, Accredited Mama Rising Facilitator and Certified NUSHU Group Facilitator
Jean Dawkins is a renaissance woman. A classically trained pianist who built a successful medical transcription business followed by a piano studio she founded and ran for nearly 20 years, she’s climbed mountains and volcanoes around the world. Now in her fourth act, Jean empowers women– especially moms– to own their gifts and redefine what is possible for their lives. Jean shares her NUSHU Group Facilitator Training experience and how that experience has helped her coaching practice.
“Thirty-six years ago I planned to return to work full-time when our daughter was born, but when maternity leave ended, I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her at daycare. I started exploring options and eventually founded and built a successful medical transcription business. Twelve years later it was time to move onto a more creative career. I’m a classically trained pianist, ultimately circled back to that, and opened a piano studio where I taught for almost 20 years at home.
When our daughter started high school and became more independent my interests began to shift. She left for college and space opened up in my life. I hadn’t climbed a mountain in 35 years, but wanted to repeat a much earlier ascent of Mt. Rainier. I thought I was closing a loop, but instead it opened a new one in my life. It was such an exhilarating experience that I moved on to bigger mountains internationally from Kilimanjaro, Elbrus in Russia, several volcanoes in Ecuador and others.
Seven years later, I found myself trekking in Nepal, my fourth trip to the Himalayas. It was during that trip that I felt a nudge to come home and help other moms figure out how to navigate this whole empty nest chapter. When we become empty nesters, we go through a transition where it feels like our entire lives have ended and we no longer have a purpose. Part of what eased that transition for me was discovering that we can create new possibilities in our lives!
I came home from that trip, knowing that I wanted to pivot again in my career and create a way to help women thrive in their lives after their kids leave home. The next few years found me building skills in life coaching school and additional ongoing training, which is how I discovered NUSHU. I wanted to broaden my skills as a facilitator and NUSHU was the perfect fit.
I was fascinated by NUSHU’s model of listening without doing any coaching. As a coach, in addition to holding space for a client, I’m used to responding. But as the NUSHU Group Facilitator Training unfolded, I started to experience what it felt like to just listen. It was such an incredible gift for both myself and the people in the training just to be able to listen and be fully present.
None of us knew each other before starting our training, but we bonded quickly, and as a result, the level of sharing and vulnerability expanded. I believe it’s because there wasn’t a coach “fixing” us. It gave us an opportunity to be heard in a way that we’ve never experienced in our lives before, which was life-changing. It felt like ‘home.’
Because of NUSHU, I’m a deeper listener and more confident and present as a space holder, and in my ability to facilitate more authentic conversations with my clients.
I’d tell anyone who’s thinking of participating in NUSHU Group or completing NUSHU Group Facilitator Training to try it! It will be unlike anything you’ve experienced, but in the end, you’ll know yourself better than when you started. The last time I facilitated a NUSHU Group during our training, I posed a prompt focused on empowering the women in my group to own their gifts and declare them out loud. A powerful exchange happened in that session and it felt magical. In that moment, I felt totally validated and it confirmed for me that this was the work I needed to be doing to help moms around the world thrive in their lives.”
