Whitney Sweeney, Life Coach & Certified NUSHU Group Facilitator
German tutor turned life coach and Certified NUSHU Group Facilitator Whitney Sweeney shares how she rediscovered herself during a challenging period in her life and built an unexpected community of lifelong friends through NUSHU.
“Someone in my NUSHU Group said to me the other day, ‘Where you are today and where you were a year ago, is such a big difference.’ I owe that, in part, to NUSHU.
I learned about NUSHU two years ago when I was in the middle of my divorce. I have two children, there was a lot of drama, and I was just overwhelmed by everything going on. I was trying to figure out my next steps and I was introduced to NUSHU, which provided a consistent, safe harbor where I could go to just breathe, have discussions, and talk about things without judgment.
Prior to signing up for the NUSHU Group Facilitator Training, I participated in NUSHU Group. I wanted to experience what it was like before committing to the training. After participating in two or three sessions, I knew it was something I could do. But given everything going on in my life, I remember going into it really raw with no expectations. I thought, ‘I really don’t have the time. I don’t have the brain capacity. I don’t know how this is going to go, but I will do it. I’ll get something out of it.’
Along the way, a transformation happened. I learned and processed more about myself, and I found connections and built friendships unlike any I’ve ever had before. NUSHU’s relationships are built differently than traditional relationships. Sharing, communicating, and listening in NUSHU Group and in NUSHU Group Facilitator Training are built around trust. We weren’t having surface-level conversations. We went deep. This can be scary for some, but the way NUSHU is formatted created such an unparalleled level of trust, that these people became my trusted confidantes.
Since completing the training, I noticed my listening skills have improved in my personal life. I relate better to my family and friends because I’m able to offer up space to just listen. Listening is a skill I don’t think we realize we don’t necessarily have until we learn to cultivate it. So understanding how to actively listen, versus proposing a fix, is a really cool way of being with yourself and with your community. That power opens the door to being able to relax into yourself and be in the moment.
I also gained skills for interacting with clients in my practice, Open Spaces Coaching. I work with women who are going through major life transitions, so I’ve taken the NUSHU prompt exercises to refine ways of forming and asking essential questions. I create NUSHU-style prompts to help them tap into who they truly are, navigate their way forward, and process thoughts to prepare them for more advanced levels in our coaching sessions.
The people who are drawn to NUSHU intuitively know that there is something magical about NUSHU. We may not logically know exactly what that magical ‘thing’ is when we join, but it becomes very clear as we’re in it. We understand that connection heals and it matters, and I think that’s why people are attracted to NUSHU. I’m a witness to the healing power of being connected to and surrounded by a group of strong, emotionally available women.
If someone were thinking of participating in NUSHU Group or becoming a Certified NUSHU Group Facilitator, I would say, ‘Go into it with a really open mind. Prepare yourself to be surprisingly inspired because what you think it is may not actually be what it is. But just be ready to learn a lot about yourself and to be a part of a safe and grounded community. You are going to learn and grow from it regardless.’”
