And this is my mission today. Not to sell a program, not to force you to tap into your retirement just to chat with a professional, not to wait weeks on a waiting list when you need to talk to someone soon. My mission is to coach and help develop you into a happier, more in-touch person so you can live more freely than you’ve ever lived before.

From the outside I am seen as a happily married man – of almost twenty years, a wonderful father of two, published author, entertainer, minister, business owner, activist, wedding officiant, inspirational speaker and relationship coach with a master’s degree. My walls proudly display my shiny medals from honorably serving two four-year contracts in the Army and Airforce. I hear all the time how life has blessed me because I drive a nice car and live in a 5,000 square foot beautiful home with an in-ground pool that sits on two acres.

And I am blessed, don’t get me wrong. But what people don’t see is the little boy who was the product of divorce. The little boy who grew up so poor we often looked in our couch crevices after company left hoping to find some change that may have dropped out of their pockets so we could buy a can of whatever or few slices of cheese from the nearby deli. No one sees the emotional scars from being sexually and physically abused multiple times by several family friends and members.

No one sees the little boy that was placed into special education because of a minor speech impediment or the pre-teen who was kicked out of school for missing more than half the school year. Little did anyone know the reason I missed so much school was because I was forced to raise my younger sister. Eventually, I was sent to a therapeutic school for troubled youth where fighting bullies was a daily necessary just to survive. Special education thirty years ago is not the sensitive inclusive special education it is today. I was bullied picked on horribly for any and all reasons.

No one sees the young teen who quit school after sixth grade. The young man who used drugs in profound excess until one day my heart was literally on the verge of exploding. The fourteen-year-old who couldn’t take the abuse and dysfunction any longer and decided to move out on my own – forced to work two jobs as a grocery bagger on two different sides of town having to walk over ten miles every day as I didn’t even have the extra forty-five cents to take public transportation. I can’t tell you how many times I had to run those ten miles in between jobs if were asked to stay longer at my first. The young man that never really knew his dad but always yearned to. The young adult who eventually became homeless and held at gunpoint several times. I’ll never forget those moments where my life literally flashed before my eyes.

As a young man facing this daunting world, I didn’t have a clue how I was going to survive. I used to wonder if I’d ever be in a better place – or even if I’d ever truly be loved. More importantly I wanted to know if I’d ever be happy. I just wanted to be happy; stop the pain, stop the struggling of merely surviving. I certainly didn’t know how or where to begin but I did know that I was sick and tired of being broke, broken, and broken-hearted.

It took me many grueling years to learn how to love myself. Countless therapy sessions and books learning to accept and cherish the ALL of who I am. I had to commit to myself that I was going to find myself. I learned to accept my flaws, make peace with my deepest secrets, face my fears, and embrace my past. I had to learn to be my biggest advocate – I had to learn to celebrate every fiber of my being. I had to be my biggest cheerleader. And that’s why I know Relationship Coaching is my calling because I was my first client. It took me a lifetime to learn I was important, a lifetime to learn I mattered, I was worthy, and that I did indeed deserve to be happy. I don’t want anyone to have to spend one more day pondering these same questions. I want to help you with the relationship you have with yourself, as well as, those around you.