Meet Janet Frank

We recently connected with Janet Frank and have shared our conversation below.

Janet, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I come from a long line of resilient people. My paternal grandfather was a Russian immigrant. Both his children earned graduate degrees and entered helping professions, despite the hardship of their early childhoods.

I was pushed to excel in everything I did as a child. My father actually admitted in his very later years that he might have gone a little overboard! My mother tried to mitigate some of his high expectations, but regardless, I was expected to do my best and always to do the right thing.

As a child, when I said, “I don’t want to,” or “I can’t” I was met with the invitation and expectation that I would explain, and ultimately reconsider my decision. I was pushed to do things when I felt fear. I was babysitting at age 12, became a lifeguard at a public pool before I was 16, and traveled to Spain by myself at age 15.

I earned a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology, and after several years in private practice, I was diagnosed with Hashimotos, which is an autoimmune thyroid disorder. I was also symptomatic from an undiagnosed gluten intolerance. At the same time, I was a newlywed and new stepmother, as well as an adult child of newly divorced parents. I recall this as one of the most stressful times of my life.

The undiagnosed conditions ultimately made it difficult to sustain my practice in psychology, and I made a very unexpected pivot into commission-based advertising sales. In retrospect, that was not the best environment in which to try to heal! However, I went into it with the attitude that there was no option but to excel. I earned several awards as a top performer, and gratefully learned during this time to manage my health and thrive.

My father had emergency bypass surgery, resulting in considerable damage to his body. I watched him live the remaining 11 years of his life with limited energy and physical capacity. He was on dialysis for his last few years, and made the difficult decision on his own to move into an assisted living facility. Despite all his physical challenges, he remained sharp and continued to drive, socialize, travel, and work as a marriage and family therapist.

I’m sure I learned my resilience from watching him. My mother was also a public school English teacher for over 30 years. She was involved in extracurricular activities and was often nominated for Teacher of the Year, due to her dedication and commitment. Teaching is not an easy profession. Due to my father’s evening hours at work, she was also the primary caretaker for my brother and me. If that’s not a model of resilience, I don’t know what is!

After years of sales, I realized that my roots and values were in a helping profession. I left sales and earned certifications as a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and Professional Food Addiction Coach. Now I get to work with others on their resilience too!

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

If the third time is the charm, I’ve hit the jackpot with my third career as a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and Professional Food Addiction Coach!

Contrary to popular belief, a health and wellness coach does not tell you what to eat or how to exercise. Those are for nutrition and fitness professionals. A health coach is an expert in the process of change. Developing new habits and making lifestyle changes are hard. We help people connect with the true reasons they want to make these changes, and empower people as experts in themselves as they explore and experiment with new behaviors. We help clients identify challenges and obstacles, as well as strategies for overcoming them, offering support and accountability. Based on our training and expertise, we may offer information or suggestions upon occasion, but a coaching relationship is a true partnership where the client is empowered to figure out what works best for them.

There is a great deal of overlap between coaching and therapy. I believe that my having experienced both professions makes me less afraid of asking hard questions and better at offering straightforward feedback. I help people see things from unique angles and new perspectives.

I’ve evolved into a niche of helping women overcome emotional eating. Obesity rates are staggering, and people are in pain. The food and pharmaceutical industries, unfortunately, are not always on our side. Misinformation is rampant, and our health as a nation is declining. Cravings are real. Processed food is manufactured with the purpose of making us come back for more and more.

There’s incredible reward in helping people eliminate shame around eating. I do this by helping them understand the biological, environmental and familial contributions to their relationship with food, as well as the media’s influence. I work with them on a variety of coping skills and practices so that they can eventually gain a sense of control and peace around food. This is often what enables people to lose weight for good.

I have a private Facebook group for women which is all about emotional eating, which is searchable by “Janet Frank Emotional Eating FB Group.” In the coming months, I will be launching group and 1:1 coaching programs around emotional eating, and probably some other shorter experiences (e.g., “lifestyle launches”). The most relevant updates will be on Facebook (Janet Frank Coaching) and people are also welcome to review my website at janetfrankcoaching.com. I welcome email as well, at janet@janetfrankcoaching.com.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

All of my decisions have been driven by my values, even if I didn’t realize it. Some values have remained constant throughout my life, but they often change over time.

I entered the field of psychology because of my value of service to others, and probably a little bit of my value of making people happy! My father pushed a bit and discouraged my exploration of other fields, so it was no surprise that I followed in his mental health professional footsteps. People pleasing is a value which has diminished over time, replaced with self-compassion and self-advocacy.

When I switched from psychology to sales, I didn’t know if I would do well, although that was certainly my intent. My values of financial security and care for my family helped me push through the challenges and fears that commission sales jobs often bring. But I also value fun and community, and for many years, my sales colleagues helped fill this bucket. There must be some fun in everything I do.

I value learning and growth tremendously. Leaning into these, I believe, is what made it possible to make the career and lifestyle shifts I’ve made. My value of health has made it possible for me to manage a few chronic health conditions so easily, although that was not an overnight accomplishment, and is where resilience was important. I am definitely tenacious and don’t like to quit, although there are times when it’s called for. I’ve learned to recognize when enough is enough, and not to equate quitting with failure.

For those who are early in their journeys, I would remind you that a sense of purpose is important, but don’t get too caught up in defining exactly what that means. Your purpose is about how what you’re doing makes you FEEL. Lead with your values. Usually when we feel some level of emotional discomfort, it means a core value of ours is being offended in some way. Don’t be afraid to use a coach or therapist to explore this further. I wish I’d had a coach to guide me in some of my decisions much earlier than I did!

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

The original credit must go to my parents, who set me up with a strong work ethic and supported me until my formal education was completed. I was expected to work hard, to earn any scholarship I could, and to pay for many of my own expenses. But I always knew there was a safety net, which enabled me to take more risks, have more success, and develop more confidence.

For the past 20+ years, however, the credit goes to my husband, Troy. He was patient and kind during the difficult period of over a year when I was very ill. I wasn’t sleeping, was moody, depressed, anxious, and often in physical pain. When I realized I needed to be gluten free, I said, “I know we have plenty of safe food here and it’s crazy, but I need to go to store to see what gluten free eating is all about,” He simply said, “OK, let’s go,” and never said a word about the ridiculous amount of unnecessary items I bought! When I had to change everything we ate for dinner, he never complained about what was missing, what was new, or what wasn’t that good. He quietly and seamlessly integrated gluten free living into his way of life.

When I realized I couldn’t sustain the psychology career and was exploring the sales job, I said, “What if I suck, and I only earn $20,000?” (Remember, this is after 10 years in private practice as a psychologist where I was earning a good living and contributing to our household expenses). He simply said, “You won’t suck, and you’ll earn more than $20,000.”

Finally, when I was near the end of my sales career, I’d already said to him, “I know this isn’t the final chapter. I don’t know what is, but I’ll know it when I see it.” Not long after that, I learned that health and wellness coaching had emerged as a profession when I hadn’t been looking. When he came home that day, I greeted him with a barrage of everything I’d learned. He simply smiled and said, “Cool. Quit now!” Again, I would be exchanging a solid income for a complete unknown, and he was 100% on board.

No one is an island. I have thrived with the support and grace of others. This has allowed me to experiment and grow much more easily than if I hadn’t had the safety nets.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://janetfrankcoaching.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067241921724 (Janet Frank Coaching)
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetfrankphdnbchwc/
• Other: janet@janetfrankcoaching.com

Image Credits

Janet Frank