Meet Jennifer/Felicia Murtagh/Severhill | Parent Empowerment Coaches

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer/Felicia Murtagh/Severhill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer/Felicia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Working as preschool teachers during the pandemic, we saw parents hit all time stress levels as they tried their best to manage life with young children at home. Suddenly parents had to become their child’s teacher, without any of the training and experience we had under our belts, on top of sustaining a job and/or other life demands. Parents weren’t just reaching out to us with questions about how to support their child, they were calling on us for help because they weren’t sure how they would survive. As parents ourselves, we knew that this problem didn’t exist solely during the time of a pandemic. Parents had been silently enduring this pressure long before: we deeply caring for their children, but feel like failures because the daily demands of parenthood and life at large are just too much. We decided to create something to help parents better manage these daily demands, get out of survival mode, and start thriving, all while sharing simple yet vital tips and tricks that make parenting easier and much more rewarding.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What’s so great about our work is that we support parents as a whole person. Our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions (and therefor problems) never stem from only one thing. It’s the collection of who we are, what we have experienced, and where we want to go that shapes our life right now. To try to improve just one part of our lives without tending to the other parts is not only hard, it’s often unsuccessful and unfulfilling. So instead of just dishing out parenting advice to solve one particular problem, we help parents see patterns that cycle in and out of their lives and help them to create solutions that address their well being in physically, mental, emotional, and spiritual ways. This is how we teach and raise our children and it’s an important value to us.

Working in the line of personal growth and fulfillment is not easy, and we’re proud that we’re not shying away from our own growth along the way. We’re parents (and humans) too, so we go through the same struggles and challenges our clients are facing. It would be easy for doubt to take hold, but realistically we know from years teaching in the classroom that these personal struggles are part of what makes us the right people for the job. We love that anytime we have a struggle we go through we can help somebody just by acknowledging it and saying it out loud, we’re helping other parents identify and put words to what they’re going through, and give them the relief of, “It’s not just me going through this.” We’re proud of ourselves immensely for seeing that great potential in what we used to see as failure. We’ve created a business knowing and honoring that we’re still doing the work ourselves, and that it’s work that never stops needing to be done. Sure it gets easier and things get a lot better along the way, but we’d be fools to think that we’re done growing and evolving just because we’re grown ups. Parents are meant to grow alongside their children.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We both have to laugh at this question as both of us are home bodies!

Out of doors is our happy place though. The beach is constantly calling! The coastline in La Jolla is full of such great sea life with the sea lions and snorkeling opportunities, plus it’s got all it’s nature trails. And it’s hard to beat an afternoon lounging and body surfing along Carlsbad State Beach followed by gourmet bacon wrapped corn dogs and a house cocktail at The Compass (this was pre-kids of course).

Both of us love Balboa park, there is such a great mix of family friendly activities today. When it comes to San Diego proper, Jenny’s idea of a perfect date is taking in the view at the top of the Hyatt building in Seaport Village and eating amazing treats at Extraordinary desserts – that one is a non-negotiable must visit for anyone coming into town!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We simply wouldn’t be able to do this work if our spouses weren’t encouraging us, and willing to grow right alongside us. Our children have been our teachers as much as we are theirs, and boy do they give us plenty of opportunities to learn! They are the reason we do what we do.

We owe immense thanks to our dear friend and mentor Kat Wilhite, who’s passionate volunteerism helped us find our voice and bring our vision to life. She has been our designer, editor, and creator for everything from our website to our online Teachable course, and she has propelled us lightyears ahead of where we’d be without her beautiful work.

We are forever grateful to the phenomenal professors and professionals who made up the Child Development department at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) who shaped our young educator minds in beautiful ways: Anna Davison, Mary Ann Hansen, Claire Knox, Aimee Langlois, Jillian Mooney, and Carol West, among others.

Website: https://www.theparentempowermentmovement.com

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