Cynthia Sipes, CLC - Certified Life Coach. Author, & Speaker

- Owner/Certified Life Coach at Chrysalis Life Coaching

- Life Purpose Institute - Certified Life Coach

- Published Author - Current Book: The Transformation of Me

 - Business Coach/PR for local company

 - Life Purpose Institute - 2018 Student Advisory Committee

 - Woodland Park High School - Teaching Life Skills to Students 2019 - Under Dean of Students

- Cripple Creek/Victor High School - Teaching Life Skills to Students 2019

- Home School Groups - Teaching Life Skills to Students 2019

- Teaching Life Skills to the Youth

Women of Woodland - Teaching Workshops every three months

- Speaker for Networking Groups

-Teller County Victims Advocate Training

- US Navy Ombudsman

- America Red Cross DAT 

- Break Free

- The Healing Journey

-Trainer the Trainer

-Woodbadge

- Abuse Survivor/Battered Women's Shelter

- Cancer Survivor

- Spirituality

- Self-Healing

- Accountability

- Creating Healthy Boundaries

- Nuerodivergent

- LGBTQ+ Community

- Loss (including acceptance of loss due to suicide)

- Youth Groups

- Emergencies

- Low Income

- Women's Groups

- Resource Ministry

 - Ministry Leader

- Speaker/Trainer

- Mentorship

- Volunteer for non-profits

I was born on the East Coast and before the age of 6 our family moved a lot. My family was one of anger and violence, before my parents got divorced. I was abused in many ways during my childhood. I was blessed to have a mom who tried everything to give me a life that was wholesome and loving. My grandparents helped raise me too, which gave me a different perspective than most my age.

We didn’t have a lot of money, and I definitely wasn’t a popular child or teen for that matter. My mom taught me how to be an overachiever and that became something I held on to deep into my adult life.

Dissatisfied with the rules surrounding my life and the illness of my mother in my high school years, I rebelled slightly and began searching. Being a caregiver alone, my grandparents did help, during high school is very hard. I kept my grades up, my extra curricular activities, a job and taking care of the house and my mom. Something had to break, and it was me. I found myself searching religions, careers, partying, sex, you name it I was looking for answers. I even joined a cult for a short amount of time.

I got pregnant my senior year, and still graduated an honor student. After having my child and holding down a full-time job, my family intervened and put my mom in a nursing home. I was forced to move to the Southwest with my dad and three brothers and step mom with my child. Push came to shove literally, when I finally stood up to my abusive father and he kicked me out of the house. It was the most liberating experience. I had stood up for myself and child in front of the scariest person I knew. Also, with the honesty (finally) of people who knew my situation, my child and I were placed in a battered women’s shelter.

The experience of being believed and having people want to help you and want you to heal was amazing. I believe my journey to being a Life Coach was solidified then. I learned about art therapy, and other techniques. I moved into transitional housing just a month after being in the women’s shelter. I got engaged and started to heal myself. Some of the healing had to do with my dad, but there were all sorts of people and situations I needed to heal from.

I was able to eventually heal with my dad. He changed so much and so did I. To have established a healthy relationship with him was amazing. I did a lot of healing work on my own. I found what worked for me. I saw counselors, but never stuck with them because I didn’t want to keep talking about it, I wanted to move on. I wanted to see results, not hash the past.

After being married and becoming a Navy Wife, I also became a mom again. I was a constant people pleaser, and overachiever. If you needed a volunteer, my name was first on the list. I gave so much to others, that I didn’t keep any of myself for me or my family. We dealt with so much over those 25 years of marriage and raising our children. Life kept teaching me lessons.

After retiring from the Navy, we moved to Colorado. Here is where the years of struggling came through in flying colors. A week after moving to Colorado, I found I had cancer. The journey of healing cancer and myself, gave me a unique perspective on life. I lost my dad to cancer as I was fighting to survive mine. I almost died when I had an allergic reaction to my chemo, and a couple of months later almost died as I had developed pneumonia and my lung collapsed. I am cancer free, and I have found that helping people learn to heal and take control of their lives was something I had experience in and was good at.

The last link for me was that I had to experience change in my spouse and in our spiritual walk. I was being prepared for the challenges that having a spiritual life can bring. There is judgement from non-spiritual people and even more from those who are. I needed to experience this in order to be able to connect with others who have tried searching and for one reason or another have been shut down. 

It is through my life experiences, most of which is not even mentioned here, and my training that I feel I can help people get a grasp on the important things in life and not sit in a victim role their whole lives, but make choices that put them in a surviving and thriving role. I learned I have a lot more power and control over my life and feelings then I was ever told. Everyone does, they just don’t have the support and tools needed to get moving forward to grow and thrive.