Hi! I’m Tracey Lukes. I’m a professionally certified coach who helps parents and teenagers break the cycles of drama, stress and disconnection that is so common during the teenage years.
I have two teens of my own…I get it!
My childhood was challenging. We moved approximately every 2-4 years as a child due to my father’s career. There were constant changes and adjustments that had to be made. Always the “new kid” at school, I had to figure out what the “right” clothes were and how to fit in and how to fit in each time I stepped into a new country or state. With each relocation, I felt a sense of dread – and didn’t realize the impact of that dread until I was an adult.
Committed to succeeding at any cost, I worked hard to be a straight A student…until I turned 15. It was then that I started to hang out with a group of kids that were risk takers, engaging in things like smoking and drinking to be cool. I made choices that hurt me – desperate to find where I belonged and prove that I was good enough. My internal struggle showed themselves as rebellion. While I did – eventually – turn things around to do well in school, that internal struggle remained.
In college, I was still in a battle within my mind that I wasn’t good enough and that I was the only one that felt that way. Trying to deal with my internal struggles on my own proved to be so hard. Counseling/therapy helped me with some of my family issues, but I was still unable to free myself from the negative inner dialogue that was part of my every day.
It wasn’t until I was almost 30 that I began to find my way out.
On the recommendation of a dear friend, I started working with a professional coach.
It was while I was working with my coach that I began to realize how my negative
self-image and negative self-talk had really taken a hold during my I teenage years.
Coaching was a process of growth and discovery, and life began to change for the better!
Because of the impact and power that coaching had on my life, I decided to enroll in coach and leadership training so that I could help others to heal. It was then that it became abundantly clear to me that I had to work with teenagers and parents.
I realized my role as a coach is to break cycles of negative self-talk, low-self esteem, lack of confidence and broken communication that so often fuel struggles, challenges, poor decisions and unhappiness.
The gift of my struggle is that now I know how to do life differently.
I coach families so that they can be more connected, communicate cleanly and openly and are able to recover from challenges and setbacks.
I coach teens because I believe when they know who they are, know their gifts and strengths and are able to appreciate them AND have the tools to manage conflicts and difficult situations, they are set up to realize and achieve their dreams…and pay it forward to future generations.
I am committed to making a difference in the world…meeting each teenager and family where they are, and helping them move forward together.
