Restoring village values through life coaching

Career teacher Stephanie Ashley is passionate about providing education through positive reinforcement.

The English-born educationalist has lived in Australia since she was four years old, having lived and worked all around the country, from Hobart and Melbourne, to remote areas in Queensland and New South Wales.

With bachelor and master’s degrees in education from the University of Melbourne and Latrobe University, respectively, the Southbank resident has dedicated her life to teaching.

Ms Ashley told Southbank News that in 2019 she spent a year teaching indigenous children in remote outback Queensland, where the importance placed on the customs of community and eldership were reinforced.

Since returning to Melbourne and settling in Southbank just prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, she’s now looking to bring her years of experience helping people of all ages and backgrounds through a new business venture – life coaching.

“It’s because of my dealings with students that I realised we are missing giving them a hell of a lot about teaching them about life,” she said.

“Who teaches you about how to navigate your way through life?”

“No one actually teaches you strategies. As a life coach I use those strategies on my students with great success and they would be so distressed, and I’d get them calm. I think we all need a life coach.”

“What used to happen is that we all grew up in villages and there would be wise people we’d go to for advice. Who do we go to now? Where is that old village philosophy?”

While the notions underpinning the village philosophy might largely be lost in today’s modern world, Ms Ashley believes it is through the power of positive reinforcement and wisdom that some of these values can be restored in all of us.

Taking shape in the form of of one-on-one sessions in the meeting rooms at her Coventry St apartment building, she said her brand-new business specialised in providing completely confidential and non-judgemental life coaching services.

And irrespective of what her clients were seeking help with, she said her job was all about asking “meaningful questions” that got to the heart of helping people understand their true value as a human being.

“As an educationalist, teaching kids about life is the most important thing to do because we all have to do life and get up every day and balance everything in our life,” she said.

“I always see the individual first. I never seen them as valuable for what they produce. Whether or not you pass or fail, it’s irrelevant. The only important thing to pass at is at being the kind of person you want to be.”

“Somehow as human beings, we know we’re worth something, but as soon as we start interacting with people that’s often where self-esteem is lowered. So, positive reinforcement plays an enormous role.” •