Most fitness spaces ask you to move. Very few ask how your body feels about that request.
This post isn’t about retention metrics. It’s about what happens when women stay—not out of obligation, but because they’ve finally found care that meets their nervous system, identity, and emotional history with compassion.
This is trauma-informed coaching. Not the buzzword version. The lived one.
🧠 It's Not Just Programming—It's Care That Holds Complexity
I hold a BS in Exercise Science from Grand Valley State University and an MS in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Northern Colorado.
Across both degrees, I trained in:
Cancer exercise prescription
Coaching special populations
Sociology of health care
Adaptive programming for chronic illness and trauma recovery
Nervous system physiology
I’m certified through ACSM and NSCA, and I’ve completed the Barbell Rehab Method, which emphasizes psychologically informed programming for pain, fear, and post-injury recovery.
What does that mean for you? It means I don’t coach for aesthetics or arbitrary metrics. I coach for capacity. For connection. For care.
💬 “I Didn’t Know Movement Could Feel This Safe Until I Stopped Bracing at the Door.”
She didn’t just train with me. She stayed—with me through multiple gym transitions, through virtual pivots during COVID, through grief and body change and recovery seasons.
Auria Zahed began working with me as a client in 2019. She followed me through years of transitions because the safety we built moved with her. In 2025, she became my collaborator—because relational wellness, when done right, becomes legacy.
She’s not the only one.
📍 The Women Who Stayed: A Pattern of Trust
Are navigating trauma, grief, identity shifts, chronic illness, burnout
Have experienced harm or invisibility in traditional fitness or therapy settings
Need care that adapts to real life—not the other way around
Value emotional pacing, consent, and identity-aware programming
Feel seen, heard, and supported in ways that restore their whole body story
When someone stays with a coach for years, across platforms and seasons, it’s not convenience. It’s co-regulation. It’s a homecoming.
✊ What Makes This Coaching Model Different
🌿 Trauma-informed principles woven into every intake, cue, and progression
🩺 Clinical foundations in pain-informed strength and special population care
🧠 Nervous system safety prioritized over intensity
💬 Relational depth built to hold emotion, not flatten it
🔍 Identity-aware coaching that includes race, gender, queerness, and lived experience
This isn’t a trend. It’s the model I’ve practiced since 2018—because real care was always needed, long before it became popular.
💛 For the Woman Who’s Still Searching
You are not too emotional. You are not high-maintenance. You’ve simply never had movement built for your nervous system, your lived identity, your healing arc.
At Head 2 Toe Strength, we offer trauma-informed coaching, emotional wellness integration, and inclusive strength design. We don’t just refer you to therapy. We’re building an ecosystem where your whole story belongs.
📍 Based in Orange County, CA — serving clients nationwide
🎙️ Subscribe to the Uplift Women’s Wellness podcast