Amelia Bolyard
Children's embodiment coach

I am a Children's Embodiment coach, parenting coach, and consultant.

 

My experience providing customized support to parents and their children commenced organically when I accepted my first job as a nanny. The parents had lost their first child to leukemia, and they were in need of a care provider who could honor the ebbs and flows of grief and engage the related challenges. Those challenges were expressed most potently in their second child, who had been born soon after the passing of their first child.

 

It was with this family that I unearthed new skills. Through my experiences caring for their children, I discovered I had a profound gift for responding to the deep, extraordinary needs of the family. I was acknowledged for my exceptional work with the children, and with that family's recommendation, I was requested by other families with similar needs. I worked with children on the autism spectrum, as well as families experiencing trauma and grief.

 

Working with these children and their caregivers proved to be more than a passion–I recognized it as an invocation, a calling. For nearly 30 years, I have continued to observe and learn through my intentional work to support children and their caregivers. I am honored to be invited into the lives of families to help identify solutions to the questions and challenges they encounter. 

 

I understand that care providers and parents need and deserve support in cultivating and applying ideas that will serve the needs of their children. In my practice, I support and guide care providers and parents as they develop patience, release judgments, and establish realistic expectations with increased capacity and loving presence for the wellbeing of their children and themselves. 

 

I've observed that care providers and parents also have a need to meet their personal desires to be the best providers they can be in each moment. This “best” is naturally variable. They sometimes question their choices and can experience being at “a loss” for ideas. The intention of my work is to strengthen the caregiver's confidence and trust in their ability to make centered, emotionally sober observations, resulting in more empowering choices and solutions with which to meet challenges.

 

I am grateful and delighted to help facilitate Altavenues' mission of providing support and cultivating joy within children and their families as I continue to learn and expand alongside Betty Peralta. 

 

EXPERIENCE:

 

25 years working intimately with the care providers and parents of children with exceptional needs. 15 years working with the schools and organizations that serve those families.

 

SPECIFICS:

  

• Childhaven - Creative/Therapeutic Movement - Instructor to ages five and under.

• Boys & Girls Club, Rainier Vista - Creator and Facilitator of Big/Little Sisterhood mentorship program

• Madrona Middle School, South Shore PK-8,  and Seattle Alternative Schools, Summit K-12 and AS1 - Artist in Residence 

• Freehold Theater Prison Outreach Program at Washington Corrections Center for Women -  Theater/Movement/Music Program Co-facilitator and Instructor

• Cornish College of the Arts - Dance Instructor and Outreach Coordinator 

• New Holly Tutoring Program - Volunteer tutor K- 8

• Joy of Dance Experience (JODE): An holistic self-care movement class focusing on breath, emotional and physical safety, and respect for the wisdom of the body - Founder

• In-home Infant Sleep Consultant