Private Clients:
“Marie is a present and available listener, and a skilled coach whose work truly delivers. When we work together, I feel challenged, and also completely safe to bring every part of me into our work. And, I bring the messy works - all of my hopes, fears, and contradictory thoughts and feelings! She meets me where I am but still challenges me to discern what I need to do in order to take steps forward. In a world where so many of us know that we have a vision for ourselves, but persistently choose something else out of fear, self-doubt, tiredness or sheer familiarity - Marie will lovingly challenge you to take steps towards your unique vision. She has challenged me to wear my heart on my sleeve more often, to own and walk my unique path, and to tap into my courage to take action towards several things that I have truly wanted and truly feared. I'm grateful to have found Marie, and look forward to working with her more in the future!”
K.A., RI.
"Marie is a consummate listener. When I speak with her, I feel as though she is always present – never distracted, nor preoccupied. I feel as though she really hears what I am saying. She also offers extremely constructive feedback. She is direct, clear and always has my best interest at heart. Her questions are provocative without being probing and I always feel uplifted after meeting with her. She is a true professional that has a seemingly endless well of warmth, experience and knowledge. Most importantly, I really trust Marie to keep our discussions in confidence and guide me on my heart's truest path."
C.B., RI.
"Marie is a dedicated Coach whose passion shines through authentic communication. I feel fully supported and connected while working together. Our work has allowed me to focus on goals that I would not have allowed myself to consider otherwise; leading to a stronger sense of self. Marie has great intuition and is a wonderful advocate. Thanks, Marie."
S.W., MT
"I have had nothing but gleaming experiences with Marie. I find that the fact that we were able to build and maintain such a strong coaching friendship through only the use of FaceTime, is a testament of her genuine nature. Prior to our conversations, my mind was being pulled in so many directions. As someone who just turned 23, I have a plethora of interests, but my mind was in no way in a place where I could make a 'clear cut' decision on one direction. Marie gave me clarity, and this led me to making my own discoveries of what I truly wanted.
I am now on the path to my dream and I couldn't have done that without the help from Marie!"N.C., RI.
"Marie is an amazing listener. This incredible skill coupled with her patience and empathy has enabled me to hear my own voice more clearly. This voice has been supported wholeheartedly with Marie's insight and suggestions of practical courses of action. She has this uncanny ability to distill from my ramblings a crystallized essence of my strengths, abilities and yearnings, which she has supported way beyond the typical call of a Life Coach. She cares deeply about her clients and connects on a soul level. I feel so lucky to have Marie as my coach."
D.S., VT.
"After time spent with Marie, I feel more understanding of myself, others and the world in general. Marie helps me articulate, process, feel, embody and emanate many of the lessons I have learned in life. I now understand the importance of honoring care for self and others. To trust the process of my life as it unfolds. That I can take the heavy backpack off my back, dump out its contents and fill it back up with what I want in it.... and I feel lighter for it. I am the author of my own story. I may not be able to change the past, but, I know now that I craft my future in each moment. I am enough. Thank you, Marie, for your love, attention and care."
M.A., RI.
"I contacted Marie because of persistent feelings of inadequacy and not knowing what I wanted to do with myself and my life after my kids started school. After six months of biweekly phone sessions, I feel more in control of my feelings and have a newfound zest for life. Marie introduced me to some very helpful visualizations to enforce different parts of my personality and I connect back to these whenever I need a little refresher. Marie has a very friendly and caring way about her, which helped me tremendously in feeling safe. Also her personality and use of "tools" made the sessions less somber than regular therapy. I usually ended our sessions feeling my spirits lifted and excited to try out and explore the things we had discussed."
M. W., MA.
"Through Marie's expertise, knowledge, courage and compassion she creates a comfortable, yet open space to work in. Marie helped me work out some personal things by listening and helping me see a different perspective through questions, self reflection and offering challenges. Her smile is contagious and she brings light to every conversation, interaction and individual!"
D.V., NY.
Schools & Corporate Clients:
“As a mental health therapist, I often struggle to set aside time for self-reflection and personal exploration, Marie’s workshops provided the space and facilitation needed for me to delve inward. Marie provided myself and the group permission to show up, be inquisitive, and begin to explore our truths. Throughout the series, Marie modeled authentic acceptance while also challenging participants to leave their place of comfort in order to explore important, but sometimes difficult, themes of leadership. Marie’s presence allowed for the organic formation of an environment where group members were able to hold space and bear witness to transformation within both themselves and others. Unbeknownst to Marie, she and her series found me at, and helped me find my way through, an exciting but challenging juncture in my professional journey. “
J.G. Child & Family, RI
“Marie was a top presenter at our 2019 Mindfulness Conference: ‘Strengthening School Communities’ here at Rocky Hill School. Her session "Becoming a Conscious Leader" was filled with administrators, faculty, school nurses, social workers and parents. Her energy and positivity hooked us right away, and we knew we were going to leave feeling like we all wanted more time with Marie -which was exactly the case! Her session was both informative as well as transformative. It was thoughtfully delivered so that it was safe for everyone in the room to share, contribute and even... be vulnerable. Marie is a leader in this work and any school would be lucky to collaborate with her. Here are RHS, this partnership is only beginning! Thank you, Marie!”
Traci Fairchild, Director of Counseling & Wellness, Rocky Hill School
“The Leadership workshops with Marie enabled me to take time and develop a plan to identify and use my leadership qualities. Often times as clinicians, we are focused on ‘doing’ rather than ‘being’ and the workshops offered me the opportunity to do a little of both. It helped me to identify areas of growth and develop strategies to be more intentional about the way I exhibit leadership qualities in my professional and personal life. The group dynamic was also helpful because it allowed me to hear of my leadership qualities from the perspective of others which I greatly appreciated! I enjoyed the workshops with Marie and felt as though it provided me with the opportunity to focus on developing the foundation of a leadership style that will serve me and others well in the future.”
L.B. Child & Family, RI
“From my very first meeting with Marie, I was drawn to her dedication to working with young girls and developing them into the best version of themselves. As the faculty advisor to the Women in Leadership student organization, we were in search of a workshop that could be customized to fit our needs and focus on confidence building and fostering a girl's inner leader. Marie met with our club's student leaders to plan an interactive gathering where the girls used tools such as storytelling, visualization, and self-reflection. In just 90 minutes, the entire group was left energized and inspired. We are so thankful to have Marie spend time with us and look forward to welcoming her back on to campus in the future.”
Christina R. Cerenzia, Senior Associate Director of College Counseling, St. George’s School
“When Marie reached out to me by phone to introduce herself in summer 2018, I immediately sensed her warmth and enthusiasm for her work. I agreed to meet her in person to see if there might be some potential for referrals to our students and families. Once we met and I heard her personal story, and she spoke about the kind of work she does and would like to do, I recognized the enormous resource she presented. Once we began talking, we dove into brainstorming a session for her to address our rising seniors on the topic of understanding one’s core values. Marie came and addressed the seniors in a highly engaging one-hour workshop as part of our our 3 day college prep workshop held on the first 3 days of school. The students took to her right away, and she led them skillfully through an interactive and thoughtful workshop. I have been working in colleges and high schools for the last 34 years. Marie is one of the most engaging and authentic practitioners I have come across. In spite of her relatively short tenure in the field, she is deeply knowledgeable, intuitive, and imaginative in her work. I most highly recommend Marie to schools and colleagues who want to expand both professional development offerings to educators, and as a resource to students and parents. She is a gem”.
Tara A. Dowling, Director of College Counseling, Rocky Hill School, East Greenwich, RI
“ I love how interactive Marie’s workshops are -engaging, motivating, and thought provoking! Marie is a wonderful teacher and coach. I especially love watching the people that I know have a hard time listening and seeing how they adjust themselves. I have participated in several workshops with Marie, and I have learned something new every time. Thank you, Marie, for helping me to think about my goals for 2019. I am super motivated to get in gear!”
J. L. Keller Williams Realty, Central Rhode Island
“When our Library publicized that Co-Active Life Coach Marie Mechtaly would offer the workshop ‘Realign With What Matters Most: Your Best Self’ on a Saturday morning in January, we had such a response that we immediately arranged for a second workshop to accommodate the number of people who wanted to attend.
Both workshops were full and participants in each session took the time to email me afterwards to say how much they enjoyed Marie’s presentation and how meaningful they found the time. Two other participants want to invite Marie to do workshops for their faculty and business respectively. This is indeed a testimonial to how Marie engaged her audience with inspiring ideas, creative group exercises, and the kind, warm, and personable tone she set for the room. As a professional, Marie shared excellent hand-outs. She was thorough, flexible and pleasant throughout the planning process and I look forward to working with Marie again.”Joyce May, East Providence Public Library Assistant Director and Adult Services Librarian