Biography
The journey of finding one's own personal truth is one of the most vulnerable and liberating things you can do for yourself.
Mary Helen Frank-Murphy
"I found my light again.
And I realized that I want to help others do the same.
To be happy. And that is why I am a coach."
I was born on a Navy base and moved across the country several times in my first years. When my parents divorced, my brother and I lived with our mother, who worked hard to make ends meet, leading us to move around a lot. We lived with relatives, in a domestic abuse shelter, and Section 8 housing. Eventually, I moved in with my father and attended one high school for the remaining four years after attending eleven schools previously.
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I met my first love, Michael Frank, during my senior year of high school. We married a year after my college graduation and built our house on his family farm a year later. Our daughter, Jordan, joined us in 1997 and made us a family.
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I had suffered from a heart ailment since birth but was healthy. As an adult, I was diagnosed with Lupus and worked with Mike to get as healthy as possible - together.
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My mom was diagnosed with dementia in 2009. I took over her finances, spent many hours filing paperwork, handling her debts, finding her care, securing Medicaid and Social Security, setting up her medications, grocery shopping, and meeting all of her other needs. She died in June 2020. I am still learning about grieving a parent and finding the grief much more profound and vast than expected.
In 2011, Mike experienced severe pain while playing basketball. He underwent several painful tests and eventually failed back surgery in early 2013. Mike tried many treatments, pain medication, spinal injections, and more, but nothing worked. He continued to suffer from unbearable pain every day. Sadly, he passed away due to an accidental heroin overdose in early 2016.
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In 2017, I met my coach --- and my life transformed forever. Ken helped me identify the survival mechanisms that were holding me back, allowing me to rediscover my true self and life purpose. I found my voice, sold my home, moved to a new city, started dating, and retired from my HR career.
I married my love, Paul, in 2021 in a beautiful historical church in Ireland. A dream come true.
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My experience with coaching has inspired me to help others find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. This is why I became a coach and am overjoyed to be here.
Mary is one of those people who I immediately felt confident in. I had a sense right away from the beginning of our time working together that she was in my corner! What I love about coaching is that I have a person to bounce off the troubling things of life with and I know that together we will find some new solution that was not something I could access myself. Mary is so generous and shares what she is noticing with me in a way that really helps me to reflect and consider new perspectives and to better understand myself. I would definitely recommend that you try her out as a coach!