Meet Valerie

Welcome! I’m Valerie Spain, a freelance writer of essays, newsletter and blog posts, articles, profiles and memoir.

I write with clarity and insight about mental health/wellbeing because I write from lived experience of grief, depression, intimate partner violence, overcoming an eating disorder, living with type 1 diabetes, parenting and aging. Read my essays

I’m a published author of two Random House biographies for young readers: Meet Maya Angelou and Meet Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I’m also a certified life coach.

As a coach, I work with women 40+ to help them navigate the consequences of workplace bullying and abuse. My lived experience of workplace bullying and intimate partner violence, as well as the fruits of my ongoing healing journey, inform my work.

My awareness work is built on a 30+ year (and counting) mindfulness meditation practice that includes extensive silent retreat experience. I know sustainable change comes from practices that increase self-awareness—self-awareness generates self-compassion, which leads to loving self-care, confidence and joy.

I guide clients in a wide variety of creative practices including: journaling, forest bathing, reading literature and poetry, and collage.

It’s possible to find the purpose and meaning you thought you lost!

For details of my multifaceted career as a communications professional, wellness entrepreneur (co-founded a pioneering doula service), and public health and nonprofit leader, check my LinkedIn profile.