Neurodiversity Advocate And Life Skills Coach – Exclusive Interview With Tracey Pinder
- Brainz Magazine
- Oct 11, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 11, 2023
Tracey Pinder is the owner and founder of The School of Life (Pty) Ltd and The School of Life Non Profit Organisation. Tracey is a neurodiverse individual with over 20 years of counselling and coaching experience. She has dedicated her practice to uplifting individuals from all walks of life. She has personally trained over 60 Life skills coaches and leads a team of like minded, dedicated, knowledgeable and passionate coaches who altruistically educate, equip, empower and inspire individuals by raising self awareness, developing life skills and cultivating self-respect.
Tracey Pinder, Life Skills Coach
How neurodiversity led me to help others as a profession?
Tracey Pinder is the owner and founder of The School of Life (Pty) Ltd and The School of Life Non-Profit Organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a generous and supportive life skills coach and mentor who has dedicated her practice to uplifting individuals from all walks of life.
Tracey is a neurodivergent individual with more than 20 years of counselling and coaching experience. She is a mother to three adult children. Her two sons, Andrew and Daniel, are international chefs and her daughter, Michelle, is an advocate.
Tracey has personally trained and mentored over 60 life skills coaches and leads a team of like-minded, dedicated, knowledgeable and passionate coaches who altruistically educate, equip, empower and inspire individuals by raising self-awareness, developing practical life skills and cultivating self-respect.
She is a regular guest and host on YouTube and other channels, hosts webinars and has become highly regarded in her field. She hosts a monthly Neurodivergence Support Group \ meeting that covers topics such as neurodivergent relationships, neurodivergence in the workplace, and how to offer support to neurodivergent children, among others.
What inspired you to become a life skills coach?
I have wanted to work with people ever since I was a child. I started nursing after I matriculated but left after a year because I became too invested in the patients and it really affected me if they died. I studied a year of psychology but my husband at the time became very ill, so I had to stop studying to take care of him. I worked in the motor industry for 17 years and had a very bad experience during this time. My undiagnosed ADHD did not help. I made impulsive decisions based on my need for dopamine that created a lot of chaos in my life. After leaving the motor industry, I consciously chose to create a message from my mess. I then studied counselling and did an internationally accredited life-coaching course and that is how my journey began.
What is the purpose and vision behind The School of Life?
Education is a powerful tool that can be used to change the world, one person at a time. We don’t know what we don’t know.
The School of Life’s vision is to help as many people as possible to become self-aware. When you are self-aware you can begin to self-reflect. Foresight is the ability to predict and prepare you for your future; insight is the ability to understand and respond to the present; and hindsight is the ability to learn from the past. With practical life skills you can start unlearning what does not serve you, you can begin correcting behaviours and then you will be able to self-manage.
At The School of Life, we are passionate about educating, equipping, empowering and inspiring you on how to think, and with the right skill sets and mindset, you can become anything you wish to become and attain anything you wish to attain.
Your website refers to neurodivergent life skills coaches. How are they different to life skills coaches?
Our neurodivergent life skills coaches are first and foremost neurodivergent themselves. As neurodivergent individuals, we have a unique understanding of the challenges neurodivergent people face in the workplace and in life and we are thus better equipped to support our clients in this regard.
How did the concept of neurodiversity become such an integral part of The School of Life?
As a neurodivergent professional who has had to live with the challenges of ADHD, I naturally gravitated toward coaching and mentoring neurodivergent individuals. I also worked very closely with the late Dr Shabeer Jeeva, a psychiatrist who specialised in ADHD in children and adults. In fact, he was instrumental in the advancement of the neurodiversity aspect of our coaching practice. Dr Jeeva introduced me to Bianca Williams, a connection that has led to an intense specialisation in neurodivergent life skills coaching.
More about Bianca Williams, business owner and School of Life life skills coach.
I am an advocate (barrister) by profession. I have a Law Degree, a Postgraduate Diploma in Labour Law and a partially completed Master of Laws Degree.
I am an autistic individual, diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and an array of co-morbidities. I have a supportive and loving partner, and I am mom to two autistic kids diagnosed with ADHD (and then some).
I spent much of my life on a journey to find out more about my neurodivergence. A journey that highlighted the huge gap in people’s knowledge of the neurodiversity paradigm and its array of challenges. A journey riddled with obstacles ranging from a lack of support, a lack of acknowledgement and a lack of acceptance (to name a few).
It was a journey that saw my legal practice burst into flames: not because I was incompetent or lacked intellectual skills or enthusiasm, but because of a lack of support, acknowledgement and acceptance.
It also saw me claw my way out of the ashes as authentically autistic and unapologetically neurodivergent… not because I was less neurodivergent or had less co-morbidities or challenges, but because I have developed a voracious appetite for knowledge of everything neurodiverse, because I learnt how to communicate my needs and, most of all, because I became a part of a team of like-minded individuals.
As an individual who is studious by nature I persistently seek knowledge and understanding and I thus relentlessly continue to study the concept of Neurodivergence in all its elements.
What sets The School of Life apart from other institutions?
We believe that our approach to coaching is different from most institutions as our coaches have been through tough and adverse times and have triumphed by turning their mess into a strong message. We are very practical in our approach and all our coaching comes from the foundation of teaching a ‘can-do, do-have’ mindset. Our coaches speak from experience and have overcome the situation our clients find themselves in. We are a strong and passionate group of like-minded individuals from all walks of life and careers including architecture, engineering, scientist, law, art, psychology, and so on. We also do a lot of pro bona work at schools hosting information sessions with teachers and parents so they can learn about neurodiversity. The range of life experience within our coaching group is vast and covers so many of life’s challenges that our pool of resources – and resourcefulness – is exemplary.
How do you help your clients navigate this road?
The first step is to understand where the client is and meet them there so that their journey can begin. Once this has been established (usually during an initial assessment), the client will be given a program to assist with guidance and tools to overcome their challenges. During the program other skill sets may be identified and added to the program to ensure that they achieve the best they can in their lives.
What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future?
I would love the opportunity to train more life skills coaches throughout South Africa and internationally. I would also love to see practical life skills being taught in schools too so our children grow up to be healthy, functional and empowered individuals with skills that will see them through tough and challenging times.
How can people contact you?
Our website address is www.theschooloflife.org.za
Email address is: tracey@theschooloflife.org.za
Contact number is: +27 83 266 3955
