Meet Rachel

Youth and Young Adult Coach in Maine

I didn't set out to become a Youth Well-Being and Resilience Coach. I was just always the person kids found. In the classroom before school started, there'd be a student at my door. Then two. Then, there was a small pile of teenagers who wanted somewhere safe to land before the day began. On the pool deck, during long bus rides to swim meets, in the hallways between periods, they came looking for connection. Someone who would listen. Someone who wouldn't judge. Someone who would give it to them straight when they needed it and just sit with them when they didn't.

I've been a teacher, an educational technician, a high school coach, a recreation director, a youth mentor, and a board chair for a youth chorus. For over 30 years, in one form or another, I have been in the room with young people and listening. Not because it was always my job title, but because I couldn't not be. My family was like this, too. Growing up, my home was the one the kids came to. No judgment, no agenda — just an open door and someone who took you seriously.

There were days on the pool deck when I felt I did more emotional "coaching" than physical "coaching." When my swimmers asked me to coach tennis. I said yes, even though I knew nothing about tennis, because I understood what they were really asking for. They didn’t want a tennis coach. They wanted all of it. All the "coaching."

Heart Harbor Coaching is where all of that landed. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Bates College and am a Certified Youth Well-Being and Resilience Coach through the Youth Coaching Institute (ICF-approved), as well as certified in Mental Health First Aid.

In 2022, I trained and certified my dog — Hercules — as an Animal-Assisted Therapy dog, worked with teens experiencing anxiety, and developed an Animal-Assisted SEL program for high school students. I named that program A Soft Place to Land. That name said everything.

I know what it looks like when a teenager is struggling and trying not to show it. I know what it sounds like when they finally feel safe enough to say what’s really going on. And I know what becomes possible when someone in that moment stays and doesn’t fix, doesn’t panic, doesn’t look away. A harbor isn’t the destination. It’s the safe place you come to catch your breath before you sail again. That’s what I’m here to be. 

When I’m not coaching, you’ll find me on the Maine coast with my camera, with my family and animals, and in the quiet that reminds me why presence matters.

— Rachel Parsons, Founder, Heart Harbor Coaching