PEGGY@WALKONWATERCOACHING.COM

My Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications

• Board Certified Advanced Christian Life Coach (CACLC)
• Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC)
• Master’s degree in mental health counseling from Capella University and a BS Degree in Social Work from BYU-Provo
• Adjunct Online Instructor, BYU-Idaho
• Member of the American Association for Christian Counselors and the International Board of Christian Care
• Serves on the Board of Directors for The Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity.

Experience

I have maintained a private counseling practice since 2011 which specialized in treating girls, women, and relationships. Although I enjoyed being a clinical mental health counselor, in 2023, I discovered that Christian coaching best fit my clients and my approach to helping. You can learn more about my coaching approach here.

As a woman, a mother, a grandmother, and a trained professional, I understand the challenges women and families face today. I am able to help my clients from the wisdom of my own lived experience, as well as my professional training. My husband, Michael and I have raised a blended family of nine children! I like to say that in addition to my professional training, I have an advanced degree from the “College of Hard Knocks.” I also draw upon my experience as a parent and a counseling professional in my role as a university instructor who teaches parenting and counseling skills to amazing students from all over the world.

As a mother to a blended family of five adult daughters, I have a passion for helping girls build positive relationships with their bodies. I understand the “minefield” of cultural messages that harm girls today and the heartbreak faced by their families. In 2015, I wrote and published Healthy Transitions for Girls, a coaching curriculum to help girls, ages 8 to 14, to develop positive body image. I have conducted workshops for hundreds of girls in Oregon and Idaho. In today’s world, it is critical for girls to recognize that being a girl is special and that their changing bodies have a beautiful purpose.  My book honors Christian values and science that supports a Judeo-Christian worldview. My book has been used at home, schools, agencies, and faith-based settings. LEARN MORE ABOUT MY HEALTHY TRANSITIONS FOR GIRLS COACHING CURRICULUM

If I Can Find Peace and Strength Through My Challenges, So Can You!

Client Advocacy Work

My passion for helping girls navigate the perils of puberty and recognize the beauty of their emerging womanhood fuels my efforts to protect the conscience rights of counselors and therapists. We must protect the relationship between the client and the counselor from politicized science that exploits the insecurities of adolescents who are struggling with identity and belonging. In 2022-2024, I helped spearhead a successful effort to pass a conscience rights bill for counselors and therapists, Idaho Senate Bill 1352. Supporting conscience rights is an essential protection against tyranny, not just for counselors and therapists, but for parents and families! In the Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol. 15, (2024) I shared how I became a whistleblower that exposed how taxpayer dollars are being used to sexualize children. I shared the strategies we used to pass conscience rights legislation in Idaho. I urge parents and professionals to get involved in protecting conscience rights by supporting the Medical Ethics Defense Act which is being introduced in many states across the country. Learn how you can make a difference in my journal article, “‘The Reluctant Activist:’ How an Idaho Counselor Mom Pushed Back on the Social Justice Agenda and How Other States Can Follow.”