Antonia Dolhaine
Q What do you do?
“I’m a trauma-informed coach who specialises in supporting elite athletes and creative industry professionals to build lives and relationships that feel like home.”
As a former acrobat with Cirque du Soleil and trauma survivor myself, I get how the magical but chaotic worlds of art and elite sport can serve as both an escape and a challenge to growth. The “trauma-informed” in my title means I take you through all the life-changing processes a normal coach would, while remaining deeply sensitive to the ways your perfectionism, codependent patterns, and easily triggered nervous system have served to keep you safe in the past. From there, we explore all the ways the creativity which helped you survive can be repurposed to help you thrive in the present and future you desire ☻
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Honestly? I embodied many many different flavours of hot mess for yeaaars trying to navigate dysfunctional relationships and a successful international performing career while living with undiagnosed CPTSD.
It was peak glamour.
When I finally sought support, I dealt with therapist after coach after “guru” that wasn’t trauma-informed (which meant countless episodes of retraumatization). Through pure stubbornness, however, I did eventually connect to the right help. And after that, things started improving really quickly.
The vacuum of trauma-aware, industry-specific support I experienced in the early stages of my recovery are what inspired me to certify as a trauma-informed coach and return to university to pursue a degree in clinical counselling (the degree is still in progress). Therapy, but in particular coaching, supported me to build a life I never would have held as possible before starting. Once I’d tasted that, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my time but sharing that with others!
Q How do you stand out in your field?
Due to the proliferation of mental health content since the pandemic, more and more coaches are beginning to seek trauma-informed education. That said, I don’t know any who cater specifically to creatives, artists, and athletes like I do. So there’s that.
But more importantly, I stand out in that I show up as my whole self and practice what I post. I’m not above the tools I share with my clients and I’m certainly not above having bad days. I want my clients to understand that creating the life they want isn’t about transcending their messy humanness but about coming home to it more fully. The best way I can teach that is by embodying it myself.
Q What are you working on right now?
I’m currently rebranding, which is a process I’m deeply enjoying! I created my website from scratch and had been doing all my own graphics since launching, but between my aesthetically critical eye and total lack of adobe skills I was constantly underwhelmed by my efforts. Working with Marcus Key of Studio Wove has given me a chance to reflect on my practice values and how I want to keep serving in the world with even greater thoughtfulness. I’m still an artist at heart so I see my brand as a way to keep flexing my creativity as I grow on my current career path.
Q What’s your style?
Like every design enthusiast ever, I am faithful to Dieter Rams’ 10 principles. I bring them into everything I do, from the way I design my environment and routines in my own personal life to the experiences I create for my clients. I like designs that bridge realms. The organic to the industrial, movement to stillness —or in the case of trauma-informed coaching— the past to the future. So much of what growth is is becoming comfortable in liminal spaces. The spaces between where we’ve come from and where we’re going. In other words, the Present. Good design helps us do that. The coaching process, which rests on a simple and elegant foundation of curiosity and compassion, is an ideal tool for designing lives that feel good to live in.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I love doing creative collaborations with videographers and photographers, both as an interpreter/mover and as movement director. I shot a creative in Montreal recently. That was my first in months. I love coaching, but making time to inhabit my artistic self not only energizes me in my work with clients, it also helps me remember how to relate to their experiences in creative industries since I no longer spend all my time in those spaces.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
The amount of spiritual bypassing and repackaged patriarchal BS floating around in the coaching world. At least half of my clients come to me having previously been harmed by other coaches while seeking support to grow. Understandably, we then end up spending a lot more time building a foundation of trust than we’d otherwise need to to compensate for other coaches' shittiness before we can move on to the good stuff. Power abuse costs everyone.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
I’m tempted to say my social graphics, but:
1. $20/hr wouldn’t get me the quality I’m after and
2. Even though I get frustrated by how long it takes me, I actually really enjoy designing my graphics as a creative outlet.
So maybe someone to make sure all the back end bits of my business keep running smoothly? Or an accountant?
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Oooh. This is a good one. I’m going to get vulnerable here. I would go back to 2016 and tell myself that breaking things off with my ex-fiancé was the right decision. I spent absolute ages torturing myself over that decision as I loved him so much, but it was inarguably one of the smartest choices I ever made. Also, for obvious reasons… “don’t sign a lease with your rebound, he turns out to be a flat earther”.
The boundless whimsy of the human experience.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
Undoubtedly money. I learned next-to-nothing about it growing up besides that it freaked adults out. I have made do with the bits and pieces I picked up by living and learning, but I’m certain there’s so much I’m missing out on. Hiring a business coach with a focus on ethical financial literacy (ie. abundance, but make it divesting from the colonial/capitalist paradigm) will be my big next investment in my personal growth for 2022.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Client Leads
Podcast interviews (as guest/host)
Workshops (as guest/host)
Creative Collaborations/Opportunities
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My clients tend to be hard-working, high-achieving, and self-aware. They seek me out because they’ve already read a million books, done all the courses, and spent years in therapy reconciling their pasts to try to shift their relationship patterns in the present. They know why they do what they do, but because they don’t know what to do with what they know, their relationships never change. They’re looking for a coach to hold safe, compassionate space while they put all the tools they already have in context and fill gaps in their toolkit where needed. They’re looking for someone who will lovingly hold up a mirror so they can connect to the wisdom they already hold within. They don't just need a coach, they want one.
Q: What is your rate?
My coaching packages start at $900 USD/month and go up to $1200 USD/month for 3-6 months with the option to extend.
I don’t currently offer group coaching, but I have plans to start in March 2022.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Through the booking section of my website, where they can book a free 30 min discovery call. Bonus points for humorous theatricality in my intake form :)
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Alok Vaid Menon is a interdisciplinary creative genius with a massive heart who is compassionately breaking down the walls of the gender binary
instagram @alokvmenon
Jacob Jonas is another interdisciplinary creator who almost singlehandedly put digital dance on the map as a serious art form, saving hundreds of dancers careers from the pandemic in the process
instagram @jacobjonasthecompany
Jah Grey is a Toronto-based photographer dedicated to exploring positive notions of Black masculinity through portraiture. I find all his work deeply striking and heartbreakingly beautiful
instagram @jahgrey
Leila Gohar is an Egyptian chef/food installation artist based in NYC. Her installations for art galleries and fashion events are inspiringly inventive. I appreciate artists like her who can carve wildly successful niches for themselves in unexpected places. She’s also one of those infuriatingly rare people who manages to be chic in all scenarios without any airs of contrivance
instagram @lailacooks
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
By doing “nothing” as often as possible.
This member profile was originally published in December 2021.