We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lynn Mattina a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lynn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Breaking through adversity is a difficult path for anyone. No one can possibly understand what suffering is like unless you’ve walked those shoes yourself. We all have moved through darkness and pain. Those seasons don’t have to create immovable blocks within us.
I started my career in Graphic Design. The school I attended loved my work and asked me to stay and tutor others. Sometimes an environment can be a conductor for healing and moving forward… if you stop and listen to what people are saying to you. Becoming a survivor is almost impossible to do alone. So I listened to my students. I worked with them in what was happening in their lives. We thought through each hardship and I walked through their trauma with them.
One evening one of my students called me. He told me that night he was going to end his life and crawl into an oven to die. But he remembered my words and he decided to choose life instead. At that moment something changed inside of me and my path started in a new direction.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I grew into a lot of street-smarts. My clients were my best teachers. That required a lot of listening and reading between the lines. Emotions are very complicated. What I didn’t know I learned. My clients and I would wrestle together to find the best and easiest solution that was right for them. Most psychologists and doctors don’t acknowledge that each place of physical and emotional pain includes spiritual tearing inside of the trauma. I address the physical, emotional, thought processes and spiritual aspects so the whole person will heal. Holding onto God in the deeper places is a new strength for many.
That initial experience with my students was twenty-five years ago and still today I mentor about 1/2 dozen people outside of my regular clients. My work now includes many types of perplexing and complicated places that could hinder your life. Relationship problems, marriage and self sabotage, suicide, grieving, anger and addictions. I work with a lot of high trauma, PTSD, D.I.D, spiritual depressions and manifestations. Finding your destiny, purpose – and peace – can be quite challenging.
I want everyone to know that you don’t have to stay in a hard place. There is an answer to everything. It doesn’t have to be difficult to figure out. You don’t have to suffer or be alone.
Most of my clients feel I’ve saved their life. But really it’s about the courage to find who you were created to be. Even if that means reinventing yourself or looking at a difficult situation in a new way.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Through the years I’ve continued mentoring. However my paying job was accomplished in Graphic Design. I moved away from tutoring and teaching classes to working within local ad agencies in Southern CA. I quickly excelled from a Production role to Studio Mgr, Designer, Art Director, to Sr. Art Director and at times Creative Director. The advertising industry has many ups and downs. Hat changes are common and being a chameleon—jumping into any role is an asset. Clients and contracts change. Layoffs are every few years and technology shifts quickly. If you’re not continually self-educating then you can find yourself in the dust rather quickly. Through the years the industry has moved out of print and into online design. This required coding, mathematics and back-door engineering which challenged my creative mind.
In 2015 I was a part of an inhouse marketing community that had a large layoff. Around 1/3 of the company had to leave which meant my group collapsed. At that time I had twenty-five years of experience. I was at the top of my game. Even having a dozen reps… not one could find me any kind of work. I found that my industry was evolving too quickly for me to catch up. It was scary and also devastating. Strangely enough, my husband was laid-off on the same day I had to leave my company.
We put out hundreds of resumes with no response. I learned that in the LA area, we were contending with over 200 people for any – one – position. How could we compete? We quickly drained our unemployment. Sometimes the universe forces you to move and the path is just so foggy you don’t know what to do. We were about to lose our home when we decided we had to sell. It took longer than usual for our property to find a buyer. The new owners low-balled our price when we didn’t have a choice. With no job prospects, we moved out of state and found a little house in Salt Lake City—but the bank reneged on their loan to us. Liquidating all of our savings…we prayed for a miracle. Having no employment… we then learned the design industry here on the Silicone Slopes was just as tough. We realized our business had unfortunately outgrown us.
My father’s words rang in my ears. “Do what you know how to do the best and stay with that. You will be successful!” I knew how to help people through dark places. I decided to become professionally certified as a trauma coach. This wasn’t a common niche but it was what I knew. I could pick someone up where they were at and walk them into answers that could radically change their path.
I still love design. But a pretty brochure never saved a life.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
My methods are proven and compassionate. Word gets around when difficult places are easily broken in one’s life. Healing from adversities doesn’t have to be hard. I’ve heard just about every story and understand the root causes of how things happen. I won’t leave anyone alone. I understand what it feels like to have no support system. And that’s the biggest reason I’m in this business.
I go by referral most of the time. Not only friends and clients refer me, but also most doctors, therapists, psychologists, senior pastors and staff, plus leaders in my communities. I have clients across the United States and I’ve worked with people in different countries including France, Israel and China, thus far! I can work with someone one-on-one or I can consult with doctors or teach different groups on how and whys.