About me

The person behind the work.

Clarity coach · Strategic sparring partner · Embodiment guide

The longer version — for you who want to know who you're saying yes to before you say yes.

Behind the work

Therese Fallentin. Strategic sparring partner.

HVORFOR AKKURAT DETTE

«Jeg gjør dette arbeidet fordi jeg har vært i rommene der det viktige ikke ble sagt; som leder, som kollega, som menneske. Jeg har sett og kjent prisen. Min egen og andres. Jeg ble ikke coach for å lære folk teknikker. Jeg ble coach fordi noen må tørre å si høyt det som er sant, selv om det er ubehagelig, skummelt og utfordrende sårbart. Fordi sannheten bringer oss hjem til oss selv og hverandre.»

VENDEPUNKTET

Jeg husker dagen jeg satt i et møte i Brussel og smilte mens jeg sa noe jeg ikke mente. Noe i magen vred seg. Jeg hørte min egen stemme komme ut høflig, profesjonell, akseptabel. Jeg sa ikke det jeg egentlig tenkte, ønsket og hadde behov for. Jeg turte ikke ta opp plassen jeg ville eller be om støtten jeg trengte for å få det til. Jeg gjemte meg og skammet meg. Antok at det ikke var plass til denne siden av meg. 

Der og da innså jeg at JEG sto i veien for det jeg ville og trengte, og jeg lengtet etter å bli sett, hørt og forstått. Det var en stille innsikt hvor jeg så at «å ikke være til bry» hadde blitt en maske jeg hadde båret så lenge at jeg trodde den var ansiktet mitt. 

Slik startet reisen min med å utforske og finne mitt sanne uttrykk, samt i å tørre å uttrykke det til verden. Ikke for å bli mindre snill, men for å bli sannere, for å ha det bedre med meg selv, for ikke å sitte alene i det som er vanskelig. For å ta opp mer plass med mitt behov for støtte når jeg bærer mye ansvar, sjonglerer mange baller og støtter andre. For å føle meg trygg i å være den jeg faktisk er og bygge relasjoner og muligheter derfra.

Det kjennes bare mer og mer magisk ut for hvert modige steg jeg går mot den sårbare sannheten som bor i meg. Når jeg slipper verden inn i det som faktisk skjer på innsiden. For meg er det friheten jeg alltid har lengtet etter.

Therese Fallentin in conversation

MSc Management Science from Brussels. Over ten years in organisation, strategy and human dynamics. Five years of facilitation, podcasting and deep conversations about what we usually don't say out loud at work.

I know what it is to stand in it. To carry others' expectations. To talk around the hard thing instead of about it. To over-accommodate, even in your own meetings. That's not where anyone needs to stay — and that's where much of my work begins.

“I'm not here to save anyone. I'm here to help people find their own power.”

The second awakening

When the body said the word I didn't want to hear.

After Brussels came a second turning point — quieter, but stronger. I had learned to tell the truth in words, but my body had its own truth I was still ignoring. It came as burnout, as relationships that crashed, as an unrest I couldn't think my way out of. It was the body that finally said stop — because I hadn't.

It opened a completely different door: nervous system, somatics, breath, intuition, pleasure, boundaries, taking up space in my own life. Learning to trust the body's compass — not only the head's analysis. It wasn't an escape from the strategic; it was what made the strategic bearable.

It's also why I believe so strongly in cheer culture — in workplaces and relationships where the people around you are curious about what you actually want, where you want to go, and help you in that direction. Rather than pushing you where they want you to go. I'm convinced many workplaces would keep their people longer and get to enjoy their talent if they could see, be curious about and meet their employees' needs and engagement.

That's where I work from today — in the in-between of the strategic and the somatic, of word and body, of brave and gentle.

Two movements

My work moves in two directions that belong together.

One track is about moving from words to action — the brave thing that needs saying, the clear thing that needs doing. The other is about coming home to the body — the true thing that needs to be felt, the living thing that wants to be lived. For me it's the same journey seen from two sides: one from the outside in, the other from the inside out. Both are about ceasing to hide.

Therese laughing
Wildflower meadow
Therese on coastal rock
Sea and evening light
Therese at a festival
Texture in bark

Between Brussels strategy and mountain hikes in Norway — same human.

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