Meet Jen Berlingo | Midlife Coach, Licensed Counselor, Art Therapist, Reiki Master, Author, + Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jen Berlingo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jen, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Ever since I was a little kid, I knew I wanted to be an artist and a writer. I’ve always had a strong drive toward self-expression and communicating my inner experience outwardly. Having creative self-expression as a key part of my vocation has always been the only truly sustainable option for me. As a multipassionate creator, I am a midlife coach, a licensed counselor, an art therapist, a Reiki master, a visual artist, and author of the award-winning book, Midlife Emergence: Free Your Inner Fire. I engage in self-expression not only for my own healing, but also to help validate and normalize the feelings of others, as well as to inspire others to tell their own stories. I hope to be a stand for creative expression as a path to healing and personal growth, to deeper self-awareness, to authentic connection, and to spirit.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’d love to tell you more about the work I’m doing in the world and how I arrived at the way I offer my services. I understand firsthand what it’s like to arrive at a threshold where it may feel nearly impossible to choose between the safety and familiarity of the life you’ve created and the seductive allure of evolving beyond others’ expectations and aligning with your innately beautiful truths. When you admit to yourself that you’re not living in full authenticity and in full bloom, that fiery inner call becomes hard to ignore. Most of us have no roadmaps, models, or cheerleaders helping us to unfurl into our most expansive way of being in the world. Therefore, we are lulled into staying in our sleepy, stagnant homeostases because it is too difficult to face the voice inside us that perpetually wonders, “Is this all there is?”

I’ve been there. As I’ve been working to realign to my own integrity, I became a cartographer, charting the course, marking the waypoints, pinpointing the universal signposts along the journey. I did this so others wouldn’t need to walk the path alone. In the midst of my own messy, transformative passage in my forties, I wrote about my journey and offered bits of wisdom and guidance to accompany others through theirs via my teaching memoir, Midlife Emergence, and I pivoted my career as a psychotherapist to become a coach for women and gender expansive folks moving through the midlife passage.

Most of my coaching clients identify an unexpressed and exquisite part of themselves that is longing to be set free. It can feel difficult to acknowledge and even more daunting to act upon. They’ve done all the “right” things so far… met the expectations and created the life they “should” want, but still feel unsatisfied. They’re aware that something needs to shift, but making changes could be disruptive because the stakes feel high. As former people pleasers or recovering good girls, they’ve often sacrificed harmony with themselves in favor of harmony with others, sometimes trading authenticity for approval. They wonder, “Do I want this? Or have I just been socialized to want this?” They come to me at a potent moment when they’re awakened by a persistent inner call to seek what is missing from the life they’ve so carefully constructed, even if it means deserting social prescriptions and others’ expectations. 

My debut book, Midlife Emergence: Free Your Inner Fire, was published in April 2023. It is a revelatory memoir and an inviting guidebook; it is a compassionate companion that belongs on the bedside table of every woman who is burning to reclaim powerful parts of herself that social conditioning has locked away. Midlife doesn’t need to be a crisis or an emergency—rather, it’s an emergence, an opportunity to make those beautiful, unexpressed facets shamelessly visible.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Unlike most Boulderites, I’m not the most outdoorsy person, but I love that Boulder still has so much to offer! I love to take visitors to beautiful spots like Artist’s Point and Chautauqua. The dining hall at Chautauqua is a sweet place to have brunch out on the patio, and breakfast at Snooze is also a hit. I love lunches or dinners at the Dushanbe Teahouse, SALT, the Rio, Leaf, River + Woods, Pizzaria Alberico, The Kitchen Upstairs, and food halls like Avanti and Rosetta Hall. It’s always fun to wander the Pearl Street Mall, stopping for a unique drink or altitude support via oxygen therapy at Tonic Alchemy Lounge or gelato at Gelato Boy. And, of course, we have to peruse the Boulder Bookstore — my favorite, and the spot where I had a fun celebration when my book was published. I’m a writer who gets inspiration while writing in cafes. A few local places where I love to write while sipping a spicy chai with oat milk are Beleza, Boxcar, and The Laughing Goat.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to shout out Naropa University, where I earned my Masters degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology and Art Therapy nearly two decades ago. Their program is so unique in that it is rooted in Shambhala Buddhist mindfulness practices and also in experiential learning. Our mentors taught us the importance of nurturing the therapist-self and the artist-self first, so that we could sustain our careers in caring for others.

Website: https://jenberlingo.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenberlingo/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenberlingo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenberlingotherapy/

Image Credits
Headshots by Jewel Afflerbaugh