As part of this third focus area, Classique, LLC organized the first international conference on Moving Beyond Trauma: Building Resilience™ in 2011.  Higher Level, LLC brought a special awareness to that conference with a workshop on Why It’s Different for Women.  Trauma is not confined to victims of war, rape, and natural disasters. Professional athletes and the women in their lives often suffer trauma when a player is suddenly hurt, traded, cut, financially devastated, or repeatedly overwhelmed. It is a kind of mental and emotional compression trauma; and each pro sports team employs someone in charge of player development whose job includes helping players find healthy options to decompress and succeed in their new environment.

However, judging from the spate of news reports about players’ inappropriate off-field behavior¹, the mounting player arrest statistics², and the “I-wish-I-knew-then” stories³ from veteran and former players, it seems there is something significant missing from the menu of player support services.

In 2013 Harry Swayne, director of player development for the Baltimore Ravens, was cited as the go-to model for player development.⁴ He offers excellent off-field programming which he describes as “proactive” in attempting to get “out in front of some cloudy decisions before they even get an opportunity to make a bad choice.”⁵ Nevertheless, his club went on to have the highest arrest record in the NFL within a 13 month period.⁶  This unfortunate dichotomy is partly explained in Swayne’s observation about himself and his fellow player development directors:  “One thing we are not is behaviorists.”⁵  Consequently, they are not prepared to coach players in mastering successful off-field behaviors.

Marilyn J. Lewis, founder of Higher Level, LLC, is a behaviorist.  She is an educational psychologist and a registered psychotherapist who specializes in human development – particularly within the context of business, leadership, and cultural competence.  As such, she takes a person-centered approach to holistic change management, life management, strategic planning, and effective communication.  She applies this expertise with adult education and effective group dynamics not only in coaching individual clients, but also in consulting with families and organizations to manage growth and transition.

Building on the formidable expertise of its two parent companies and their founders, ARD Coaching also works with an array of experts to provide a full slate of education and support services from counseling to financial planning to physical relaxation equipment.  ARD Coaching supplements proven techniques and customized guidance with actual tools that players can use. As a result, ARD Coaching is in a unique position to help players and their families master their new culture and develop the transferable skills and resilience to move beyond the trauma that often accompanies their pressure-cooker lives.

Although each of the three principals on ARD’s governing Board brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this endeavor, the abbreviated profiles presented here highlight only a few of their contributions that are critical to the mission and methods of ARD and those we serve.