Meet Tabatha Marden | Emotional intelligence + Leadership Coach & Mental Health Advocate

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

Hi Tabatha, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Due to the epidemic stress and anxiety in the world being at it’s all time high, impacting people in brutal ways, I am passionate about helping people of all ages ROCK the “F” word…Feelings to thrive in times of stress. My Emotional Wellness Program called Thrive in EQ. is dedicated to empowering people to have a better relationship with their emotions, stress less, and live a happier life. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the solution! EQ is about being smarter with your feelings, it affects how we cope with stress, recognize our emotions before reacting, respond in ways that align with our values, connect with others, and how we form trusting relationships. It’s not easy and takes practice! Emotions influence our thoughts, how we feel, and behavior. Our emotions shape how we deal with the world: parenting, careers, relationships, health and happiness. When we learn to stop pushing away our difficult emotions, become aware of the benefits to feeling and honoring all emotions, even the messy, difficult ones (i.e.; sadness, guilt, fear, anger, shame etc.) face them head on, work through the discomfort of them, it’s then they don’t take over our lives. Our feelings can point us in the direction of our hurt, guide us to what we should pay attention to, but not allow fear of these difficult emotions stop us from moving forward to living out our purpose and who we desire to be. Acceptance of all our emotions is the cornerstone to resilience, thriving, and true authentic happiness. This is whole-hearted living with EQ. Personally, I had to learn how to practice parenting with EQ daily, to help and support my son when his anxiety intensified entering high school, and led to having anxiety attacks at school. With experience and research, one thing we know, helping our kids thrive in this ever-changing world, is not about fixing, fighting or trying to control their fear or anything else they might be experiencing. Rather, it’s about helping them to notice their thoughts, without judgement, reflect on them with compassion and curiosity. Then choosing courage over comfort, to navigate all emotions without fear of getting stuck in those emotions. It’s then, kids learn how to transform worry into confidence, and stress into resilience in order for them to have the skills to cope with whatever the world throws their way. In addition, modeling the behavior and becoming the person we wish for our kids to be. Most importantly, adding self-care as a priority to your do list. The saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” is true. It’s impossible to show up as our best selves, or have the energy to support others if feeling stressed, anxious, depleted and burned out. Taking care of our emotional health is just as important is taking care of your physical health. And I’m on a mission to help people do just that! I believe practicing EQ is the solution to transform your life, lead with purpose, love more, navigate emotions in healthier ways, feel connected, be in alignment in your body, mind & spirit, in order to show up with confidence in relationships, communities, families and organizations. We live in a world where people are constantly stressed, facing difficulty, and needing support and community more than ever. My Thrive in EQ program, Facebook community page is for people to come together, share struggles, wins, and provides evidenced based resources to improve in mental and emotional wellness. We are not meant to do life alone, together is better, and leads to emotional freedom in business, parenting, and in all areas of life. Through community, it makes it easier to ROCK the “F” word…Feelings!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Mental health in America is on the decline, depression and anxiety levels are on the rise, and demand for emotional wellness is needed more than ever. I am motivated to help people through coaching, wellness trainings, speaking events, workshops, EQ assessments and leadership trainings. I am most excited about how my Thrive in EQ Program supports community: Business: Leadership trainings on Emotional Wellness topics, EQ assessments for team building events, professional development (PD), new hire tools, and coaching Schools: PD trainings to help schools create an EQ culture, support mental wellness for teachers, resources to integrate Social Emotional Learning in the classroom, homes and communities. EQ meets IQ (better together) to develop the whole child. Coaches: Keynote speaker, EQ assessments, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) sessions for retreats etc. Kids/Teens: 1:1 coaching, group workshops, tools to transform stress into resilience, and strengthen Social Emotional Wellness skills. Parents: 1:1 coaching, and group community support to help better understand your child’s emotional world, and resources to raise emotionally intelligent children, strengthen your EQ, to live, work, and parent from a place of mindfulness and growth. Adults: 1:1 coaching, group community support, helping ambitious people live in emotional freedom, master their mindset, strengthen EQ, manifest your dreams, break patterns in your life that are holding you back from healing, emotional health and happiness, and gain the confidence to show up for what you really want.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would encourage visitors to get out in nature to hike or bike ride any of our beautiful mountains such as Squaw Peak, Camelback or Thunderbird Park. Stay at the CIVANA Wellness Resort & Spa. Ensuring a wonderful stress free stay, Experience the free Wellness amenities, such as, the Spa, classes for meditation, breathing, Yoga and Sound Bowl After, you can enjoy Tequila flights and tacos at the restaurant. They accommodate all dietary allergies. Sedona is just a few hours away from us and our go to spot to take family and friends. Spending a day or few nights in a cabin at Oak Creek Terrace Resort, to hike, swim in the creek, and have a picnic near the creek is fun. Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing. Besides the health benefits, it’s something fun and interactive people can do together, build connection and make memorable experiences.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Emotional Wellness Program was inspired by my son Jesse, his strength and inner work to rise out of adversity from anxiety. Step into his values to live the life he wants to build. I am most proud of his empathy, resilience and leadership skills he brings to his family and spreads to the world. As he grows and masters EQ, he will change lives and the world for the better. Jesse makes my heart burst with love every day! Work experience doing speech therapy in schools, my students are amazing and model bravery and courage, through strengthening their social emotional wellness skills, they are able to deal with pressure from school, anxiety, friends, grades, and life in general. My two daughters Niquey and Eme, and son Eli. They are my biggest cheerleaders in my work, and go out of their way to attend all my speaking events, trainings and workshops. When stress feels heavy, they are my motivation, my why and purpose to do the hard inner work daily to live my life healthy physically and mentally. Even through the emotional roller coaster rides life throws our way. My biggest supporter in life is my husband, Mick. If permitted, stress and anxiety has the power to wipe out hope, relationships, and joy. It can also be a catalyst for couples to come together. When my son was struggling with anxiety, we found out a lot of his symptoms were due to being deficient in vitamins, highly sensitive to most foods he was eating, and anxiety driven by striving for excellence. After discovering the root, Mick helped me in my hardest parenting moments when fear and stress took over. Feeding my brain with toxic negative thoughts, overwhelmed by “mom guilt” and blaming myself for all my kid’s struggles. I leaned on the love and compassion of my husband. Mick is truly my calm in the storms, and makes life fun in raising 4 kiddos together. As I worked to get emotionally fit, through journaling, mindset strategies, emotional freedom technique, investing in EQ and anxiety personal development courses, certifications, from Six Seconds, The EQ Network. I gained the knowledge and skills to live a Emotional Wellness lifestyle and support others to do the same. I now can show up with confidence as the wife, mom, business owner and women as I desire to be.

Website: Tabatha Marden: https://tabathamarden.com/

Instagram: Tabmarden: https://www.instagram.com/tabmarden/

Linkedin: Tabatha Marden: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tabatha-marden-83223a90

Facebook: Tabatha Marden: https://www.facebook.com/Tabatha-Marden-323757688415527

Image Credits
Kathy Cole and Brooke Allison Photography