Love YOU: Small Changes to Quiet the Gremlins and Tame Those Unhealthy Habits, Behaviors, and Addictions

Gena Rotas, LICSW, MSW, M.Ed. is a professional speaker and trainer, with a private psychotherapy and coaching practice where she supports the efforts of men, women, children, and families to come to know themselves better, and practice self-care and self-love. She teaches the skills and strategies of mindfulness through what she calls ＂Mindful and Compassionate Coaching.＂ With her passion for helping those with addictions, she uses the Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention Program, which has been instrumental throughout her work. She also completed a year-long certification program for Mindful Schools. The combination of education and social work has given Gena an important advantage in teaching the skills that can profoundly help people change, flourish, and thrive in life. One of Gena’s core beliefs: ＂Happiness is a Choice.＂ What we need to do is practice awareness, cultivate desire, build courage, and maintain passion towards creating joy in our lives. Her enduring message affirms that when we find peace, purpose, and enthusiasm within our own hearts, we can change the world for the better. She traveled the country working for Performance Learning Systems training teachers in the how-to skills of classroom management and positive relationships with students. She taught for many years as an adjunct instructor for graduate-level programs and was a psychotherapist with prisoners, victims of trauma and abuse, and those in recovery from addictions. Her influence as an adjustment counselor in an inner city middle school allowed her the opportunity to coach children, teachers, parents, and community leaders towards harmony and productive relationships. Through the years, she has provided teacher training and staff development programs for Massachusetts and Connecticut School Districts. Her ability to meet the needs of corporate and business training has been delivered to such organizations as MassMutual Financial and Bay State Medical Center. She has also applied the mindfulness concepts and counselor training she developed to a chain of weight loss centers in and around a number of New England cities. Gena holds a BA from Western Connecticut University, an MA from Fairfield University, and an MSW from the University of Connecticut. She is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, a Practitioner in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping, HeartMath, and certified by Mindful Schools as a practitioner in Mindfulness.