About Me & My Big Why
I can come across as an oddball, a square peg in a round hole, especially when you scratch beneath the surface.
I don’t fit in a box. On applications, questionnaires, or surveys, I often end up checking “all of the above” or “none of the above”.
I’m multiracial, multilingual, multicultural, multiethnic, multidimensional, multitalented, multidisciplinary, multiskilled, and multifaceted. Many other aspects of my rainbow identity can't be pinned down. They are kaleisdoscopic, dynamic, and always evolving. I love that they have complex and paradoxical upsides and downsides just like yours.
I am an avid traveler and have lived in multiple countries, starting at age 6 with just my mother, a school teacher and principal, who homeschooled me that year.
I think out of the box, color outside the lines, and read between the lines. I transcend the limits of my ego self on a daily basis in reverie and meditation.

My life path number is 11 - master healer. My spiritual ringmaster is Rainbow Crystal Woman. She is a shapeshifting alchemist who has over the decades rounded up a dream team of advisors and guides to assist me.
My main animal spirit guide is the leatherback sea turtle, the last living dinosaur, also a very peculiar oddity in terms of taxonomy due to its huge size (2,200 lbs), appearance (soft shell), warm-bloodedness, and many other unique and atypical physiological characteristics.
Leatherbacks can dive as deep 4,000 ft and swim 10,000 miles per year, roaming the seas around every continent, deeper and faster than most marine animals and reptiles. Every two years, female leatherbacks intuitively find their way home. They lay their eggs on the same beach they were born, the beaches of my native Suriname being their largest nesting grounds.
Their existence and survival depend entirely on the human balance between yin and yang energies and our success in course-correcting our own overheating and burnout propensities. An overheated and dangerously imbalanced planet could lead to the extinction of this remarkably resilient and gritty species – the sex of ancient leatherbacks is determined by the temperature of the sand during egg incubation, where warmer incubation temperatures produce females and cooler temperatures produce males.
I'm immensely humbled by all that this non-binary, two-spirited guide has taught me since childhood, including how to find my way home to my authentic whole self with the help of the ocean waves, stars, and the moon. I honor, thank, fortify, and celebrate their powerful and majestic presence and guidance in my life every day.
Needless to say, I don’t know how to dapple.
I’m a deep-diver and get to the bottom of every issue, block, or challenge that holds me or my clients back. For instance, I went from being a highly sensitive, selectively mute teen to becoming a WomanSpeak transformational leader, an expert guest on many podcasts, and a soundbite generating queen.
In most contexts, my Enneagram type 4 (big-picture creative, individualist, intuitive empath) and my wing type 5 (detail-oriented, fact-driven, analytical investigator) super powers are my mojo. In a few others, they can and have gotten me in trouble – such as when my seasoned, about-to-retire clinical supervisor decided that I had authority issues for trusting my rookie intuition more than her old-school interventions some 27 years ago (click here for the full story in my memoir, Amazon Wisdom Keeper).
This marked the birth of Soul Authority (click here for info on my Soul Authority book) even though I was certain at the time that standing my ground was going to drive my mental health career 6 ft under the ground 🪦☠️.
Thanks to my diligent, decades-long practice, I’ve since then integrated my gifts and outgrown many of my blindspots and blocks – I now pace myself with grace and space and skillfully wield my clarity and multipotentiality like a double-edged sword.
If I can do it, so can you.
Ah yes, for my MBTI devotees, I seamlessly weave personality tests, Jungian archetypes, ancestral, spirit and animal guides, or whatever system you have into the Soul Authority framework to help you Own your Natural Genius Zone® in ways that most resonate with you. I’m a strong XNFX diplomat (the mediator, advocate, protagonist, and the campaigner) which correlates with Enneagram type 2 – the generous giver – and type 7 – the enthusiastic visionary. This part of me loves to champion my clients’ growth and transformations, no matter how big or small.
Sooo . . . this is hard-earned 2025 me in a nut 🌰 shell.
Key take-away: THERE'S NO TRADE-OFF WHEN WORKING WITH ME.
I’ve been told by many clients that the usual trade-off between having to choose between breadth vs depth or the generalist vs the specialist stops with my one-stop (NOT one-size-fits-all!) Soul Authority self-mastery system.
I concur. 30+ years of professional experience helping hundreds of clients Heal Love Lead with Soul Authority® in one form or another has been mutually rewarding and fulfilling. Through teaching my methods, I also learned (from them and my guides) how to fully Own my Natural Genius Zone®.
In sum, if you’re a sensitive and intuitive feeler, healer, or leader who also doesn’t fit in a box, reads between the lines, thinks outside of the box, and colors outside of the lines (or yearns to but they’re afraid because there is so much at stake and we do appear a bit nutty when we start to expand and embrace our intense feelings and inner Creator).
I may be the teacher you're ready for now. I believe that in today's world, a bit of mental dis-order is an unavoidable stepping stone on the path to greater spiritual order. If you agree, make sure to schedule a Soul Strategy call below.
I am a Jane of all trades AND a master in ALL the ones mentioned here:
Please scroll to bottom of the page for my professional experiences in fine print if you prefer words over images.


Curious but feel foggy or scattered and can't pinpoint who or what threw a wrench in your life plans? No worries. We start at whatever entry-point feels natural. It's my job to guide you there.
Here are some examples from clients explaining how I guided them into the transformational flow even when they weren’t totally in the know.
Sometimes 1 session was enough to uproot a deep pattern and we ended up covering a lot of ground. Other times, one domain was what needed our attention and focus from beginning to end.
"Loraine is the real deal, a one-of-a-kind, true healer. She is immensely gifted and overall just radiates with caring energy. As a writer working on a memoir about loss, trauma and transformation, Loraine and her Soul Authority coaching were instrumental in helping me to clearly see old wounds and patterns and to overcome writer’s block. I was able to write from a more grounded, authentic, and empowered place so that my memoir can truly help others know they are not alone. I was also able to deepen my own healing and personal growth journey along the way.
To say that she has saved my life in many ways is an understatement. As she would say, she helped me tap into my own abilities to not only save myself but move in energetic upward shifts toward positivity, power, peace and happiness, fulfillment in life, work and all relationships in ways that I could never have imagined."
Sharline Chiang, MS, Writer, Editor, Publicist, Podcast Co-Host - Democracy in Color


"Loraine is a drummer on a dense trail clearing the way for other to safely follow with courage and relief. She is someone I fully trust. She is an exceptionally wise and an extremely effective coach and her international background enriches and grounds her guidance in an integrative and holistic worldview.
Personally, I love that her gifts go beyond the usual coaching focused on a single issue - e.g., a relationship, career, health, or spiritual – and that she brings multidimensional insight and a rich and practical toolkit for unraveling underlying patterns. This creates transformative and deeply healing mind shifts for navigating life’s landscape with a truer connection and grounding within my authentic self and inner wisdom."
Kate Vogt, Yogic philosophy Teacher and Author of Mala of the Heart -108 Sacred Poems
"Loraine’s soul authority framework has allowed me to find the courage to identify with my true feelings and personhood by beginning with habits that I didn’t realize I used to make myself palatable to those around me. Loraine helped me identify small habits that I used to hide myself, such as the way that I used “But I don’t know” as filler and ‘soft landing’ for my opinions and feelings.
From here, I was able to take action and intentionally take a stand for myself with a small shift in word choice from working to omitting “I don’t know” when I would share my experience or problems. It transformed the way I think about myself because I didn’t realize how this seemingly unconscious word choice stems from a desire to be agreeable.
These small habits we’ve turned around have allowed me to show up as the confident person who has opinions and feelings that matter and are worth standing behind.
It's amazing that one bold baby step started to unwind a whole spiral of notable shifts of change and transformation in my relationships with my family of origin, with friends and my mentor, around career self-advocacy and development, in the dating scene, and around self care in terms of my sleeping and eating patterns."
UCB Graduate student, Biology PhD candidate


"Cultivating a vibrant tree sanctuary with spirit guides and ancestors has helped me to navigate some significant life changes with clarity, grace, and peace, pertaining to a very tumultuous romantic relationship and difficult patterns with family members. I also got clearer on my soul authority, purpose, and understanding of power, thanks to my tree and animal guides, which enhanced my effectiveness as a leader in the boardroom, at networking events or job talks, during team meetings or in writing. I feel even more in my integrity and in greater service to the global community without compromising connection to myself and my inner guidance.”
Alyssa Newman, Responsible Minerals Sourcing manager, Film Producer and Director, and Board Member of Renewable Energy & Social Justice Nonprofits
From my initial consultation with Dr. Van Tuyl, I knew that I would be able to flourish and prosper as a highly sensitive individual under her guidance and teachings. She has helped me immensely in identifying blind spots that I was unable to recognize in myself.
During moments of high emotional distress, Dr. Van Tuyl has been there not only to help soothe and heal the wounds but also to provide me with further tools to care for myself emotionally and spiritually outside of her direct care.
I experienced intergenerational trauma and domestic turbulence that led to a longstanding pattern of losing myself in romantic relationships and overcompensating with high achievements and an overwhelming pressure to succeed. As a result of the healing, I’ve learned to further trust my intuitive gifts and end the traumatic intergenerational patterns.
I have a better relationship with my parents, I can still be fully functional while learning to set limits that used to terrify me, and simultaneously process and heal wounds that once felt impossible to soothe. We used amazing transformative meditations that led to powerful soul retrievals from my past childhood traumas, and I was able to finally heal pieces of my child self that needed rescuing. I feel empowered, free, and strong, thanks to the tools Dr. Van Tuyl has provided me with to thrive in my everyday life.
UCB Undergraduate student, Physics


As someone diagnosed with ADHD, my biggest block is self-doubt and feeling self-conscious and insecure. I often imagine the worst and compare myself to others to the point of having internalized external standards that often confuse me. I can’t tell sometimes who I truly am and what I need on an authentically self love level or what society has expected from me in promise of success, happiness, and peace.
No matter what my loved ones say, I tend not to believe the positive and fish for confirmation of the negative. This has created a self-fulfilling prophecy where I and others feel trapped in a frustrating vicious cycle that leads to conflict, inabilty to focus and do well, and more self-doubt. Loraine uses a whiteboard, diagrams, task lists, and scheduling grids to help me to see the holes in my thought-patterns, learn new grounding, executive functioning, and time-management techniques, and advocate for myself with courage and commitment.
UCB Undergraduate student, Psychology major


My professional roles and training over a span of 30+ years in the:
HEAL DOMAIN
Licensed clinical psychologist (integrative and life span focus - clients ages 5 -75 yrs), play, sandtray, and expressive arts child psychologist, executive functioning in higher education guide, trauma and regression therapist, sexual assault campus violence prevention specialist, shamanic eco-psychologist, Depth Hypnosis practitioner, ordained minister, celebration of life ceremonialist, new beginnings retreat leader, meditation teacher, Tai Chi instructor, 20+ years Bikram Yoga practitioner, health & nutrition enthusiast, personal finance counselor, Dow Janes graduate, pre–post menopause guide, psychology researcher, and COPE (capable of practically everything) group leader.
LOVE DOMAIN
Parenting and couples group facilitator, diversity program developer, multicultural immersion class lecturer, conflict resolution group facilitator (police, BIPOC and queer groups, university students, staff, administrators, residence advisors, and church congregations), volunteer recruiter and trainer, events coordinator, community outreach liason, MBTI-guided team builder, sex and intimacy guide, grief counselor, Heal Love Lead with Soul Authority® and Own your Natural Genius Zone® mastermind creator and leader, Space Clearing coordinator of teams of 3-15 practitioners, clearing energy in homes, organizations, private practices, government buildings, hospitals, social services and animal welfare agencies and offering practical guidance to management and staff.
LEAD DOMAIN
Social services administration and management trainee (2 yrs), career counselor and coach (assist with career transitions, job search, resume and cover letter writing, interview role plays, job talks, venture capital pitches, key note talks, and research presentations for bachelor or PhD, military officer or enlisted personnel, entry or executive levels), job placement investigator, admissions committee member, WomanSpeak Circle leader, clinical supervisor practicum and pre-doctoral interns, Executive Leadership Development mentor (world-wide, virtual group instruction), writing mentor (dissertations, how-to or academic papers, journal articles, and books, memoirs), Rover side-hustler (boarding dogs), passion projects, soul purpose work, side gigs, peak performance, and private practice coach.
CLICK HERE FOR PROFESSIONAL BIO

MAKING ME-TIME
is a daily SELF-CARE choice that can become as second-nature as brushing teeth or remain as hard as remembering to breathe slowly.
Pursuing your passions and putting your needs and dreams on the front-burner can feel scary.
But taking the first baby step is also very exciting and will hands down benefit you AND everyone around you.
I've helped hundreds of sensitive and creative feelers, healers, and leaders transform burnout, self-doubt, and feeling low into being on fire and in the flow.
I'd love to show you how to care more and carry less so you too can enjoy devoting more time and energy on what feeds your soul. That's what the world needs now.
YOU owning your natural GENIUS ZONE.
*FINE PRINT PROMISE: if you're intrigued by what you've read so far, I'm so certain that I can help you that I'll offer you a second free session if you feel like the first one was a doozy.
Cross my heart.
SCHEDULE A SOUL STRATEGY SESSIONRe-TREE-T© in a Soul Sanctuary.
Set up an inner soul sanctuary with the help of a diagram and a meditation read from my book. Learn how to regulate emotional overwhelm by balancing and aligning your mind, body, and spirit with my elemental AIR, FIRE, EARTH, and WATER guides.