Why I Created Rise and Reflect After 60 Years of Teaching

I have been teaching since 1965.

In 60 years I watched thousands of students walk into my classroom carrying invisible weight — anxiety, overwhelm, pressure to perform, fear of failing.

Some of them were so stressed they couldn't breathe, let alone learn.

So I opened an Alternative School inside my own home for students who couldn't survive in traditional classrooms. It was called The PowerThink Academy. There were No desks, Floor Pillows, Siberian Huskies roaming freely, Soft music playing, Breathing exercises before every lesson.

Something remarkable happened in that little school — students who had given up completely began to believe in themselves again.

That experience never left me.

Neither did the faces of the students who sat quietly in the back of my classroom trying not to cry. The ones who stayed after class just to have someone listen. The ones who needed someone to say — I see you. You matter. You can do this.

When I retired in 2025 after 60 years of teaching, people asked me what I was going to do.

I told them I wasn't finished yet.

At 83 years old I built a Website, Created a 5-Day Emotional Reset, a 24-Card Affirmation Deck, Personal Online Reset Sessions and Language Arts Tutoring — all because the students never stopped needing help. And I never stopped wanting to give it.

That's Rise and Reflect.

A Place to Breathe. A Pace to Reset. A Place to Begin Again. One step at a time. 🌿

— Bernadette LaHaie, MA

Rise and Reflect Coach

🌿riseandreflectcoach.com🌿