Meet Rachael LeBlond, Certified Wellness Coach

I started New Dawn Wellness to help people like you—juggling a lot while trying to enjoy life to the fullest—get clear on your wellness goals in order to show up fully through whatever life throws at you. Because when you're feeling your best, it radiates. My mission as a wellness coach is to help support people like you so you can feel more self-assured, balanced, and at ease.

I started because, like you, I've been through it with the work/life balance struggle. I spent a couple decades in academic publishing and it felt noble having a hand in spreading ideas and information and supporting the learning process. But after several years hunching over a computer, rushing to meetings, eating mindlessly between calls, enduring a monster commute, and letting stress get the better of me, I decided to do something about it. I'd been considering taking a yoga teacher training for many years hoping to get a better handle on feeling more balanced through mindfulness, and I finally signed up.

Once trained and teaching a couple times a week, I finally had a creative outlet grounded in mindfulness, movement, and community that helped offset the stagnation and stress of my 9-to-5. And wow wow (yes, two wows) did that feel like a nourishing change of pace. I felt like an active agent of change in my own life. I felt like I was making a difference in my community, using my own unique talents, and even showing up with a clearer head space at work. It felt like the triumphant fist-pump moment at the end of Breakfast Club.

Nearly another decade and a pandemic later, I felt a nudge that my time and energy could be better aligned with my values, skills, and interests. The heavier the world started to feel, the more I felt called to support people through their own stress, daily pressures, and imbalance. I heeded the call for another shift and took the Health and Well-Being Coach training with Duke Health. Now as a Duke-Health certified wellness coach, I use practical methods and skills grounded in neuroscience to help people like you set personal-values-based goals and start moving towards them. I’m specialized in stress management coaching so that I can support you on your path to feeling more balanced amid your big, full life. I aim to help you get to your very own triumphant fist-pump moment!