Nick Prefontaine is the Founder and CEO of Common Goal, a coaching company providing people with support and tools to reach their potential. He is also a 3x bestselling author and was named a top motivational speaker in 2022 by Yahoo Finance. Using his proprietary STEP system, Nick helps individuals overcome their trauma.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [1:22] How a snowboarding accident influenced Nick Prefontaine to become a trauma coach
- [7:58] Learning how to speak again: the stages of Nick’s recovery
- [12:07] What is the STEP system for recovery?
- [21:20] Nick’s experience navigating voice challenges
- [30:02] Nick explains how he helps people work through trauma
- [32:35] From real estate investor to motivational speaker: Nick’s career journey
- [37:16] Mindset shifts following two separate traumas
- [41:55] The importance of seeking support to navigate trauma
In this episode…
When faced with a terrifying ordeal, it can be arduous to continue fighting. With the right support, you can shift your mindset and overcome trauma with grace. How did a motivational speaker recover from multiple traumas to discover his calling?
At just 14 years old, Nick Prefontaine sustained a traumatic brain injury following a snowboarding accident. He received speech and physical therapy to relearn how to walk, talk, and swallow. After making a full recovery, he began experiencing tension in his vocal cords, impacting his speech once again. Through countless doctors, botox injections, and more speech therapy, Nick nearly lost hope, but after speaking at events and establishing a speaker persona, he developed a method to help others overcome their trauma. No matter what you’re facing in life — when you have a support system, trust those guiding you through the process, cultivate the energy to recover, and persevere through setbacks, you can alter your mindset to persist through anything.
In this episode of EspecIallY “SpeciAl” SpeeCh?!, Jennifer Branchini and Ama Teasdel talk with Nick Prefontaine, the Founder and CEO of Common Goal, about how he persevered through trauma. Nick shares how he became a trauma coach, the mindset that saved him during his brain injury, and the stages of his recovery.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
- Jennifer Branchini on LinkedIn
- District Speech & Language Therapy
- Ama Teasdel on LinkedIn
- Jennifer Gober on LinkedIn
- Nick Prefontaine: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook
- Free STEP System
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by District Speech & Language Therapy, SnapHappy Photos, and Speechfully.
District Speech & Language Therapy’s team of licensed speech-language pathologists diagnose and treat communication disorders, while Speechfully offers digital marketing and practice management solutions for speech-language pathology clinics. Both companies were founded by Jennifer Branchini, a CCC-SLP.
SnapHappy Photos is a team of professional photographers helping individuals and organizations brand themselves and their companies.
To learn more and contact the teams, visit District Speech & Language Therapy, SnapHappy Photos, and Speechfully.