We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kameran Thompson Al-Areqi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kameran, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best advice you ever gave to a client? How did they benefit / what was the result? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

Every client that ever starts with me gets the same information in the first session. To make your marriage work, you have to have three foundational elements. 1. Commitment
When a couple is committed to each other and to their growth as a couple, no one can stop them. When a couple lacks commitment, they will sway in the wind back and forth like a dry blade of grass until eventually, they break.
2. Consistency
Couples have to create a marriage that works for them, not what works for their parents, their friends or their boss. Every couple has their own unique circumstances, values and principles. Building a strong marriage that stands the test of time has to work for the couple and be created out of a string of consistent habits. When the habits are consistently more positive than negative, so will the marriage be.
3. Communication
Healthy communication is a learned skill. Being able to communicate assertively and provide an emotionally safe space for their partner to communicate while in a negative conflict cycle will most certainly be the difference between a healthy, successful marriage and divorce. Communicating needs, expectations and boundaries will also be necessary in a peaceful marriage.

If a couple has these skills, a happy marriage will come much more easily than if not. If they don’t have them, being open to learning them will be crucial to not only having a great marriage for themselves but also in providing a good example to what a healthy marriage looks like for their children.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My story is my brand and the reason that I am so passionate about what I do.

Growing up, I wasn’t taught healthy communication styles, conflict/resolution or how to have a secure attachment style. At 23 years old, I married my high school sweetheart, had a son by 26 and was divorced at 28. I spent the next five years working on myself, raising my son on my own and searching for a career I felt truly passionate about. I had debilitating anxiety and the idea of ever finding love again was exhausting. When I finally did meet the man who would be my husband, I knew that this time had to be different. I vowed to myself that I would not be divorced again. I didn’t have a guidebook the first time around but the second time, I’d find one, create one or die trying.

At 32, I married my husband, Moe, and took a course from a life coaching group with the idea that it would help me get my life together. Did it ever! I found my career purpose in using my mess as a message. I discovered the gift I have in recognizing the potential in everything around me, including couples who believe they may be too broken to still have beauty. That’s where my coaching business was born and my mission written.

I teach couples what they, like myself and most other humans, probably didn’t learn from their parents or grandparents. I teach healthy communication, conflict resolution strategies, attachment styles, emotional intelligence and how to create a marriage that provides a great example for future generations, peace, fulfillment and love as a verb.

I am proud of what I’ve built because it is everything I didn’t have in my first marriage but knew I needed. I only work with six clients at a time so that my clients get support from me between sessions, they get full sessions that allow breakthroughs and aren’t managed by a timer or insurance underwriters. They’re treated like human beings and not a number. The program has a strong foundation of assessment, research and biblical based instruction with a tailored approach to what each individual couple needs. Clients leave every session with a tool they can start using immediately, growth work to build healthy habits with and accountability that everyone needs when they start a journey to change. I am their biggest cheerleader and also the sports coach they had in high school that says “no, this is what you did wrong. Run it again and this time, here’s how you do it differently.” Recognizing Potential isn’t like any other coaching program out there because I’m not like any other person. I’m me. My clients are just as unique. They deserve a unique approach that will get them to their goals as long as they’re willing to put in the work and trust me and each other.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Marriage is always a journey that illustrates resilience and anyone who has ever been a business owner can probably say the same.

In my marriage, my husband and I have had to endure the immigration process, career changes, loss of jobs, infertility, 3 major moves, cultural differences, aviation life, and the list goes on.

When I first started coaching, I was also a Kindergarten teacher. I was good at it. I enjoyed the kids but the job itself was absolute hell. I was miserable every day, cried going to work and coming home every single day. It wasn’t what I was meant to do but I was making peanuts as a coach. Honestly, there were so many times where my husband sat me down and said “look, I get that you like this coaching thing but it’s not bringing in enough money to justify the time you’re pouring into it.” We had a ridiculous number of arguments around that. I knew it was my purpose and had enough faith to know that eventually, it would be worth it. He wasn’t so sure. All he saw was that I was exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally every single day. Being a pilot wife while taking care of one child, pregnant with our second and teaching all day every day was absolutely taking a toll on my mental and physical health.

After Covid and the baby being born, I told him that was it. I wasn’t going back to teaching. That was the main stressor in my life. Incredibly stupid or massively divine, while I knew I was taking a massive risk by starting out making next to nothing, giving up my teaching salary and health insurance, having no safety net, I jumped the teaching ship at the end of that year and went full-time. It definitely wasn’t overnight but a year later, my business is thriving. I have a life I’ve created according to what’s best for my mental and physical health and I’m living out my definition of success! Grateful is a complete understatement!

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

If I could go back in time, I’d take more college classes in things I was curious about and a deep dive into the subjects that truly interested me in high school more than worrying about what career was going to be the “most safe” or that would give me the American dream. Safety is never guaranteed in a profession and the American dream looks different for every person. Money isn’t always the most important attribute to a career. Time freedom, creative freedom, not being micromanaged and utilizing your God-given gifts are sometimes much more important than a salary amount. Monetizing something you’re passionate in and not having a cap on it will make you the richest, most successful person in the world.

Life lead me on the long journey to get here and while I’m grateful for the life experience as it’s what’s made me the coach I am, I would definitely choose relationship coaching again. For sure!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.recognizingpotential.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/divorce.proof.marriage
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/recognizingpotential
• Other: Podcast: www.recognizingpotential.com/podcast

Image Credits
Darcy Koerkenmeier Photography