Experiences

Meet Lisa

Lisa

Lisa's core passion is in human development and learning across the lifespan. With a Master's in Educational Psychology and experience as an Educational Therapist, she is skilled at synthesizing observation and assessment information, identifying assets to support learning, and collaboratively designing individual plans. Her goal is to improve overall flourishing throughout life, with a commitment to more joyful experiences in learning, living, and work.

She believes that every person's unique strengths and experiences contribute to their own valuable funds of knowledge. These unique strengths are the keys to building lasting change within each of us and within our own families, communities, and world.

Lisa enjoys traveling, going to concerts, cycling, hiking, and spending as much time as possible outdoors with family and friends. As a lifelong learner to the core, you can often find her taking a class, exploring new venues, or learning from interesting and inspiring people wherever she goes.

Recent Work

Lisa works with private/public schools and community organizations to strengthen learning and develop plans for continued growth. She works to ensure enrichment/ support services, provides collaborative guidance with strengthening a vision/purpose, supports development of meaningful observation and assessments, and works to bridge understandings throughout the community. Lisa enjoys working with organizations, families and individuals to build collaborative learning solutions that strengthen overall flourishing throughout life and vocation.

Previous experiences include working in private practice as an Educational Therapist and in public/private schools as an Intervention Specialist. Lisa has enjoyed working with elder care and other community organizations as well as with Grand Valley State University and Brush Development on a multiyear research study through a grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The research examined the effect of salient cues with and without spaced retrieval education on wayfinding ability in older adults experiencing mild cognitive impairment and wayfinding deficits in long term care communities.

Professional Experiences and Life's Work

  • Master's in Educational Psychology studying human learning and development across the lifespan
  • Association Montessori International (AMI) diploma and Montessori for Dementia and Ageing Practitioner Certificate
  • Consultant, Educational Therapist, private/public sector educational professional
  • Intervention Specialist, Special Education K-12, public and private, specialized support for children and adults with learning differences
    • Multisensory Structured Language Training (IDA/CERI and IMSE), Wilson Language Level I, Lindamood-Bell program training, Reading Endorsement

Pursuing a Purpose: The start of "Crebala"

Crebala Learning was established in 2017, after many years of anticipating and planning. The name "Crebala" actually started as a little made-up motto that Lisa and her husband often shared when life presented challenges or they needed to move in a more purposeful direction. "Crebala" was something they'd say as a reminder to "create balance" in a situation, their work, or lives. For years, Lisa noticed how the challenges that clients faced impacted their self-concepts, beliefs and future aspirations. Encouraging these individuals was deeply rewarding work, while also heartbreaking at times due to constraints. Lisa kept envisioning a way to create greater balance for these learners, especially when faced with challenges. She also became passionate about altering some of the constraints and removing the obstacles to success. Crebala Learning began as a step towards building holistic support from the ground up and strengthening human flourishing throughout life.

Lisa had often referred to this as her "little twenty-year dream," bringing her passions and life's work together more completely, merging “soul and role” as Parker J. Palmer describes. She's grateful that this work has created a way to weave together a love of learning and an enduring belief in everyone's ability to strengthen opportunities throughout life.

"Daily learning alongside others is absolutely my most favorite thing to do and I'm just really grateful to have found this simple joy in life. Thank you for joining me on this adventure and for sharing the gifts of joy, purpose, and learning together!"