Jacqueline Akeret blends somatic coaching and trauma education to support resilience

Jacqueline Akeret, founder of Inner Balance Coaching and Wellness in Galloway, New Jersey, is using somatic coaching and nervous system education to help people move from survival mode toward resilience and self-trust. Her work spans one-to-one coaching, workshops, and programs for individuals, schools, and organizations.

Why it matters: - Jacqueline Akeret’s work targets trauma recovery, emotional regulation, and nervous system awareness, areas that can affect relationships, learning, and day-to-day functioning. - Her coaching approach is designed to help people recovering from abuse, chronic stress, and major life transitions build tools for safety, confidence, and self-trust. - The model also aims to bring trauma-informed support into schools, workplaces, and communities, where access is often limited.

What happened: - Influential Women featured Jacqueline Akeret, founder of Inner Balance Coaching and Wellness in Galloway, New Jersey. - Akeret is a Certified Mental Wellbeing Practitioner and somatic trauma-informed coach, with additional credentials in narcissistic abuse, domestic abuse and coercive control, and trauma-informed positive psychology. - She is also a partner with The Mental Wellbeing Company in the United Kingdom. - Akeret works with individuals, families, schools, and organizations. - Her services include one-to-one coaching, educational workshops, and community-based programs.

The details: - Akeret’s background includes financial systems accounting and more than 25 years in education. - Her practice combines analytical experience, teaching experience, professional training, and lived experience. - She uses somatic and embodied practices to help clients notice nervous system patterns and improve regulation. - Her framework includes the “Traffic Lights of Tolerance” and parts-informed work. - Akeret said her work focuses on helping people understand the connection between trauma, the nervous system, and emotional wellbeing. - She said healing is about becoming stronger, wiser, and more connected to the self, not returning to a former version of life. - Her work is especially focused on people recovering from narcissistic abuse and coercive control. - She provides support without judgment or labeling and centers safety, confidence, and trust in oneself. - Akeret said her own healing journey included divorce, “extreme betrayal after forty years,” and narcissistic abuse. - As an educator, she introduced nervous system tools into classroom settings to help students improve emotional regulation and self-awareness. - Her mission continues through Inner Balance Coaching and Wellness, which she uses to help people and organizations create more sustainable and supportive environments. - A defining part of her personal transformation was realizing that she mattered, her needs mattered, and her life had value.

Between the lines: - Akeret’s story reflects a broader shift toward trauma-informed care that focuses not only on events, but on how the body and nervous system respond over time. - Her emphasis on prevention, regulation, and capacity-building suggests a practical model for people who may not be ready for traditional talk-based support alone. - Her comments about limited resources in schools and community settings point to a demand problem as much as a program-design problem. - The focus on faith, compassion, and service gives the work a values-driven foundation that extends beyond clinical language.

What's next: - Akeret plans to keep expanding her work through coaching, education, workshops, and organizational support. - She sees growing opportunity as more people and institutions recognize the link between behavior, emotional health, and nervous system regulation. - She wants trauma-informed approaches to help strengthen relationships, improve well-being, and interrupt cycles of trauma across generations. - Learn more through her Influential Women profile or Inner Balance Coaching and Wellness.

The bottom line: - Akeret is positioning trauma education and somatic coaching as practical tools for resilience, especially for people and systems looking for safer, more grounded ways to support healing.