Testimonials

School Testimonials:

“Michelle has an extremely gentle teaching style that is very effective with all of the classes that I have seen her teach. She is very approachable, to adults and students. She is able to quickly establish great connections with the students in a very short time. Usually during the first or second class.  Everything that I have seen her teach is entirely defensive. None of it can be used offensively. This is a fantastic point for the families that are hesitant about letting their children be involved in self-defense.”

Greg Hyslop – Glenrosa Middle School, West Kelowna, BC

“Michelle uses her caring attitude, personal respect for youth, and self-designed program to build self-esteem, awareness, communication and reflection skills in our youth that will better prepare them for the stressful events in their lives.  It is very hands on, and engaging program that incorporates fitness development.  Michelle cares about the students and as a result is able to maximize her time with them to provide a base of confidence for all.  Students greatly enjoyed their Empowerment classes with Michelle and upon completion many expressed a desire for the program to continue longer.”

Malcolm Reid – Principal – Vernon Secondary School

“With dedication, commitment, enthusiasm and passion, Michelle has proven time and time again her ability to reach thousands of youth with anti-bullying training that empowers, inspires and leads students to greater self-esteem and confidence. She is a compassionate leader who has an exceptional understanding of the multifaceted challenges that our youth face in our current world today. I stand behind her work knowing the impact she is making is contributing to a positive and safe school environment in our communities.”

Chris Gorman – School Trustee – School District #23, Kelowna, BC

“Michelle provided her “Beautiful Inside and Out’ Program to our at-risk females ages between 14 – 18. She arranged for guest presenters to provide education and practice in the areas of skin, hair and nail care.  In prepping for the course and throughout the duration of it, I found Michelle to be collaborative, creative, dependable, hard-working, and extremely competent.  She approached our students with good humour, empathy and a tremendous amount of compassion.  At-risk youth can be extremely reluctant and resistant to work with, Michelle had no difficulty engaging with or sustaining rapport with the girls throughout the week. Highly recommend Michelle!!”

Lori Dawson Bedard – Learning Assistance/Direct Instruction Teacher ~ Central Programs & Services – Kelowna, BC

Women’s Self-Defense Workshop Testimonials:

“Michelle is an amazing woman, sharing insights and life skills to keep us safe, and to enable us to recognize and move towards our personal power. She shares her skills and experience with passion, purpose, and dedication to helping others in a respectful, engaging, fun, and supportive way.  I highly recommend you attend her workshops and invite others too! Your life will be richer for the experience.”

Therapeutic Touch Practitioner ~ Laurie Bartley

“The participants in the YWCA Single Mothers’ group in Abbotsford were truly ‘MPowered’ by the workshop that Michelle Tremblay delivered. Michelle’s enthusiasm, charisma, and passion inspired the entire group of women to discover more about tuning in to their own personal power! With martial arts techniques wrapped within Michelle’s life-changing messages, everyone left the session feeling exhilarated and eager to learn more about the services offered through MPower Lives. As a professional who has been through a fair share of workshops, I can honestly say that this has been my favourite workshop to date. We will definitely be inviting Michelle back! ”

Nicole Bell – Facilitator, YWCA Abbotsford Single Mothers’ Group

Corporate Wellness & Staff Workshop Testimonials:

“Finding a team building activity for a diverse group can be a challenge. The MPower Health and Wellness session run by Michelle Tremblay was a massive hit with the Kashoo team. It was a great balance of play, learning, and introspection. People walked away energized and feeling a new sense of connection with their co-workers. I highly recommend, and we look forward to having Michelle back regularly.” ~Jim Secord, CEO – Kashoo Cloud Accounting

“Our team here at Vancity was looking forward to Michelle’s session once we heard about Mpower Lives and what she had in store for us. Our time with her far exceeded our expectations, as she had us energized, engaged, calm, and confident – all within the span of 30 minutes. Our self-defense session filled with positive affirmations left us feeling like a group of ninjas! It was a great team building exercise that we recommend other groups to experience since Michelle did such an amazing job!”

~ Jennifer Taylor, Branch Manager. Van-City Community Branch – Port Coquitlam

“Michelle is motivational, supportive and has a very caring attitude. Vancity Maillardville branch came to Michelle for bi-weekly yoga sessions to learn relaxation techniques and manage stress. The staff learned how to breathe, relax, take time for themselves, and nurture their body and spirit. Michelle is a phenomenal yoga instructor and person. With Michelle’s sessions, the staff feel more balanced and happy. It’s been a great way to start off our days! Thank you very much Michelle.
~Patricia Sonier – Branch Manager – Vancity Maillardville Community Branch

“Michelle has facilitated two workshops for the volunteers at Crossroads Hospice. One was for new trainees and the other was a Health and Wellness session for our volunteers during the volunteer appreciation week. I received excellent feedback from everyone who attended and many expressed that it wasn’t long enough. Her motivation along with a positive and passionate approach to sharing her knowledge and skills in an open and interactive format kept everyone engaged. She is an excellent speaker and presenter bringing lots of humour and enthusiasm to the sessions. I highly recommend Michelle for any coaching and/or teaching on the topic of behavioral types, understanding communication styles, exploring self-care strategies and identifying personal boundaries.

Michelle was very professional, well-organized and prepared when she arrived for the events and Crossroads Hospice Society benefited from her work with the volunteers. ~Sylvie Jensen – Coordinator Hospice Volunteers

Mpower workshops are engaging, informative and fun!   Our team learned valuable safety tips, we laughed and connected in a way we hadn’t before. Michelle has such a warm spirit and passion for her work.  You can’t help but love every moment. You are left with a feeling of positivity and power within yourself.  You stand a little taller and you smile!   I would highly recommend Michelle and we cant wait for her to come back. We wish we could start every day this way! ~Heather McMurtry  Access Community Therapists

“We have worked with Michelle twice now as part of management leadership development sessions. I will admit that the group initially expressed some trepidation at having “karate lessons” on the agenda. However, Michelle’s professionalism, focus and sense of humour made the sessions a smash hit! Our groups enjoyed the sessions Michelle facilitated, and I would definitely work with her again. She provides an excellent break from the usual team-building sessions, and effectively ties in important concepts related to mindfulness and confidence. Great stuff!”~Andrew Montgomerie, Director Work Safe BC Health Care & Financial Services

“Michelle has provided our staff with an informative, interactive in-service that we greatly appreciated. She is an engaging speaker who cuts right to the core regarding self care. Her open communication encourages those attending to share and listen with intent. The session moved quickly and kept participants engaged, working both mentally and physically. A surprising outcome of this in-service was a feeling of bonding with our coworkers and collective pride in the work we do. Michelle gave many golden nuggets of advice and several practical skills. She left us wanting more and we look forward to having her back again in the near future” ~ Kim Cox, Physiotherapist and Wellness Committee Member for FVCDC.
“When your colleagues go out of their way to thank the training organizer for the amazing, unique, and fun session put on by Michelle, a recommendation is absolutely a must! Michelle empowered our group in some easy to use self defence techniques, along side teaching the importance and techniques of stress relief, to assist and empower leadership and benefit all whom get the pleasure of being taught by the positive and great energy vibes Michelle possesses! ” Sarah Simpson Brynes – JCI National Training Director – Vancouver Conference
“I have got to know Michelle better during 2016 when she started to take classes in my karate dojo. Before that I attended the “Fit for Defense” course that she was co-teaching with another instructor. Michelle is a powerful speaker and motivator. She is very committed to her vision which is empowering individuals through respect, honesty, trust and compassion. She has been working hard to achieve her goals by helping others. Michelle teaches with inspiration and open heart. She is fun and loving and even though she is a very strong woman due to her karate training; she has her gentle way of teaching that is very effective when working with her students of all ages and genders.  Michelle is an excellent educator and powerful communicator. She understands what it takes to work with people and she is there to help. ~Ali Najafi – KimNik Shotokan Karate Academy; BC ” 7th Degree Black Belt Shotokan Karate – Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology and is a Certified Psychotherapist.
“Incredible!  That would be one word to describe Michelle Tremblay’s presentation of MPowered Mindfulness and Play at our recent assistant managers retreat.  Engaging, thought provoking, and practical would be a few other ways to describe our time spent with her.  We provided Michelle with the theme of our retreat and she incorporated it nicely into her session, referencing it when appropriate.  She first caught everyone’s attention when she donned her karategi (noting that she is a double black belt!) then quickly put everyone at ease with her warm and engaging personality.  Funny enough, our time with Michelle ended with a 10 minute meditation session and every single participant noted afterwards how refreshed and energized they felt….and that energy carried through to the end of our day.   I would highly recommend MPowered Lives to any company that is looking for a meaningful way to energize their teams!” ~ Peter Kobayashi Vice President, Member Experience ~ G&F Financial Group

Parents – MPower Online Programs – Children & Teens

‘Dear Michelle, I would like to sincerely thank you for the martial arts class you are offering online right now.  My 6 year old looks forward to the class each week, and is eager to participate in your class!  At the moment, I am not comfortable with in person learning, therefore the lessons online are perfect for our family.  You are able to teach effectively online, and manage to connect personally with each of the children!  I hope that you can continue offering this class for families that are looking for high quality, online lessons ~Best Wishes Tanya’
‘My 8 year old daughter really enjoyed Michelle’s Inner Ninja class taught on-line during challenging pandemic times. My daughter’s own feedback is that Michelle taught her good moves and liked all the life skills she learnt about protecting family & friends. There were many fun “ninja” exercises she learnt during the classes. We will definitely register her again in future classes” ~Paola Wakeford’
‘Thanks so much. I will certainly keep spreading the word. Excellent class. Very well rounded. I took Shotokan Karate as a child then later dabbled in Taekwondo and Jeet Kune Do. I had taught Greyson gedan barai and wrist escape a few times but never much else other than stance. It’s been years since took part and somehow they seemed the right things to begin with so it’s interesting that is where you began as well ~ Chris’

School District #43  – Recommendation Letter

‘I am writing this letter in support of the work done by Michelle Tremblay and MPower Lives in collaboration with SchoolDistrict 43. Michelle brings a valuable community empowerment lens to her work with School District 43 in our efforts to enhance mental health, physical wellness, and overall well-being to our students and staff. Through her role as program leader, instructor recruiting and retention, as well as consultant on staff development projects, she has helped our staff and students to develop stronger relationships with peers, significant adults in the community, and to themselves in a way that promotes positive mental health and overall well-being.
One significant outcome has been the surge in children taking MPower programs after school. The Afterschool time slot plays a key role in ensuring that there is an outlet for students to be physically active, connected to
others, and connected to themselves and nature. MPower’s provision of quality after school programs for Tri-Cities children has phenomenal. Together with the help of school administrators, the Do What U Luv Foundation, and the support of solid data that measures connectedness and socialemotional learning we have been able to direct the MPower programming in a manner that has increased the level of social and emotional connectedness in our community.
I also had the opportunity to work with Michelle on School District 43 staff development initiatives. Through keynoteaddresses, breakout sessions and professional development series we have created multiple outlets for staff to develop the kinds of self-regulation it requires to help children do the same. Her talks and workshops are accessible, well planned out, professionally structured and meaningful. They have helped our staff be well enough to help children thrive and contribute to building a healthy community.
MPower have helped create safe spaces for children and adults to develop supportive relationships in a supervised environment, gain self-confidence through expressing their talents, and acquire a personal sense
of competence. Such programs contribute greatly to developing happy, healthy and resilient children and teachers in the TriCities.
I hope to see Michelle and MPower continue involvement in the work on many of theprojects we currently have in progress. Anything your organization can do to support Michelle and her instructors to keep working with children and staff in the current state of community would be impactful.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 604.802.7789 or jstromgren@sd43.bc.ca
Sincerely,
Jeff Stromgren – School District 43
Coordinator, Community Connections and Healthy Living.’

 

 

Parent Camp & Birthday Party Testimonials  – Grade 4 – 6 & Grade 7 – 9

“My daughter loved the camp.  She walked away with so many great tools”

“All she could talk about was how fun and friendly everyone was”

“I wish I would have learnt this at her age, so powerful!”

“Michelle was so great, we highly recommend her teaching, very empowering”

‘It was so much fun for my son, he was so excited to come to camp everyday”

“I could see the shift in my son’s confidence”

“Michelle had great rapport with the kids, they felt safe and had fun”

“Michelle led a fabulous 11th birthday party for my daughter and 8 friends at a nearby park on the grass among the trees. The kids were all engaged from the moment Michelle introduced herself until the moment they wrapped up with a great power ninja pose – pink headbands and all! You could hear the girls laughing from a block away and they loved the games and the opportunity to have discussions around many relevant topics for their age. There was such a great vibe among them all and you could tell it really clicked for all involved. Now I cannot wait to plan a party for myself and my friends!” Karen Davies ~ Mom Extraordinaire

Child Care & DayCare Centres – Testimonials

“It was such a pleasure to have Michelle from MPower visit our centre. The children all loved her great energy as well as the dynamic martial arts moves and important confidence building atmosphere Michelle provided.We appreciate Michelle’s teaching style as she spoke about bullying, compassion, and standing up for yourself.  The children had a complete blast practicing their new learned skills and we are looking forward to Michelle returning and working with our staff team.”

Laurie CorPort Coquitlam Daycare Society

“We were lucky enough to be able to have Michelle come to our school age daycare program. Michelle was great and engaged the children with lots of different activities. The children had fun playing games and learning how to kick and punch, along with how to stay safe while using them. After the session the children felt empowered with the tools to use to protect themselves when using them, and how to notice bullying. It was a great learning experience, and one the children will not soon forget.”

Laurie Cocardon, Owner/Operator – Panda Bear Children’s Place, Coquitlam

“Thanks for coming out to our daycare center to teach the children your “Inner Ninja” class. The children loved all the activities you played with them it was both fun and educational. We had great feedback from the parents as the children had to share the experience with them too. Will have you back to teach another class in the near future.”

Terry Penner, Owner/Operator – Caring Hearts Child Care, Port Coquitlam

“I invited Michelle to carry out her innovative program during our School Age Summer Camp without truly knowing what to really expect at first. Michelle has not only excellent training and credentials along with natural ability to teach children, but she has such a positive impact on all of the children. Her caring nature makes for a safe, fun and learning environment.   Almost instantly after beginning, I knew, that children will work hard, but will also laugh and have lot of FUN.  It is a blessing to have a program willing to reach out to teach children new things to explore and expand their minds.”
Rita Langrova, Owner/Operator – Schola Bohemia Childcare Services, Port Coquitlam

“Our out of school group has such great fun time their self defense session with Michelle. We booked a 2 hour intro session and it was jam packed with lots of fun activities and games to keep the entire group engaged and enthusiastic. The favourite activity was definitely the Karate Kick exercise!!! Thanks Michelle for bringing so much fun and energy to our program.”

Shalimar  Abbas – Owner/Operator – Junior Citizens’ Out of School Care, Port Moody

“Michelle came to our center (BCCA Kids Club) to work with several of our groups between the ages of 3 to 12 years old and all of them had a wonderful experience full of plenty of movement and physicality, as well as food for thought. Children of all ages had fun releasing their inner ninjas and their “war cries” resounded in our gym amidst lots of laughter and cheering. I appreciated the games and activities that Michelle used to warm up our bodies, they were very unique and the children appreciated being able to learn new techniques and use equipment that they usually would not come into contact with. We all also enjoyed the part of the program where Michelle talks to us about responsibility, the power of words and how discipline can shape us into better friends and human beings. Although these might seem like heavy topics for younger students, Michelle explained it in a respectful and very hands-on way— with visual aids and asking for students responses, so that no matter their age the students were engaged with what was being discussed. I would recommend Michelle and her program to any group looking to have fun, get moving and learn new things together— I know that my students will definitely be happy to have her back any time”

Candice Lee Supervisor – BCCA Kids Club Summer Camp

It is with sincere appreciation that we express our thanks to Michelle for reaching out and connecting with our group. Michelle’s soft nature combined with her compassionate approach made for a well rounded class. Her passion shines through and her dedication is reflective in the way she interacts with each and every individual that she comes into contact with. Michelle is patient, enthusiastic and committed to creating a positive and safe environment within our community. I found both students and staff to be well engaged and leaving the class with a better sense of awareness, greater self-esteem and confidence. I highly recommend Michelle for she helps educate and enhance lives. “Thank you!”
Elise Perras – Team Coordinator – Griffins Alley, New Westminster, BC

“Michelle helped me to find out a peace within myself. She taught us cool techniques using simple body mechanics which prove useful for self defense. From the participants in the camp I heard that she has a great energy and an excellent hands-on approach. The girls were engaged and having tons of fun, If that isn’t the female empowerment at it’s finest I don’t know what is!” ~ Antoniette Yap – Fire Fighter Mentor – Camp Ignite Aug 2016

Velocity Athletic Training Radio on Blog Talk Internet Radio – Testimonial

“I met Michelle via a Social Media Network we both belong to and invited her to be a guest on my show, Velocity Athletic Training Radio on Blog Talk Internet Radio. Our discussion was quite inspiring and educational, Michelle’s vision to assist today’s youth is such an important mission. After the show, I connected with Michelle and told her some personal issues I had with my son. Her insight, her knowledge and compassion opened up my mind more to the challenges today’s youth face. I paid more attention to his process of becoming a young man and what I need to do in order to help his process. He is now seventeen, has graduated from high school and earned himself a scholarship to college! I would not hesitate to highly recommend Michelle. Not only was I impressed with her insight and knowledge but as a parent, I was impressed with her compassion, her desire to help others, as well as listen, which is so important for our youth. Thanks so much Michelle!”

 Layla Smolock, President Velocity Athletic Training