Karen Hourtovenko
BScN, MBA, Psy. D RN(EC), Reg Psychotherapist
Karen Hourtovenko is founder and CEO of Life Zone, Inc. As a registered psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience in counseling and coaching, a background as a nurse practitioner, and an education in business, she focuses on moving individuals forward to create success in all areas of their lives. She coaches executives, professional athletes, health care providers, and individuals across all lifestyle areas to improve emotional and nutritional health, business and professional development and to help them change their thinking to achieve desired goals. “More that goal setting, I actually assist individuals to reprogram their brain to create those goals, getting the person unstuck and creating a new life,” she explains. “Even if people have done coaching in the past, there are still a lot of places to grow. All of the answers are inside of us. My role is to bring those answers out from deep in the unconscious mind. The people themselves are the experts.”
Karen founded Life Zone, Inc., in Ontario in 2000, after a career as a cardiac and cardiovascular ICU acute care nurse. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in nursing, she holds a doctorate in psychology and a master’s degree in business, and she is a certified master coach and an American board-certified master and trainer of neuro-linguistic programming, Time Line Therapy™, hypnotherapy, and NLP coaching. She brings together her expertise in health care, business, and human behavior to help people achieve their highest level of success and peak performance. “No matter what someone’s position, they’re still people, and we need to look at the whole person,” she states.
Dedicated to helping people be the best they can be, Karen uses advanced human behavior and mindset-engineering techniques that eliminate negative emotions and beliefs, creating personal empowerment and development. “Most people think they’re born this way and they’ll never change,” she shares. “We’re a combination of genetics, yes, but most importantly, the largest predictor of how people function is based on the environment. We are people with behaviors; we are not behaviors. Everyone can change if they choose to. Clients have to want to feel better and want to make changes. Changing their story means they are no longer able to tell their story, and some are not willing to do that!”
Mental wellness is often overlooked in high performers; however, they are often more at risk. Karen shows her clients how mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, anger management symptoms, all improve when mind mastery is achieved. “Most individuals know what to do; it is why they are not doing what they know, that is the key. Executives are expected to be the experts, athletes are expected to be gold winners, professionals are expected to have all the answers, and the average person is expected to be happy. So why are they not?” she explains. “We all live our lives based on internal values, beliefs, programming that determines our actions. These are mostly unconscious running our lives. It is only when those programs that are not assisting us are reprogrammed that a person can stop doing what is holding them back from success.”
In recognition of her work, Karen has received the 2006 40 Under 40 Award, the 2005 Business Excellence Award-New Venture Award, and the 2004 Sudbury Business and Professional Women's Club Women Entrepreneur Award. Dedicated to helping her community, she has served as a United Way cabinet member, as director of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the Rotary Club of Sudbury.
Karen Hourtovenko, BScN, MBA, Psy. D RN(EC), Reg Psychotherapist
Health Consultant-Master Business/Life Coach-Counselor, Trainer NLP, Time Line Therapy (R) and Hypnosis—LifeZone
2147 Armstrong St.
Sudbury, ON P3E 4S2
LinkedIn: LifeZone Executive Coaching, Karen Hourtovenko, Psy. D
Instagram: @coachkarenhourtovenko
Download the Top 100 Canadian Professionals magazine and check out Karen's feature on page 73.