Our Story | Founder

Why believe-IN. Make it Happen! ®

​As a result of my experience of undergoing simultaneous life events changing radically, both personal and professional life, in a ten-month time frame, leading me to a transition, I became interested in adult development. Concretely, the impact of life changes and transitions in adults’ emotional and cognitive performance and its implication on well-being and life outcomes.

Life Changes are any event capable of bringing significant disturbance to a person’s life. A Transition, however, is the result of significant changes, to the individual, in relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles as a consequence of a stressful life change (life event or non-event), which implies personal discontinuity. A transition could describe a process of letting go of the way life used to be and then starting a journey to create a 1) new identity and 2) a new life to take hold of the way they finally become. In brief, a life change occurs, and then a far more transformative process takes place, a transition.

Transition's three stages (Ending, Neutral Zone and the New Beginning) occurred as an overlapping experience over the years. For instance, by the end of 2014, all that belonged to my life settings ended. However, I knew what I would be doing professionally - my new career -, but that very purpose, called believe-IN, required a journey into the unknown, as applying more life changes to;
 

• a new way of interpreting life to start a new life chapter and identity.

• a country relocation;

• an academic qualification in Psychology, and additional certifications, to become a helping professional;

• a research study; the feeling of fear during life changes.

Personally, across life, I have been gifted with an abundance of Life Changes and a few Transitions from infancy to early adulthood. My strength has always been "believing I could turn around" (a belief described, in science, as self-agency & self-efficacy). But I have also developed a strong professional and academic background in management, which is very much about change and development toward progress. Thus, I have had absolute easiness to change - fast, quick and effectively! However, nothing of that had prepared me for this last 'Transition'. In sum, my Life Change experiences, leading me to Transition, made me acutely aware of this human process. Moreover, people struggle with this because societies do not have systems to educate them to cope with Life Changes.

The problem people face?

Life Changes and Transitions are unavoidable, stress-inducing experiences that challenge the individual’s functioning, health, and sense of self-worth! As a significant source of stress, and anxiety, which, unsupported, can lead the individual to psychological decline, dysfunction and poor decision-making.

• For this reason, I completed a graduate diploma in Psychology at GCU, so believe-IN conducted the first known research on “The Feeling of fear during life changes and the implications to well-being.”

Among other relevant findings, the study declares the feeling of fear as the root cause of stress and anxiety. This brings us to the need of fostering Emotional Literacy Educational Programmes. And to Life Changes and Transitions Intervention Programmes. A humanistic and person-centred approach to support individuals throughout Life Changes and Transitions.

Life Changes (positive or negative) challenge the individual’s functioning, health, sense of self-worth, and well-being with implications for public health. And will expose us to the danger of Psychological Decline and its consequences.

People undergoing transition processes are exposed to:

• increased risk of a severe crisis;

• stress, anxiety, cognitive impairments, poor cognitive performance, depression and emotional distress;

• high risk of errors, such as accidents, indiscretions and poor decisions;
• entering or staying in poor or abusive relationships, human dysfunction (e.g. addictions);

• decreased career prospects, unemployment, illness and disability;

• poor Mental Health and Well-being;

• compromised life future outcomes and limited ability to reach their human potential

• more, Transitions effects exceed lifework boundaries into other roles as they can cause others to Transition.

Transitions are the main contributor to human development. Or unsupported conducive to psychological decline. Individuals under these experiences seek knowledge and support but they struggle to find it! The main reason is, that those close to them are either prepared to manage Life Changes or Transitions. Other obstacles are cultural beliefs and societal norms. An individual in a spiral of Life Changes often fights to find understanding among their support network. Which turns the experience more chaotic. And despite its adverse outcomes, modern societies have not prepared individuals to embrace Life Changes or to recognise Transitions. So, individuals undergoing any of those processes lack the support and the skills to label the experience. When we can't label an experience, we can't transcend it. Less, manage it with success.

​The Solution?
 
I believe in Education, so promoting person-centred support to foster development and new life skills to manage change processes was a natural choice! Life Changes and Transition Management Professional Services provides the foundation to transform this tumultuous experience into a developmental opportunity. Individuals going through the experience of Endings get the needed understanding to reorganize themselves emotionally and cognitively. In the Neutral Zone, we create the structure of what will become a New Beginning. And finally, they are ready to start a new chapter of life, fully functioning and aiming at their full potential.
 
Wrapping Up!

With the ending of my previous life settings, a new life purpose emerged; "Contribute, so, you believe-IN yourself, and you make the life you wish and deserve Happen!". Then transformed into believe-IN's vision, inspires everything we do. 
 
believe-IN. Make it Happen! ® was created to support healthy adults, going through temporary states of unbalance consequences of Life Changes and Transitions. Our Intervention Programmes are person-centred, science-based solutions powered by Education, Lifespan Developmental Psychology and Management.  

believe-IN is my contribution to a better world. A place where we educate and support adult individuals to adjust or adapt to Life Changes and Transitions with success. Fully functioning they can find equilibrium, performance and mastery. By making effective decisions they can aspire to their full potential! That's us.

​Thank you for reading our story.
Márcia Pinho