Hello, I'm Nerissa Balland.

 

I'm a 2x cancer survivor, a life coach, a visual artist, and, most importantly, a mother. I help women bounce-back from physical and emotional adversity. My goal is to help your greatest challenge awaken an opportunity to become your greatest gift. Why? I too have faced adversity through cancer, infertility, miscarriages, terminations, and divorce. I'm stronger than ever, more grateful, more realistic, loving, and accepting of myself and others. You too can reduce your suffering and find joy. 

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My Specialty

 

I help women who suffer from physical and emotional symptoms resulting from adverse situations that negatively impact their daily routines. Women who experience fear, anxiety, depression, deep sadness, and avoidance, coupled with physical symptoms, such as inability to focus, chronic pain, tension, shortness of breath, or increased blood pressure after a traumatic event, often access their survival instinct known as "fight-or-flight." 

 

The fight-or-flight response (also called hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event or threat to survival. While it can be initially helpful at the onset of the experience, it is detrimental to remain in this stressful state. I allow a safe and supported space for women to bounce-back, heal, and move beyond adversity. 

 

​I specialize in...

• accepting and living with cancer (i.e., from initial diagnosis through treatment and healing in remission)

• coping with moderate to severe health issues

• dealing with infertility 

• healing from the loss of a child (i.e., miscarriage, termination, still-born, early-term, infancy)

• life after divorce

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how I help

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I provide my clients with resources to deactivate their "flight or fight" mentality. I guide my clients to reframe their adversity, build resilience, and find peace. I do this by merging therapeutic techniques with artful healing, neurolinguistics, and neuroscience. We focus on obstacles, goals, and appropriate resources needed to create transformation within a session, as well as independently. You do not have to face adversity alone.

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My Story

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​In Aug of 2016, five and half months pregnant with my second son, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Melanoma. I gave birth early, and I began a tough journey of working full-time, raising a newborn and a 2-year-old, undergoing nuclear medicine, surgeries, ten months of immunotherapy, and chemo.

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A year had passed, and cancer had returned. I was now unknowingly two months pregnant, faced with choosing my own life over the life of my unborn child. The cruelty in this was that my children were conceived via IVF as I was deemed infertile. So to be pregnant was mind-blowing nearly impossible.

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Fast forward another year. I went through a lot of soul-searching and inner dialogue about the life I had led, what I had achieved, what I wanted to achieve, and what legacy I wanted to leave. 

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In 2018, after 18 years as a marketing professional, I quit my job and pursued my passion as a full-time artist. That passion soon turned to a purpose. I wanted to provide people with resources that reduce suffering and increase daily joy. I achieve this in three distinct areas.

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One, I have a private coaching practice that serves women — leveraging neurolinguistics (NLP) and therapeutic arts to bolster personal transformation. Two, I develop and facilitate Arts-In-Health workshops for both the general public and adult oncology patients in South Florida. Three, I continue to create and exhibit my art that provides viewers with a safe space to have an internal conversation around the topic of

love, acceptance, and spirituality. Invest in yourself. Invest in your wellbeing. 

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Education & Credentials

• Graduate Certificate Coursework, Arts In Medicine, University of Florida, 2020

• MFA, Painting, Pratt Institute, 2002

• Certificate Digital Design, Denmark Design School, 2001

• BA, Fine Arts, University of Maryland, 1999

• Associate Certified Coach, ICF, (in-progress)

• Certified Life Coach, iNLP Center, 2019

• Certified Master NLP Practitioner, iNLP Center, 2019 

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* I hold additional certifications in the following niches;  Therapeutic Arts, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, 

REBT Mindset, Life Purpose & Happiness Life Coaching.