Support for people navigating change, complexity, and growth

Connection

Access your wisdom

WELLBEING

Release old patterns and unlock new perspectives.

Transformation

Expand your awareness and skills so that you can create the future you want.

Learn About Me

Through coaching, facilitation, and healing work, I help individuals and groups move through high-stakes decisions, transitions, conflict, and growth with greater self-awareness, resilience, and connection.

Abstract flower design with cream, black, brown, and gold colors.
Headshot of Joayne Larson, trauma-qualified coach and facilitator

I’m Joayne

A coach, facilitator, trainer, and healer with more than 20 years of experience helping people navigate growth, transition, relationships, and change.

My work blends practical strategy with deep listening, emotional intelligence, somatic awareness, and intuitive insight. I support individuals facing life-shaping decisions as well as teams and organizations working through communication, leadership, trust, and transformation.

Before founding Sparks of Change, I worked in education, intercultural learning, leadership development, and global training design, including nearly a decade with the Peace Corps supporting staff and learning systems across dozens of countries.

Learn more
Calming depiction of river rocks balanced in a stack

Groups & Individuals

I facilitate your ability to tune in, leverage your resources and become who and how you know you can be.

Groups
Individuals

  • “My sessions with Joayne have made me feel grounded, held, and understood – like I am not alone, but accompanied on a journey I have chosen. Joayne has offered perspective and insight different from any I have encountered in traditional professional/client relationships. I feel that our work together has been like opening a window – letting light into corners that have been dark and inaccessible. “

    J. H., Client, St. Paul, MN

  • "Joayne is a wise, skillful and extremely supportive coach. The value that she brings into people’s lives through her coaching practice is unmeasurable. "

    I.S., Client, Woodbury, MN

  • "If you are paralyzed by worry, wonder and what your future holds, you absolutely must take the first step towards clarity and knowing what your true potential in the world is by engaging in a session with Joayne. I not only discovered distinctiveness of my deepest desires, but I also gained unambiguous guidance how to not fight my future, but dance with it. I am no longer fearful. I am flowing. Watch me soar."

    Phyllis D. Braxton, LGSW, MSW, MEd
    CEO & Founder, PINK Consulting, LLC
    Amazon Bestselling Author

  • "Joayne creates a safe space to access your higher Self and connect to the wisdom of the Universe. During my Akashic readings I received important messages that helped me to heal a very old wound. With this new understanding I feel like I have taken large steps forward on my spiritual journey. I highly recommend this method and Joayne for personal growth work."

    J.M., Client, Saint Paul, MN

  • "As a coach, Joayne asks questions that lead you to places you wouldn’t have found on your own. It’s not that they’re necessarily the “tough” questions, it’s that they’re the right questions to move you forward."

    E.M., Client, Washington, DC

  • “I have worked with both executive business coaches and therapists who focused on life coaching. When I first started working with Joayne, I asked her what her focus was. She told me she didn’t label it as her approach was more to help me regardless of the source of the coaching need or challenge. This really helped me reframe how I was thinking about challenges or areas I wanted to shore up; her approach was more holistic and her statement gave me pause to think about it that way as well. I now think about coaching as approaching me as a whole person, knowing that no matter how much I think I can compartmentalize, often the same patterns and challenges show up in my personal and professional lives and across relationships.”

    K.C., Client, Washington, DC

  • “Joayne was kind, patient, thoughtful, and thorough. She listened fully and held the space for me to be me, for the benefit of my own learning and growth. I gained concrete benefits from working with her, including expanded perspectives on my own passions, capabilities, and values; confidence in who I am and what I bring the world as a human and leader; and a stronger sense of connection to my personality, relationships, and fulfillment. Most importantly, though, I was able to accept my whole self through Joayne's coaching; she showed me where lack of acceptance was holding me back. I am now bolder and more at peace as I take the next steps in my goals. I can’t recommend her enough!”

    N.S., Client, New York, NY

  • “Joayne does astounding work and is a real asset. The support she gave staff was incredible and the way she facilitated sessions/workshops makes what she said hard to forget. She used empathy and coaching skills with staff that made her very approachable, and she looked for answers and always answered emails.”

    J.Z., Colleague, El Salvador

  • “My experience coaching with Joayne has been a welcome interruption to my status quo. It has moved me to challenge assumptions, explore new perspectives, structure new approaches to topics that range from the personal to the professional (i.e. financial well being, leadership, personal care, relationships, etc) - to areas of study that have been interesting to me but that I haven’t been able to explore fully, or that that I have been ignoring/putting off because I needed a new approach to confronting. Our work together and Joayne’s leadership has created a structure for me to explore and play with the boundaries of my own awareness. Joayne’s investment in a co-active learning process creates a dialogue that invites an open exchange of ideas and feedback; it is her commitment to the quality of that dialogue that builds confidence that we are focusing our study and attention on the right topics at the right time.”

    S.D., Client, San Francisco, CA

  • "Joayne is a masterful facilitator, capable of designing methods and creating spaces that allow for meaningful team building and learning. Always keeping an eye on learning objectives and end goals, Joayne is well equipped to move a group to the desired outcome. I particularly appreciated Joayne's skillful facilitating of our separate dimension group dialogues during a recent MBTI workshop. She facilitated powerful moments of discovery. The nuance and contextualizing she was able to bring were highly useful. I appreciate Joayne's ability to be a neutral facilitator , both strong and flexible, able to effectively bring a group to achieve their desired learning objectives."

    L. C., Former Supervisor and Senior Leader, Washington, DC

  • "Joayne’s active, creative, empathetic approach to coaching empowers me to look at problems from new perspectives, challenge my fears, and generate my own solutions. As a coach, she meets me where my needs are and allows me to set my own agenda for each session so that I get the most out of our time together. I finish each session feeling confident that I have the knowledge, tools, and support needed to take action."

    I.B., Client, Panama City, Panama

  • "Joayne has a great ability to meet lead trainings for a wide variety of groups. She is able to empathize with the participants incredibly well, and to adjust content, approaches, activities , and emphasis on the fly—a feat that requires incredible, skill, experience, and honed talent."

    G. K., Colleague and Participant, Washington, DC

  • "Joayne was a trusted colleague and a valued member of our agency's Technical Training Unit. We invited her at the last minute to do a one-day facilitation refresh for our program initiative team. We wanted to hit “pause” between our technical summits to reflect on our facilitation approaches. Joayne led a one day retreat looking at both the theory of facilitation as well as looking at specific best interventions in designing and delivering sessions. She clearly put a great deal of thought into the preparation and I can truthfully say that the content she provided was spot on and was educational and informative for even the most experienced of facilitators among us. Joayne is highly skilled at both conducting a needs assessment and developing a training package to fit those needs but also able to facilitate the content in such a way that everyone's skills are acknowledged and challenges addressed in a non-threatening manner. I would highly recommend Joayne for process and content facilitation."

    K.R., Colleague and Senior Leader, Washington, DC

  • "I have had the pleasure to co-design and facilitate several training sessions with Joayne. She is a talented trainer who has the innate ability as both a designer and facilitator to deliver high quality events. She engages as well as empowers her audience, allowing them to be partners in the process. She has the unique ability to read her audience and adjust her plan on the fly as needed, showing dynamism and flexibility. With a strong attention to detail as well as an eye on the big picture, she is one of the top trainers I have worked with."

    J.C., Colleague, Washington, DC

  • "Joayne helped me challenge the fear related to starting new endeavors. In our coaching sessions, we teased the problem out into bite-sized pieces to question, understand, and counter it. Through guided discussions and exercises I was able to identify the attributes, knowledge, and skills within myself to challenge the fear and enact positive changes. Coaching with Joayne has given me more confidence in myself to walk into new situations with poise , tenacity, and self-reliance."

    I.B., Client, Panama City, Panama

  • "There are not words powerful enough to describe the positive change Joayne has brought to my marriage. My husband and I were the product of serious communication issues, it was as if we were speaking different languages. After taking the MBTI and working with Joayne both individually and with my husband, it’s as if a light bulb has been turned on. Learning about the MBTI preferences is like realizing that all those times we thought we were on the same page but still ended up fighting, was because we were on the same page, but in completely different books. Joayne really helped us build the bridge over that gap. When you are in any kind of relationship, sometimes you just want someone to sit down and tell you who is right and who is wrong. But learning the types and how to communicate from Joayne was like being told we were both right. We walked away from this with something that we can carry for eternity and we are truly grateful."

    G.S., Client, St. Paul, MN

Want to Learn More?

Sign up with your email address to join my list.

Sign Up