Andrew’s Story
Change Coaching Australia was originally inspired by an experience Change Coaching Australia’s director had when she was studying psychology and working as a fitness professional at the universities in her twenties. Her experience was triggered by an encounter with a young man enquiring about a gym membership. The young man explained that he had been denied membership at several fitness centres earlier that day due to his height and stature. Standing at 2 metres tall and weighing 206 kilograms, he said,
“I know what you are going to say, you are going to tell me that your equipment is not load rated for my body weight and that I am a liability to your facility as I am a heart attack risk.”
Sarah knew she could not sell him a membership and replied,
“I understand your predicament. I am a personal trainer and I would like to help you.”
What Andrew had to say …
…One of the major disappointments in my life was the problem with my weight. I was terribly obese, weighing close to 180kgs. The saving factor was my height, being close to 6 foot 7. I was resigned to the fact that I will always be a “big fella”, since my father was tall and quite solid…In January ’02 I decided to do something about it, but I couldn’t do it alone. I asked Sarah to help me; we then began a journey to get me eating healthier, exercising properly… I did not ask for any special treatment it was Sarah’s fantastic nature that got me started… What Sarah has done for me is quite remarkable. I am a changed person, now weighing in at 98kgs and feeling absolutely fantastic. – Andrew 2002
What Sylvia had to say…
I began life coaching and personal training with Sarah 12 months ago. My goals were to lose weight and to deal with the mental and emotional barriers that prevented me from keeping the weight off. I also wanted to incorporate a healthy lifestyle, which would last my entire life. I have achieved and exceeded my goals above and beyond what I ever expected. I lost 20 kilos in the first 6 months which I primarily attribute to the life coaching sessions. CARDIOBOX classes and SOMATIC SUCCESS personal training sessions complimented my achievements along with excellent nutritional advice and a tailored eating plan.
I have learnt to put myself first which was a very big thing for me. Having two young kids and a family made it quite difficult to put myself first but I think that they benefit from having me number one because I am happy, healthy and fit and I can pass on my nutrition to them by cooking healthy meals.
After my two pregnancies, I was left with a hernia, severe abdominal muscle separation and a lot of excess skin. I did not feel comfortable and I was having functional issues, which were severely affecting my lifestyle. ??I used to struggle with making decisions but now I don’t even think twice. Life coaching and personal training put me in peak physical condition and mindset. After losing my weight I decided to complete what I had started and consulted two reconstructive surgeons to determine what had to be done to correct my medical issues and remove my excess skin and within seven days I had the surgery.
The skills I acquired during my life coaching journey set me up for a better recovery compared to a complicated caesarean with my second child. I was positive, happy and mentally strong. It’s been two weeks since my surgery and I feel fantastic. The only thing frustrating me is my eagerness to resume my training but I have to wait to allow my body to heal from the surgery. When I reflect over the past year, I cannot believe how much I have changed. I am much happier, I am confident; I no longer procrastinate about decisions. I just go, I just do it!
I honestly believe that Change Coaching Australia has set me up for the rest of my life. I recommend Change Coaching Australia to anyone who is feeling stuck with where their life is heading, or if they feel as though they can’t move forward, or if they are having problems in making decisions. – Sylvia 2013
What Jodi had to say …
What Guiliana had to say …
What Debbie had to say …
What Nik had to say …
I would highly recommend Change Coaching Australia to people who want to exercise in a supportive, private space with personalised attention and care.
I heard about Change Coaching Australia from my mum. My mum looked everywhere for somewhere I could do boxing where I would feel safe and relaxed.
I felt too intimidated to go to a boxing gym or fitness centre. Mum then happened upon the Change Coaching Australia website and arranged a meeting with Director, Health, Fitness and Lifestyle Coach, Sarah Berenson. I had an immediate connection with Sarah and felt instantly at ease in her environment. Sarah has created a comfortable ambiance in her studios in Harrison. Sarah is empathetic and down to earth and her space is private, very, very clean well organised and NDIS friendly.
A hidden benefit of seeing Sarah is that drones deliver to her suburb ?.
Sarah supports me with my goals and works in conjunction with my treating medical team, including my General Practitioner, Art Therapist and Soft Tissue Therapist. Prior to meeting Sarah, I was overwhelmed with fear, anxiety and sadness and now I am more in control of my life. I really look forward to my sessions each week with Sarah. I hope to be a client for life. A highlight of working with Sarah is that I have not laughed so hard in 20 years. I’m so grateful and happy to have Sarah in my life. – Nik 2022
What Teri had to say…
What Claudia had to say …
I initially heard about Change Coaching Australia through a friend and wanted to start losing weight and become stronger but have fun doing it as I lacked motivation. I had never been one to exercise outside of sport or normal daily activities and had barely ever been to a gym.
Sarah made the entire process of starting to regularly exercise and take better care of my physical health less daunting.
I have been seeing Sarah for 18 months now, throughout those 18 months my goals have changed several times from weight loss to muscle gain, to supporting my joints and ligaments through stability work, and Sarah has been supportive, accommodating and in my corner every step of the way. There has been immense laughter & some tears, but Sarah’s kind & positive attitude as well as her killer sense of humour has kept me coming to each session and pushing myself further than I knew I was capable of.
Since utilising Change Coaching Australia, I have noticed a significant amount of personal growth and I am more mindful of what I can be doing each day to better my health. My favourite activities are Speedball, Padwork & Weightlifting, coming to my sessions became my favourite part of the week as it energised me, kept me focused and helped me. I know with Sarah’s coaching & support I will be able to achieve my goals of being the healthiest I can be. – Claudia 2021
What Renee had to say …
What Bev had to say …
So in November I had a meeting with Sarah. I was grossly overweight and just felt generally disillusioned about life in general. I tended not to trust people especially people that promised me results. However I clicked with Sarah and she said that she would get me to my goal weight.
So not only have I smashed my weight goals (lost 30kilos), I have just been healed in so many ways and the best bit is in the way Sarah works you are able to come up with solutions yourself so it is rewarding to know that I kinda had it in there.I have felt liberated in many ways. I have freedom from the ‘rules’ my Dr’s put on me that is the biggest one. I have gone from not moving because I was told I couldn’t to boxing, weights, walking and I even roller skate. Thank you Sarah for giving me the Bev back I thought was lost. My kids and hubby are happier with this Bev too. Thank you so much you rockstar!!! – Beverley 2016
What Damian had to say …
What Louise had to say…
What our clients had to say …
What Tom had to say …
Sarah’s style as a personal trainer is very effective, the way she interacts with clients and makes them feel comfortable in her space gets the best results. Sarah is really good friends with all her clients and is available to them at all times to answer any questions they may have in their program. She utilises a tough but caring approach in the gym itself, happy to joke around with you during rest periods but making sure you feel like you’ve achieved something every time you visit her for a PT session. Sarah taught me many things that relate to physiological and mental aspects of the body, and really helped me learn while I was there for my internship.
When certain situations arise Sarah is more than happy to help out all her clients, no matter how hard the task at hand is. She sacrifices her personal time to make sure that all clients can get the appropriate program and teaching they need to improve themselves and their situations. When these situations arise you can be sure the first person talking you through them will be Sarah. It was interesting to see how versatile Sarah can be when approaching different situations no matter the problem presented.
I have taken away many experiences from my time at Change Coaching Australia, and each and every one of them has helped me in my studies to become an exercise physiologist. I would not hesitate to recommend a Change Coaching Australia program to anybody who asked me, Sarah is a complete professional and gets results. – Tom 2015
What Erin had to say …
“When the student is ready, the Master will appear.” Sarah appeared in my life in January 2020, at a time when everything felt pretty ordinary. I had lost both of my parents before turning 40, was overweight, constantly putting everyone else’s needs before my own, and honestly – I was angry at the world. I trusted Sarah to help me, to teach me, and to share her expertise. What I thought was signing up for a 12-week package has turned into a whole new way of being. Sarah’s care, honesty, humour, laughter, vulnerability, and her incredible skill in understanding people are nothing short of amazing. Change Coaching Australia doesn’t just work on the physical – it transforms the mental and emotional aspects of life, too. If you’re ready to change, Sarah has a unique way of asking the right questions, challenging your thinking, and holding you accountable. When I started, it was just two padwork sessions a week. Now, it’s evolved into personal training, wellness coaching, and small-group personal training – and it’s become the way I love to start my day. Sarah has helped me navigate life in ways I never imagined – from work challenges and family dynamics to lifestyle choices and self-belief. She has shown me that both exercise and life can be fun and enjoyable. It hasn’t always been easy, but I keep showing up – treating each day as it comes and doing my best to be grateful. That’s one of the greatest lessons I continue to learn from Sarah and Change Coaching Australia. It’s more than a fitness journey – it’s a place where I can truly be myself. – Erin 2025
What Annette had to say …
I began with Change Coaching Australia six months ago. I was twenty kilograms heavier, in a job I hated, had never traveled and displayed my misery in every external way possible. I was lost, had no knowledge of how to escape the life I had created for myself and held no hope of changing my circumstances. I felt out of control, passive in my own life and was stuck in self-pity. I went to Change Coaching Australia out of desperation. Sarah helped me see how I was working against myself, literally getting in my own way with so many methods of self-sabotage I couldn’t even count them now.
I’ve changed internally and externally. By making small- and when I was ready- large steps, I’ve taken back control of my life. I’ve learned methods of thinking and acting that help me to approach my problems constructively. I’ve learned that my behaviour is entirely within my control.
I am by no means a finished product, but a work in progress. And I am progressing, for the first time in years. People don’t recognise the miserable person that I was. My appearance is more congruent with how I want to appear. I have lost weight, travelled overseas, got a new job, started playing roller derby, I dance. I am more vibrant; I sparkle. I have learned strategies that help me to identify when I am self-sabotaging and why. I’ve taken responsibility for my own life and the change I want to see in it.
Sarah’s coaching is insightful, intuitive, wise and methodical. She believes in you when you don’t. Taking coaching is an empowering place to be. Instead of wishing that my life was different, or that I was different, I act to change it instead. I grant my own wishes! I expect more of myself now, because I know I am capable of it. I would recommend coaching to anyone. – Annette 2015
What Lis had to say …
Before I met Sarah I wasn’t in a very happy place. I had previously lost a lot of weight through a lot of hard work and effort and I had recently been told that I had psoriatic arthritis of my knee and I could no longer power lift which was my main passion in life and something I was very dedicated to. I stopped exercising because I thought it was going to hurt my knee and make it worse. My diet spiralled out of control, I started binge eating. I gained 20kgs in a very short period of time, I think it was less than six months. I knew I needed help and I knew I needed it fast because I was on my way to where I had been and I knew I didn’t want to be that person any more and that was when I met Sarah.
I commenced wellness coaching with Sarah. I soon realised that I was living well and truly in my comfort zone and I was immediately terrified by anything that challenged that. It rapidly became apparent that I had a lot of limiting beliefs that were seriously affecting my outcomes. Things are way better now, I get to do a lot of really cool things. I’ve met a lot of new people. I’m doing stuff I’d always dreamed of doing but never tried before. All the new experiences in my life make it more enjoyable, it feels like living rather than existing. I get to do what I want to do and I don’t spend my life doing things I feel I shouldn’t do or don’t want to do. Previously I was trying to blend with the background, I didn’t want to stand out. As a result of the coaching and since losing 20kgs I’m looking pretty decent so I’ve been out buying new clothes. I used to hate clothes shopping, I’d rather have my teeth pulled than go clothes shopping. I now have some pretty awesome new gym gear, its quite fitted and very feminine and I look pretty good in the mirror, yep glance in the mirror at the gym quite often when I am training which I never actually used to do before, I used to avoid the mirrors.
Sarah’s ability as a life coach is mind blowing. I am supremely gifted at throwing up defences and barriers often without thinking to keep the world at bay. These were no match for Sarah who’s level of perception is staggering. Imagine my surprise the first time I threw up a defence and she just strolled on through. I was no longer able to hide and had to confront my secrets that only I knew because they were buried so deep. This has led to significant life changes. Through my coaching sessions with Sarah I realised I had been denying who I really am. I had been unwilling to accept who I was. Sarah has helped me to confront these issues and taught me skills that enable me to rapidly change my mindset and move from a state if effect to a state of cause. I have had a make over as part of the process and changed my look so that it reflects who I am on the inside so the world sees me as I do. My journey through the coaching process, though confronting at times, has taught me to never settle for mediocre and to go for what I want in life. You only get one shot. I don’t want to get to the end and have regrets for all the things I haven’t done. If your not happy with the place you’re in or where your life is going I recommend life coaching with Sarah. The difference between where I was and where I am now is mind blowing. I would never have dreamt in my wildest dreams that I could achieve any of the things that I’m doing now and I know that Sarah played a significant part in getting me to that place. One of the best things that has ever happened to me in my life to date was meeting Sarah. – Lis 2014
What Alvia had to say …
Sarah’s unique strong, accountable style of coaching is so empowering, within a short amount of sessions I had come to realise the power I had to change and transform my current situation. – Aliva 2013
What Raelyn had to say …
Sarah Berenson has been an amazing life coach to me. She has helped me find my inner strength and confidence again. With the support and understanding I received, Sarah guided me to a life of happiness and peace I felt I always deserved, but couldn’t reach before. I am truly thankful for the time and energy Sarah invested in me to achieve my goals. – Raelyn 2013
What Roz had to say …
Sarah is a professional, skilled, motivating and caring personal trainer and life coach. She easily builds rapport with her clients, is generous with her time and is committed to getting results – which she does with a balance of encouragement, tough love and good humour. – Roz 2013
What Damian had to say …
I first met Sarah when the psychologist with whom I was seeing suggested that if I was serious about losing weight then she would be able to help me. I have enjoyed it so much that I have just signed up for another 12-week program. I would recommend contacting Sarah to both improve your health and fitness and your outlook on life. – Damian 2013
What Chonny had to say …
Sarah has become a positive influence in my life as she guides me and educates me on my fitness journey, equipping me with mental toughness to push myself to reach my goals and hopefully exceed them. Sarah is a dedicated and highly creative personal trainer. She uses her vast knowledge of fitness and nutrition to custom design programs to the individual needs of her clients… She never fails to be there to support, encourage, and celebrate her client’s wins.? – Chonny 2013
What Damian had to say …
Having never done boxing before I was a bit hesitant about contacting Sarah. I have just completed a 12-week program in which I did both the Cardiobox group classes and one on one personal training class. Not only have I lost weight, 9.5 kilos in that 12 weeks, I have also had fun and made some new friends and my confidence in myself and my outlook on life has changed. – Damian 2013
What Ed had to say …
As a professional trainer and coach, Sarah makes herself available for advice on all aspects of training including injury management. The classes that Sarah runs are varied, making them interesting. She is always prepared to adapt to the differing skill levels within the class and provides tuition that is aimed at the level of the individual without being intimidating. The classes are friendly and light making it a pleasure to attend. – Ed 2013
What Chantelle had to say …
With her personalised approach to my training and lifestyle program, both inside and outside the gym, I am greatly exceeding even my own expectations. While I have only just started my journey I am well on my way. What makes Sarah different from other trainers is her ability to truly tailor your program to your goals and she is there every step of the way to ensure you reach them. – Chantelle 2013
Email Change Coaching Australia today for your free consultation.