Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.
Alena Goepfert
Coach and Trainer
It is great that you are interested in mindpet® – I am the founder and I love bringing people and animals together.
My desire to live and work with animals started in my early childhood. I have always had pets and I loved spending my summer holidays on a farm. However, I initially decided to study and pursue a career in business. In 2014, I moved from my home country of Germany to Switzerland for professional reasons. Today, I have 14 years of business experience in various areas of a global pharmaceutical company and I understand the needs and challenges of employees, executives and companies. My strengths lie in personnel and team development. I speak fluent English and Spanish as well as my native German and prefer to work with intercultural and agile teams. I have experienced a wide variety of leadership styles and have gained a lot of personal experience in matrix leadership. I believe that rigid corporate hierarchies are out of date and risk de-motivating younger generations. Modern leadership is characterized by inspiration, enthusiasm, relationships and shared values.
In order to live up to my purpose and values, I decided to set up my own business as an animal-assisted coach. In various training courses, I have dealt intensively with how working with animals affects our learning and our health. Animals arouse emotions and open doors that are often closed to humans. Animals are gifts and we can learn from them in many ways. mindpet® has therefore become a passion for me and gives me the opportunity to re-connect people with nature.
With my coaching and training, I want to evoke passion and enthusiasm in individuals and teams so that they can bring meaning to their jobs and unleash their full potential. By using dogs, my way of working differs from conventional training opportunities and creates a unique learning experience.
I strive for the highest quality standards. That is why I have a solid education and am constantly developing:
- 14 years of professional experience in international business
- Bachelor of Arts in International Business
- Co-Active Coach | ICF Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP)
- Certified coachdogs® Coach
- Certified coachdogs® Trainer
- Studies in animal-assisted work at the Academy for Animal Naturopathy (ATN)
- Member of the professional association of animal behavioral consultants and trainers (VdTT)
Yukiko
Co-Trainer
I fulfilled my childhood dream of owning a dog together with my husband in spring 2019 with our Shiba Inu, Yuki. The Shiba Inu is one of the oldest dog breeds and was primarily used as a hunting dog in its country of origin, Japan. Yukiko means “brave child” in Japanese. She is also very friendly, bright and intelligent and takes all hearts by storm. However, she is also independent and headstrong, which makes her the perfect co-trainer. Unlike a Labrador, for example, the Shiba has no “will to please”. She is not a dog that follows blindly and will always try to take the lead. Challenge accepted? We look forward to meeting you!
Depending on the number of participants in the training sessions, additional four-legged co-trainers will strengthen our pack.