About Spence's True North

 My name is Edward J. Spence, and I am a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran, retired firefighter/paramedic, licensed and ordained chaplain, and a nationally recognized trauma recovery coach with over 35 years of service in crisis leadership, emergency response, and human healing. I hold numerous professional certifications, including Board-Certified Master Mental Health Coach, Board-Certified Suicide Prevention Specialist, Certified Trauma-Informed Life Coach, Certified Cognitive Behavioral Coach, Certified Master Christian Life Coach, and Diplomate status with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. I’m also a Certified Critical Incident Stress Debriefer through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, and I serve as both a Certified Police Chaplain and a Red Cross Crisis Chaplain Supervisor for Disaster Spiritual Care. What sets me apart isn’t just my training—it’s the life I’ve lived. I have walked the road of complex trauma myself. I know what it feels like to lose your sense of self, to carry unbearable pain in silence, and to feel stuck in survival mode without a way out. I also know what it takes to heal. Through years of focused work, journaling, counseling, and spiritual realignment, I discovered the redemptive purpose behind my suffering. That purpose is why I founded Spence’s True North—to walk with others through their darkest valleys and help them find their own path to post-traumatic growth, clarity, and peace. My approach is direct but compassionate, structured yet deeply personal, and grounded in the belief that trauma may shape your story—but it never gets to define who you are. 

The method I use in trauma coaching is one I built from the ground up—not from theory, but from lived experience. It’s called the T.R.U.E. North Trauma Coaching Protocol™, and it was born from my own journey through complex trauma, survivor’s guilt, and years of silently carrying the weight of things I never asked for but lived through anyway. I didn’t just study trauma—I survived it. And because of that, I didn’t want to create another surface-level program. I created a process that dives deep, gives structure to chaos, and rebuilds a sense of identity and safety that trauma tried to erase. This isn’t traditional coaching. It’s not therapy-lite. It’s a structured, trauma-informed recovery model that combines cognitive behavioral coaching, emotional translation journaling, somatic and nervous system regulation tools, guided storywork, and—when invited—faith-based spiritual restoration. What sets my approach apart is that it’s not built on theory alone; it’s grounded in military discipline, chaplaincy ethics, and crisis-tested compassion. I don’t sit across from you and nod. I walk beside you—step by step, even at 2 a.m. if that’s what it takes to help you out of a panic spiral and back to emotional baseline. From the moment you come into a session, know this: you are safe here. Safe to tell your story as many times as you need until you feel fully heard. Safe to express rage, grief, confusion, guilt—without fear of judgment or punishment. I do not flinch, and I do not abandon. We create the kind of space where brutal honesty becomes the gateway to real breakthrough. You are not your trauma. Your trauma is something that happened to you—something your brain and body responded to exactly as they were designed to do in order to keep you alive. There is no shame in that. Together, we’ll learn how to take that survival wiring and begin rewiring it—intentionally, daily, with structure and support. I’ll give you the tools: daily routines, goal-setting, emotional grounding exercises, and journaling prompts that don’t just help you “express”—they help you translate what you’re feeling into something you can understand, reframe, and rise from. There will be homework. There will be discomfort. But you’ll never be alone in it. Whether you’re stuck in shutdown mode or hiding in the bunker of your own mind, I will help guide you out. This is your journey—and you set the pace—but I will be there every single step of the way, committed to seeing you not just survive, but truly heal, grow, and lead yourself into a life worth living again.