Meet Chris

 

How do we see beyond the circumstances and beliefs of our lives to
see more, reach for more, BE more?

And how do we help others do the same?

Speaker, author and life coach Chris Trout has spent a lifetime exploring these questions – as a music therapist working with autistic and developmentally delayed children and adults, as a teen substance abuse prevention specialist (where he co-created a nationally recognized substance abuse prevention model based on the power of storytelling), as a family mediator and parent educator, and as Founding Director of two innovative youth resiliency organizations. His strengths-focused program development and inspired teaching expanded his reach until,  in 2005, he launched onto the national stage, speaking throughout the US and Canada on the topics of resiliency and strengths development in “high risk” youth.

Chris is author of Reflecting Strengths: Transformative Lessons from Resilient Youth and the training resource, Reflecting Strengths: The Workbook, as well as Contributor to The Hope-Filled Parent: Meditations for Foster and Adoptive Parents of Children who Have Been Harmed [Audio CD], by Michael Trout, and The Power of Groups: Solution-Focused Counseling in Schools, by Lesley A. Cooley.  Chris is also author and editor of Living Strengths, a weekly online newsletter with subscribers in over a dozen countries worldwide.

Most recently, Chris has authored and recorded Loving Life 101, a 12-disc series of recordings exploring the practical insights and strategies that allow us to shift our perceptions and live life with joy and vitality.

 

Quick Profile

Professional History

Chris’ career began at the age of 19 as an assistant teacher working with multiply-handicapped pre-schoolers. The following year, he created the school’s first music program, drawing on the work of internationally known therapists, Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins. After training as a Music Therapist at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, and completing his clinical training as Wassaic Developmental Center, Chris joined the Creative Arts Therapy team at Laconia State School in Laconia, NH.

Chris went on to work as Senior Music Therapist in the adult day treatment program at United Cerebral Palsy Center of Nassau in Roosevelt, NY, the largest United Cerebral Palsy Center in the nation. He was then recruited by Molloy College as Director of its undergraduate program in Music Therapy, where he redesigned the curriculum, expanded the clinical internship program and doubled its size.

A move to Maine in 1988 also brought a shift in focus. As a Prevention Specialist for a youth drug and alcohol treatment and prevention agency, Chris coordinated a peer listening program with more than 400 participants in 21 schools. Annually, he facilitated three-day peer leader training retreats, conducted large school assemblies and facilitated innovative parenting workshops. It was here that Chris co-created an innovative and nationally recognized prevention model built on the power of storytelling.

After a year of family mediation work, Chris became the founding Executive Director of the Mission Possible Teen Center. Rather, he became ED of a dream. With little money and no facility, Chris was charged with making this dream reality. He recruited a diverse 21-member youth board to guide the creation of this new center in one of the most socio-economically challenged neighborhoods in southern Maine.  Less than a year later, a 7000 square foot facility, staffed by 35 volunteers, opened to 150 youth/day. The strengths-focused design of the center and the incredible level of community support resulted in consultations with eighteen other communities seeking to create their own teen programs.

Soon, Chris was recruited by the People’s Regional Opportunity Program, a large social service agency focused on poverty.  He created and was Director of the Youth Resiliency Project, with initiatives ranging from after school programs for largely immigrant youth living in subsidized housing projects, to a model statewide network of peer programs that grew ten-fold in two years.

Throughout, Chris was a tireless teacher/speaker, the creator and presenter of more than 1000 workshop.

In 2004, Chris realized a lifelong dream when he founded Strengths in Focus and authored his first book, Reflecting Strengths. He traveled extensively, training educators and social workers in the US and Canada. It was during this time that many audience members began to approach Chris about the application of his innovative ideas to their own personal and professional lives. In 2008, Chris began to turn his attention in this new direction, writing and creating new seminars, online resources and practical tools to supplement his work as a life coach.

This work continues today with the creation and the CD series, Loving Life 101 and the goal to reach one million people with these transformative tools for life.

 

You can reach Chris by using our convenient online Contact Form or by calling (207) 767 2024.