How a suburban career and wellness coach helps clients build happier lives

The amount of stress built up in many of us during the pandemic and the new normal it has produced in at-home work and everyday life is akin to the Mount Everest of tension.

Those in the business of helping people cope with dramatic changes at work and addressing the feeling of being isolated or lost find themselves in much higher demand.

With 30-plus years of experience in operating an executive job search firm and, more recently, a separate wellness coaching firm, Russ Riendeau of St. Charles finds those skills more important than ever.

He's providing his services as the "new kid in town" as he and his wife of 41 years, Cheryl, moved six months ago from Barrington to be closer to his son's family in St. Charles. In short, St. Charles inherited an interesting fellow.

The 65-year-old Riendeau studied behavioral sciences and earned three degrees in psychology, developing some excellent client success stories along the way.

A client he placed in a job for about six years came back to him looking for another job, mainly because he was bored. Almost as an aside, he also had a desire to make more money.

"I would talk him off the ledge about wanting to make a change just because of boredom," said Riendeau, who works out of a home office in The Oaks in St. Charles. "One thing we always have to be careful about is making sure we want to make a job change to get into something, not to get out of somewhere."

Riendeau felt this man had no reason to make a job change, other than citing boredom. "If you can't make more money where you have been for five years, why would you want to leave and start over someplace else?"

Dipping into his wellness coaching experience, Riendeau convinced the man to engage in other activities, to exercise more and find meaningful things with his family that would go beyond a bigger payday.

"Years later, he called and was thanking me for talking him into staying where he was," Riendeau added. "He ended up buying the company with four other partners - and five years later sold the company and became a multimillionaire. He acknowledged that had he just left out of boredom, it never would have happened."

It was just one example how Riendeau's job search and wellness coach roles often blend to guide people through rough patches in life. It's been especially important during the COVID pandemic and the transition to post-pandemic.

But it has taken some time for Riendeau to get to this place, part of it being going through his own search to find true passions. Prior to starting New Frontier Search Company and Wellnessity Inc., Riendeau took a job with Lexington Homes out of high school and worked as a homebuilder for nine years.

He went back to school at age 30 and secured the psychology degrees over the next 14 years. Following his creed, Riendeau essentially left a job to get into something else and it opened his eyes into the correlation between successful executives and their approach to wellness.

During the pandemic, Riendeau decided to further his education through training and certification by the Mayo Clinic as a wellness coach to better understand how to coach executives seeking consistent, pragmatic ways to maintain their overall health.

"Those executives, sales and management professionals who have kept their exercise programs in place, maintained weight, did not over-consume food or alcohol and maintained their relationships with spouses, partners, friends or children, continue to be healthier," he said. "Fewer doctor visits, less need for medications and, overall, they appear to be happier in life."

Ultimately, Riendeau can be viewed as a case study in how to not get bored with work or life outside of it. A key goal in his life was to have an occupation that allowed time to pursue other hobbies.

He's an avid golfer and marathon runner in addition to embracing art through work as a sculptor. Some of his public art includes The Everest Easel, a 15-foot metal sculpture in front of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, and a 5-foot bronze abstract horse on the Phoenix Mayo Clinic grounds.

In addition, he's made presentations about mental and physical health through TEDx Talks, where he also displays his art created through recycled materials.

That's enough to keep many of us busy beyond our wildest expectations. Maybe not so much for Riendeau.

He's also a guitarist and keyboardist who has released seven albums of original music. He has authored 13 books on various topics, including two volumes of a Rusty & Pogo comic series, featuring drawings of two characters he places in various historical situations.

"All of these fun and stress relieving activities give me perspective and ideas to share with others in order to coach them on how to find time to pursue your dreams," he explained.

Riendeau typically works with executives in their mid-40s who are in the middle of a career change "that has forced them to reconsider a lot of what they thought they wanted to do."

None of this means Riendeau can describe his businesses as a medical service.

"I have had medical professionals refer clients to me, but I am not affiliated with any hospital or medical group," he noted. "I do belong to the American Psychological Association and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and my wellness coaching certification comes through a Mayo Clinic College of Medicine affiliation."

Mostly, Riendeau wants stories with satisfactory endings to continue. Like the one about a single mom with three daughters who had worked for a company for a long time but went through a divorce and left that job, and later struggled to find a job.

"She was not skilled in interviewing technique and her husband handled all of the business and financials," he noted. "She was not depressed - I do not treat depression or prescribe medicine. If they need help in those areas, I encourage them to see someone else."

Rather, Riendeau said, he treats "the human spirit" and did so with this woman just after the COVID pandemic. He taught her how to reset her career and how to deliver her message. He worked on her LinkedIn profile and pushed her to exercise and socialize to overcome a "feeling of being isolated and trapped."

In about four months, she found a job in an industry she knew well, making good money. And it came about through a formula Riendeau firmly endorses.

"She was feeling 100 percent better about who she was by being aware of all the pillars around wellness, exercising, diet, sleep management, stress, and protecting against substance abuse, while building social connections."

Buy some lemonade

Here's to hoping it's quite warm on Sunday, July 9, and we'd all like a glass of lemonade to quench our thirst.

It would be especially important if we could do that between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Penrose Brewery at 509 Stevens St. in Geneva.

Some children who just finished kindergarten at Williamsburg Elementary in Geneva will be selling $1 glasses of lemonade to raise money for their teacher, Stephanie Nickas.

The kids love their teacher and want to help lift her spirits in the wake of losing her 33-year-old husband to a car accident. Stephanie is now raising two children on her own and the kids from her kindergarten class are living by the credo behind a promotion for their lemonade stand - "When Life Gives You Lemons, We Make Lemonade."

Those who can't make it to the lemonade stand can contribute through Venmo instant money transfer to @Sarah-Braley-7.

Dashing for doughnuts

You've likely seen posters around town or in your neighborhood, or some emails in your inbox regarding the Donut Dash 5K.

But what is it?

It's the Geneva Community Chest's seventh annual 5K run and walk to further advance their fundraising efforts for more than 25 local charitable organizations.

This year's event is set for 7:30 a.m. Saturday, July 15 at the Peg Bond Center in downtown Batavia. The kids "dash" starts at 8:30 a.m.

There are various age categories and awards for the runners, and also some prizes for best costumes. Those interested can register at dash4donuts.com.

The big pitch for this event, of course, is eating doughnuts at the end of the 5K.

Batavia's turn for festival

Any community festival can draw the short straw and get uncooperative weather when it's turn comes up on the calendar.

The Kane County Fair in mid-July is one that comes to mind as traditionally quite steamy.

Batavia's Windmill City Festival, on occasion, has endured the same type of treatment from Mother Nature. But the hearty souls of the Tri-Cities area generally support festivals, regardless of the weather, especially the events with live music in the late afternoon and into the evening.

Batavia's event has that, for sure, along with all sorts of other contests and games for all ages.

Windmill City Festival opens at 5 p.m. Friday, July 7, and runs through 6 p.m. Sunday, July 9, opening at noon Saturday and Sunday. The Windmill Whirl 5K takes place at 10 a.m. July 9.

The windmillcityfest.org site has all of the details.

dheun@sbcglobal.net