Syraj Syed, PhD, MAMC: I work as a Narrative Education Specialist with Your Authentic Self Work. By empowering you to approach your own narrative with a stance of inquiry and reflexivity, you will be equipped to rewrite your narrative toward an intentional, chosen life that is authentically yours.  I utilize narrative methods for developmental meaning-making and sustaining wellness to empower individuals and organizations toward conscious growth based on their own narrative insights.

Through research and practice in human communications and development I have become acutely aware of how people interact with one another, persuade one another, and become like-minded in various social contexts. I understand how messages are sustained or forgotten and what is at the core of their potentiality. I know how messages can either imprison or liberate us. I apply this knowledge to help you overcome your barriers and fears by moving into a deeper awareness of your Self and the messages you’re consuming from sources within and around you.

I use my academic and professional backgrounds in narrative theory;cognition and behavior; storytelling; literary theory and analysis; qualitative methodology; education research methods; instructional design; social foundations theory; philosophy; comparative religion; mass communication; learning and pedagogy; and leadership theory to help you identify the themes in your life that may be hindering your growth and stability. I can help you to re-author your life story.

I have worked in the fields of public health and education, focusing on the training and development of practitioners. I have trained health professionals, educators and leaders across both disciplines to work with evidence-based inquiry stances toward their practice, while also being able to problematize their environments and develop learner/patient-centered strategies for change. I hold a PhD in narrative methods and educational leadership, development and social foundations from the University of Florida, with specializations in learner and behavioral development, curriculum design and qualitative research methods. I also hold a Master of Arts in Mass Communication degree from UF and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and literature, with a cognate in comparative religion, from Tufts University. I have a focused interest in the scholarship of human development and use my writing and other narrative methods to harness this knowledge base to help people negotiate their life journeys toward self-actualization—a realization of their best possible selves.

You can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook and learn more about the other work with which I have been involved throughout my career.  For more information, contact me @ 352.871.0564 or syrajsyed1@gmail.com.