In Person & Virtual Trainings tailored to the needs and goals of your organization.
Inspiring Purpose, Connection, and Growth
Meet Our Instructors
Meet Lisa
At A Purpose 4 Life, LLC (AP4L), our passion is to inspire people to live with purpose, foster meaningful connections, and thrive in life. As a woman-owned small business, we are dedicated to educating and empowering helping professionals across various fields through evidence-based and evidence-informed training programs.
Our training philosophy incorporates trauma-responsive practices and motivational interviewing—proven approaches that enhance engagement, partnership, employee and client satisfaction, and providing practical and engaging strategies to accomplish this. By focusing on compassion and collaboration, we help professionals build confidence and proficiency in supporting individuals navigating life’s challenges.
Our Expertise:
We provide a diverse range of professional development trainings, tailored to meet the needs of professionals seeking practical, relevant, and high-impact learning experiences. Our training topics include:
Motivational Interviewing (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Skills Practice Groups, and MI for Groups, MI for Leadership and Supervisors)
Trauma Responsiveness (Going beyond the basics)
Cultural Competence, Cultural Intelligence, and Cultural Humility
Nurtured Heart Approach®, Nurturing Parenting and Circle of Security Parenting®
Grief and Loss
Medication-Supported Recovery (MSR/MAT)
Substance Use Disorder Topics
Group Skills
Human Trafficking 101
DBT Foundational Skills
Professional Wellness and Workforce Resiliency
Embracing Families in Recovery
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
Our ultimate goal is to equip professionals with tools and strategies to build resilience, foster workforce wellness, and enhance the effectiveness of teams and supervisors alike.
Our Founder
Lisa Ardner, the founder of AP4L, brings decades of expertise in healthcare, behavioral health, substance use disorders, and crisis intervention. She is a Certified Motivational Interviewing Network Trainer (MINT), holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Learning, and is a Master Credentialed Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC) as well as a Certified Addiction Recovery Coach (CARC) and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP).
Lisa is also a Mental Health First Responder and a Hope, Life, and Relationship Coach. She is deeply passionate about providing resources and support to families impacted by substance use. For over a decade, she has served as a lead coordinator and facilitator for Celebrating Families, helping families impacted by substance use to heal and grow together.
At AP4L, we are proud to collaborate with aspiring business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals worldwide, sharing tools and strategies that inspire meaningful change within organizations, the fields we serve, and ourselves.
See the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) website for more information.
Sandy has decades of clinical experience in substance use disorder, sexual abuse, and trauma.
As a clinician, she noticed that evidence-based practices rooted in practical, person-centered approaches led to the best client outcomes. She further noted that these same skills led to lower rates of burnout among her colleagues.
When she noticed a deficit in workforce education focused on these skills, she pursued a master’s degree in adult education, and she founded Authentic Trainings to fill that void.
Sandy holds various certifications, including Trauma Debriefing, Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist, Trauma Champion, and Advanced Motivational Interviewing Trainer. She’s a member of the NYCB Trainer Registry.
Sandy develops customized training solutions to meet the growing needs of professionals in the fields mental health, criminal justice, substance use disorder, and more to increase client engagement and retention.