Debra Drake
Debra Drake
I grew up up in a bi-cultural bi-lingual family in Cape Town, South Africa, where I spoke both both English and Afrikaans. My grandmother, was a traditional healer, herbalist and midwife, she awakened my lifelong fascination with the natural functioning of the human body and immune system. My father was a competitive body-builder and developed my interest in how a maintained strong body aids in the aging process.
As a young adult I moved to Athens, Greece, where I developed a large and devoted clientele as a fitness instructor, medical esthetician, and nutrition and wellness consultant. I created the country’s first unisex fitness and wellness facility. There I introduced children’s exercise movement programs to a wide-eyed Greek public.
My first trip to the US was to obtain my IDEA certification in kinesiology, physiology and group fitness. My second trip, in 1998, was to marry and move to the Wood River Valley. For the last seven years I have volunteered in the CASA program as a court appointed special advocate for children under court supervision in the child protection system, for which I earned a paralegal certification. When I discovered the Nurturing Pathways program created by Christine Roberts in Seattle, I knew I had the background, skills and passion to bring an important child development program to our valley.
