Jocelyn Birkhimer, MA.Ed.
Executive Director
Overview: Jocelyn is the Program Director of Club Xcite. Ever since she was a little girl, Jocelyn has had an incredible passion for teaching, leadership and helping other’s grow. Her career started early in the field of education, tutoring students of all ages with a specialty for kids with learning challenges. Her passion and experience supporting her younger sister with Asperger’s and ADHD lead her to become a behavioral therapist and executive functioning coach for kids and families working through social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral challenges.
Education: Born and raised in Long Beach, CA, she moved to San Diego to pursue a degree in Cognitive Linguistics at University of California, San Diego and loved San Diego so much that she stayed. Inspired to create change in the field of learning and development worldwide, she went on to complete her Master’s Degree in Education with a specialty in school leadership as she simultaneously pursued complementary trainings in integrative psychology, yoga, mindfulness and spiritual sciences to become an energy worker, Certified Master Practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming, Mental and Emotional Release Therapy®, and more.
Experience: In high school, Jocelyn worked for the Long Beach Unified School district as an after school math tutor for students who were falling behind in Algebra, Geometry, Trig, and Calculus. Many of the students she worked with faced challenges with ADD/ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, English as a second language, and more. While attending college, Jocelyn applied her knowledge and experiences working with Club Xcite as an executive functioning coach, tutor, enrichment instructor, and camp counselor. She also worked for our sister company, Xcite Steps, doing Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Jocelyn also followed her passion for American Sign Language and worked as a Research Assistant in the Mayberry Lab for Multimodal Language Development while she attended UCSD. After she graduated, Jocelyn became the Enrichment Program Manager for Club Xcite where she has used her skills and passions to create new programs designed to encompass all types of students and cater to their needs. She worked to develop some of the first after school programs to teach skills related to Social & Emotional Learning. In 2015, Jocelyn became the Director of Club Xcite and currently coaches and develops new training programs for kids, families, and educators and builds partnerships for strengthening our field worldwide. She also serves on the board of directors for San Diego Non-Profit Mindfulness 4 Youth, hosting community events and supporting local youth in having access to mindfulness and inner peace.
Hobbies & Skills: Other than her passion for working with kids, Jocelyn also loves to visit her family in North Idaho, doing yoga, attending spiritual and personal development workshops, rock climbing, hiking, knitting, singing, and learning more about American Sign Language. She is also a registered yoga teacher and is training her puppy Stella to be a therapy dog to help kids develop with support in the social environment.
Why ClubXcite? Jocelyn loves being a part of Club Xcite because she strongly believes in their core values and embodies them as her own. To her, Club Xcite is unique in that every child and family receive a personalized and holistic approach to reach their academic, social, and emotional goals. She is happy to be a part of such a wonderful effort to empower and enrich young minds and is continuously excited to help empower the development and awareness of integrative education worldwide.