The Venture Begins
Dr. Shelley PrevostDeep work.
Deep work.
With both feet
in real life.
I created Big Self School to help people find their own path toward a more conscious, meaningful life.
Founder · Psychologist · Coach · Facilitator · SpeakerI know the cost
I know the cost
of losing yourself.
I have been a therapist, a founder, a technology CEO, and an angel investor. My work draws on more than twenty years of clinical training and the experience of building—and burning out.
One of my gifts is making deep work relevant and accessible. The questions may reach into psychology, soul, and consciousness. The work comes back to how you lead, how you love, and how you live.
The storyFrom breakdown
01 02 03
From breakdown
to a different path.
2014
The Venture Begins
I started a venture-backed technology company with a noble mission: solve childhood screen addiction. I was a therapist who understood psychology, a parent who lived the problem. I was going to change everything. For three years, I worked eighty-hour weeks. Barely saw my three kids. Slept three to four hours a night for months. The nobility of the mission justified every sacrifice.
The Body Revolts
2016
The Body Revolts
By Thanksgiving, my body revolted. I couldn't move. The diagnosis: recurring Epstein-Barr virus. Stress had dismantled my immune system. The company collapsed. Everything I'd built dissolved. What followed was the deepest exhaustion I've ever experienced—and the most necessary reckoning.
Big Self School Is Born
2018
With help from people wiser than I was, I found my way out of a race that was literally killing me. That reckoning became Big Self School—a place to guide leaders through the same transformation, from little self to Big Self. We walk with you. We've been where you are. And we know the way home.
Chad Prevost helped develop Big Self School from 2020–2025. His work is part of the school’s story.
Today, through Crossroads Publishing Group, he helps people develop their ideas and bring them into print.
Explore publishing with Chad ↗A larger life.
Without losing yourself.
Big Self School brings together coaching, learning, and Emma—a personal growth companion built from my approach.
I want this school to help people live with more freedom, connection, and meaning as we find our place in a world with machines.
Women finding their voice and leading their communities is close to my heart. This work welcomes everyone.
Read the Soul of Emma ↗“Working with Shelley was incredibly helpful for me to start to build that confidence and set goals.”
Ashley KentFounder & CEO, Clear Start · Coaching with Shelley
Questions people
often ask.
Who is Dr. Shelley Prevost?
Shelley is a psychologist, executive coach, facilitator and speaker, and the founder of Big Self School. She has been a therapist, a tech CEO and an angel investor, and she created Emma, a personal growth companion built on her approach to the Enneagram.
What are Shelley’s credentials?
Shelley holds an EdD in counseling psychology and an MA in clinical psychology. She is a licensed professional counselor with the mental health service provider designation (LPC-MHSP) in Tennessee, a Board Certified Coach through the Center for Credentialing & Education, and a certified Enneagram coach through the Chestnut Paes Enneagram Academy.
What is Big Self School?
A personal growth school founded by Dr. Shelley Prevost. It offers Enneagram typing, Emma, one-to-one coaching, team workshops and speaking, all aimed at helping people move from their automatic patterns to more conscious choices.
What does “Big Self” mean?
It is the shift from “little self”, the automatic pattern running the show, to “Big Self”, the part of you that can see the pattern and choose differently.
Where is Big Self School based?
Signal Mountain, Tennessee, near Chattanooga.
Why did Shelley start Big Self School?
After years of 80-hour weeks building a tech company, her health collapsed in 2016 and the company ended. That reckoning became Big Self School: a way to help others find their way out of the same race.
Find your own path.
Begin with Emma, or explore working with me directly.