Therapy vs Coaching vs Intuitive Consults – What’s best for you now?
What type of support will fit best at this moment? I’ll share some thoughts about therapy, coaching and intuitive work, and how they help. Know that your needs can change over time, and as you progress, other areas may arise that would benefit from some attention.
I help people in three main ways – life enhancing therapy, integrative life and career coaching, and psychic consults (energy healing, and intuitive consults that ignite your own deep knowing).
What’s best now? How do you get started? Here are some points to consider.
1. What brings you to seek help right now?
- I have a specific problem or emotional struggle that is affecting my life, and I want help working through it.
→ Therapy - I’m generally functioning okay, but I feel stuck, uncertain, or ready for a change or a growth cycle, and I want help figuring out what comes next.
→ Coaching - I’m drawn to intuitive, spiritual, energetic, or channeled work and want insight or a different kind of exploration.
→ Intuitive Reading/Healing - I’m not really sure what I need. I know something needs attention, but I don’t know where to begin.
→ Clarity Session
Another question to help guide your choice – What would you most like to have happen?
- Feel better, heal, or understand patterns that are repeating, or causing distress.
→ Therapy - Get clear about a decision, goal, transition, or next chapter and move forward.
→ Coaching - Consult about what my intuition or inner knowing may be telling me, and/or get additional perspective on an important matter.
→ Intuitive work - Talk it through with someone who can help me figure out what’s happening and what kind of support makes sense.
→ Clarity Session
PS: You don’t have to figure this out perfectly before reaching out. Sometimes the first step is simply talking with me about what’s going on. Clients report I have “intuitive precision” and this informs all of my work. If you’re unsure whether therapy, coaching, an intuitive session, or a clarity conversation is the right fit, don’t worry. I know you’ll walk away feeling better.
Reaching out is an act of courage. You must go against the cultural myths that we need to go it alone. And you may have heard – and most of the wisdom about success tells us – successful people ask for help. Not just once, often.
Research also shows that the simple act of talking, and getting outside of your own head, is a big part of transformation. Simply hearing yourself say things to another is a gamechanger. With my years of experience, intuitive chops and in depth training along for the ride, that conversation gets powerful.
My Three Levels of Healing framework – Different areas that you can gain skills in during therapy.
For healing on the holistic therapy path, these three levels of healing bring mastery and wholeness.
Level one is lifestyle practices that build sanity and resilience. Diet, exercise, sleep – so important. Exercise, for example, has been shown to give a mood boost equal to antidepressants. Sleep is known to also be a critical area for mood, longevity, and Alzheimer’s prevention.
I add the importance of meditation or relaxation to level one. Practicing in this area doesn’t mean you’ve become ultra zen. It does mean you stop saying, I can’t do that, meditation doesn’t work for me. You keep a practice of some sort going. Even if you think it’s not working, it is helping immensely.
What’s the best steps for you, with all of these level one areas? Similar to exercise, it’s whatever you will be able to do consistently. I fall off the wagon all the time. What matters is, I know I won’t be off the horse for long. And I return, again and again. That’s the nature of it. Returning. Resetting. With kindness.
Level two is honing your stress management, coping and communication tools. Tools that help you stay “regulated” as it’s called. This means you’re balanced, calm, centered, grounded. Tools that help you right yourself, after you get knocked off center by life. The better (and faster) this works, the more you stay focused on what’s most important to you. You can thrive, and make progress in the royal road of becoming your best self.
Communication is also an important zone under level two, and this is a lifelong practice.
Level three includes the deeper work of therapy – working with trauma, grief and loss, unforeseen crises like health or other setbacks of life. Most of us have challenging experiences, whether from the present or the past. Surviving life upsets can cause you to form negative beliefs about how the world works; these often need to be updated. And sometimes, it helps to go deep to shift your view of things.
While old beliefs, survival foundations and working perspectives helped protect you at key moments in the past, eventually, you want more than just to survive. As you grow, those old approaches and views limit your growth and expansion. You start to feel bored, boxed in, limited. You’re meant for more.
My philosophy is that expanding and growing to your best self will trigger your old beliefs or inner obstacles that want to keep you the same. These often can have historical roots, whether yours or your ancestors. They’ll need to be cleared eventually for you to enjoy life more.
The good news? This healing work benefits your life, your ancestral line and your loved ones. This is part of the planetary evolution that we’re all being called to do, in my view. And, new research has improved this deeper area of therapy, the healing of trauma, in the last fifteen years.
ONE OF THE TOOLS WE USE
Here is an example of a tool used for the deeper work of therapy – try this RAIN audio exercise, whenever you notice a feeling that has more OOMPH or charge than the circumstances warrant.
What clients say:
What’s been most helpful in therapy has been having time to focus on myself – really focus -guided by you. I came in knowing I needed more than just talking. I’d been to therapy before, and while talking helped, it wasn’t enough. This time, I needed tools. And that’s exactly what you gave me – effective tools that made a real difference.
I don’t think people always realize they need tools. Maybe they’re afraid, or just not ready for that kind of empowerment. But I was. And now I’m committed to building on those skills and staying connected to the wise part of myself – my inner wisdom.
– Past therapy client who gave permission to use these quotes.
I would say the biggest learning – and this was HUGE for me – was the work around negative core beliefs. This helped me to realize that being “out there” and speaking my truth is safer than staying small.
– Meg Sullivan, Reiki master, Oakland, CA
Next – How does Denise’s Coaching help?
Coaching is designed to support your growth in becoming your best self, and to give you support in navigating areas that are new and perhaps intimidating. That’s the hero’s (shero’s lol) journey. Yes, it works to do it alone but it often takes a lot longer and is less fun, than when you arrange more support.
Learn about my approach to coaching work, including career and work areas (the Radiant Work framework).