Are you struggling even after traditional therapy to process your emotions, stress, and reactivity? I get it. I have been through a faith transition out of Mormonism, a mid-life unraveling, and a soul-stretching journey of self re-discovery over the last decade. Although I have much to be thankful for in my life, I’ve also not had it so easy. Can you relate?

As a highly sensitive child it often felt like the world wasn’t built for me. I frequently related better to adults then to my peers, had an uncanny ability to have deep empathy for others, and had larger than life energy that others didn’t quite know what to do with. My parents, although they did their best, brought their generation trauma into their parenting. Unfortunately this set me up to be a people pleaser, chaser of conditional love, have low self-esteem and low self-worth, feelings of walking on eggshells around others especially authority figures, and a frequent nagging feeling of “something is missing.” Unaware, I lived in fear of abandonment, fear of loss, and fear of being criticized when being my true, deep feeling, big-energy-in-a-small-package self. This led to decades of self-abandonment, mild but chronic depression, and a prolonged lack of peace or joy in my life.  

I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at 17, buying in easily to the promise of a supportive community and people you could count on, eternal marriage and families, purpose, and a personal relationship with God... With an authority who could tell you exactly how to be "good," how to do things “the right way.” I got married at 20 and had four children by the time I was 29. I was going through the motions. I was an excellent Latter Day Saint because I wanted nothing more than to please God. I was a sacrificing wife and mother who was determined to create the perfect family, and do everything in her power to keep all of her children “on the right path.”

But when you aren’t solid in your core, all you are doing is building a glass castle.

In 2019 my castle crashed to the ground. Like an energy surge from deep within, something shifted and in the space of a day, my world turned on its head.  All that was suppressed could no longer be contained. I could no longer “effort” myself into the life that was “supposed” to bring me happiness. All the radical truths that kept me down could no longer be ignored, came up, and destroyed everything I had built. My marriage exploded and questions that had been brewing for a long time about truth claims and unhealthy characteristics of the church shouted at me.

My life was in color AND I was simultaneously in agony because I didn’t know how to change.

Then very suddenly, I lost my mother to a heart attack. We were in China, so I left immediately. It was March 2020. What was intended to be a two week trip to attend to my mother’s affairs, ended up being an unplanned two and a half year separation from my children and my “normal” life when the boarders to China slammed shut as the pandemic spread globally.

Two and a half years primarily of solitude during a global pandemic, facing the shards of my whole life, everything I thought I could count on, in pieces on the ground. I had to face my self-abandonment, the damage it caused, my unhealed inner-child, my unhealthy familiar patterns, enmeshment, my faith de- and re-construction, my unfelt, unvoiced emotions, my trauma… All of it.

I had to begin to restart EVERYTHING - first by feeling the weight of radical honesty and fear of life unraveling.

This was the true beginning of my healing journey and the deep inner work that was required to rise from the ashes. I had to journey down to the depths of pain and sorrow and loss in order to know how to meet you there. When my life crashed to the ground, it was like being in the bottom of a dark, deep well. I didn’t know who I was, what made me unique, or what hobbies I liked. I was a shadow. It took a great deal of daily learning, growing, and work to climb out.

I can say now that through many healing modalities, experiences, and study I have a solid idea of who I am, autonomy, what I want from life, where my boundaries are, and how to live in peace, joy, and personal solidarity (no more empty feeling!). I realized the calling of soul healer has always been my purpose, but I had to walk the walk FIRST (you’re welcome… JK!).

Now I am here to help YOU.

A little about my credentials. I have I have a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Brigham Young University, with an emphasis in research, writing, analysis, and philosophy. I received my life coaching certifications from Life Purpose Institute, Certified Life Coach (CLC) and Certified Spiritual Coach (CSC). I also attended a 30 hour course on Relationship Coaching. I chose Life Purpose Institute because it was founded by licensed marriage and family therapist, Fern Gordon, and their courses provided tools and instruction that are backed up by the International Coaching Federation. I have done over 110 hours of training between all of my classes, as well as many more hours of evaluated practice to attain my certifications. I have completed the course and case studies and am a Certified Havening Techniques® Practitioner, which is a psychosensory feedback technique that actually HEALS the brain! I have also studied and practiced somatic release, mediation, breathwork, and sound healing.

I believe that there is more to healing then just talk therapy (although I do recommend having a good psychologist in your corner!). Emotions, memories, and energy from stressful events are stored in our bodies and in our minds. I use many healing modalities to help you release and heal what is stored in your mind and body that stops you from getting the most out of this precious life. I have named my personal healing approach IBEAR - Intentional Body and Emotional Actualization and Reconciliation because I know from personal experience that to really heal, grow, and journey on to enlightenment, it takes intentional action to connect our physical body with our emotional and spiritual body. It is in this life-long work and daily practice that we will find wholeness.

For more details about my story, please see my blog posts or schedule a chat with me.

May you discover how to love your day, no matter what comes you way.

Love to you my friends,

Reh