Friends, I currently have companioning spots open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Sign up for a free call to explore working together here. Any questions, email me here.
Warm, listening support to soften painful patterns, soften self judgment & nourish your relationship with every part of you
When we’re struggling, often what we most need is emotional support: a place where we can be listened to with warmth, where we can know we make sense, and where we can kindle hope for healing.
I call this companioning – something different than therapy or coaching, although it’s a wonderful complement to both.
Companioning is for you if you want a space where you can be heard and held, where you can come to rest. I offer listening and gentle, grounded support to help you feel less worried, more strengthened and more clear as you soften painful patterns, face and grieve the wounds of life and connect with your soul’s journey.
Where are you needing support?
These are some areas where we can listen together:
- Healing a painful relationship with food
- Support for neurodivergence, anxiety and depression
- Caring for a chronic health condition
- Compassionate habit change
- Befriending emotions
- Deepening self compassion and acceptance
Resting in Togetherness
This kind of support is especially helpful if you've struggled to find places where you can be truly heard. I like the way Focusing founder Eugene Gendlin says this:
Most people have no one who will hear and receive their own inward experience just as it is....Everyone wants to edit it, change it, improve it, put his or her meaning onto it....When people experience being listening to....there is visible relief... a free space inside."
As Sarah Peyton reminds us, there's nothing more calming to the brain than being understood. Together we fully receive you and hear what needs to be heard so the 'free space' inside you can speak. This 'free space' will help guide you to the needs that live underneath painful patterns and places of inner protest that need support. As these places are heard, and as our fears are calmed, painful patterns can change.
How companioning works
"Sometimes I wake up & have to remind myself: 'There is nothing wrong with me. I have patterns to unlearn, new behaviors to embody and wounds to heal. But there is nothing wrong with the core of me and who I am. I am unlearning generations of harm and remembering love. It takes time.'" - Yolo Akili
As a companioning client, we meet by zoom and offer you lots of spaciousness, where what's within you can bubble up and speak.
We may use poems, stories, symbols, imagery, collage, or some other kind of creative practice to touch and express what lives inside. We may do a brief meditative exercise or sit in the silence together. I may share some principles of attachment science to orient and guide you.
Our time together is here to support you in gaining clarity and understanding about how you can come alongside every part of yourself with wisdom and compassion.
Next steps to work together
If you're interested in becoming a Companioning client, let's meet by zoom for 30-40 minutes where we can get to know each other and you can see if we're a good fit. You can see my openings and sign up to meet here. And you can go here to learn more about my approach.
I typically meet with clients once a week or every other week. Sometimes my Companioning spots are full, in which case I maintain a waiting list - you'll be notified once a spot opens up for you.
I'd be honored to sit alongside you and be a part of your journey, to witness and support your healing and unfolding. I take to heart these words from Bill Plotkin, which were taught to me by my friend Rosemerry: "Do I love myself enough to listen with the ears of my heart to the other voices of myself speaking?" It is with this reverence that I come to meet you, and to hear your story.
With warmth and care, Karly