We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristy Weeks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristy below.

Kristy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?

You never know what people have been through in their life. I’ve worked in several high intensity environments over my career, a rape crisis line, a domestic violence shelter, a case manager for families in the child welfare system, elementary school, etc. One of the things that you learn in a very different way doing this job is that you never know what experiences people have had. I’m always heartbroken by the pain we as humans can inflict upon each other, but am also heartened by the strength and resilience that can arise from these experiences. Never believe you are the expert on someone else’s story. Watching someone claw their way towards healing is so many different things but what it always does is reaffirm my faith in that we are always seeking connection. To be understood. To be wanted. To be enough. Warts and all. It’s a privilege to watch this journey for others, as well as for the ones I am lucky enough to be invited to join them along the way.

Kristy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Like many others, I wear a lot of hats (and a lot of different colors of hair under those hats)…I became a therapist so that I could reach a lot of people who are struggling to deal with every day life. I wanted to make a difference for people’s ability to cope. And after getting my counseling license, I worked with the most disenfranchised populations to try and have more resources than when they came to me. BUT….the system we have, both mental health and health care are not set up to promote health and wellness. The money is in sickness and DIS-ease. The approach that I take is that you are a whole person who seeks to reinforce holistic wellness.

The cost of working within this system drained me. My stress levels were skyrocketing, and although we preach self-care 24/7, having the space to actually put the effort into that was too much. I decided that I deserved better…
I learned that traditional models of talk therapy aren’t enough (at least for me). I decided that as a society, women are trained to put the needs of everyone else ahead of their own. And it’s time for that to stop.

That’s when I found hypnosis and NLP. I love the idea of tapping into our subconscious (which controls 99.994% of everything we do, including limiting beliefs!) to help people make changes that add value and more meaning to their lives.
I have always as an empath learned to distinguish energies, and how to harness those energies to protect ourselves as well as to change the belief that we don’t deserve to be a priority. And I became passionate about helping others learn about that as well using hypnosis, NLP, coaching, EFT, reiki, and some good old fashioned counseling and psychology techniques to raise the vibration from mental and emotional exhaustion to thriving.

I wanted a safe space…A space where it was okay to be my weird, witchy, not fitting-in-neatly-into-the-boxes-where-I’m-expected-to self. My most SACRED SELF. I wanted this in all areas of my life–as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a friend–all the roles I fill for myself, my family and my work. I wanted that for others as well. So I created Sacred Self. A hub of connectedness, wholeness, and heart-alignment. A place where ANYONE and EVERYONE gets to embody (literally) their most sacred self.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I always wanted to pursue being a therapist. When looking into getting my masters’ degree, I chose a program that was very competitive, but was the wrong fit for me. I decided I would try to transfer into a different program. I met with one of the deans of that program and asked what was needed of me to get in. He gave me a list, and I did everything on it. However, one of the other people on the selection committee was convinced that I was trying to sneak my way into the program I wanted. I met with her to try and address her concerns, but she had already made up her mind about who and what I was and would not listen that I was following her co-chair’s instructions to be accepted. She never did listen. Even after he himself went to her and confirmed that I was following the plan he’d outlined for me, including withdrawing from the current program I was in. This changed nothing in her mind and since she was the head of the committee, he was overruled. I was rejected from the program.

In one letter I lost my career plans, my jobs (they were all on campus jobs at the time) and at the time, I thought, my future. Suddenly, I had no idea what to do next with my life. I knew I would have to move away as well as I could not maintain my home without a job. It took some time, but eventually, I decided that I was the only one who could make my dreams happen. So I tried again. I got into a more competitive school and a more competitive program. I graduated 4 years later with a 4.0 GPA with my masters in counseling. I am still proud of the fact that I didn’t let a setback (a huge one, but still, a setback) deter me from what I knew was the right fit for me at the time.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The field of mental health is an interesting one. There are so many different environments and microcosms within that field, but one thing that remains consistent, is the expectation of productivity. As a field, we definitely do not do enough to encourage holistic self-care and setting boundaries, even though we talk about it a lot with our clients.

The expectations just since I’ve started in this field have grown exponentially over time: increasing caseloads, decreasing state and federal funding, time limitations and turn arounds are all challenges that can interfere with being an effective therapist. Once you add in agencies that tell you what treatment modalities you can use, fighting with insurance companies for payment, double and at times triple booking schedules, toxic work environments, and decreasing resources will, over time and without intervention, suck the life out of providers. The burnout in this field is high. The cost of not just holding space, but also guiding people to their own answers plus the admin expectations are draining over time. You are constantly “on”.

We talk alot about setting boundaries and the need for self-care and work-life balance, but in practice, these things are often dismissed or ignored. I had to learn throughout my time in this field that no one was going to do the work for me to maintain my passion, my energy, and what I have to give to others. If I want to last in this field, I have to make self-care and boundary setting musts in my life. And at times, that makes people angry. Tough. I had to prioritize myself in order to be able to care for others effectively. In the beginning, I did not know how to do that. I overcommitted, overinvested, and drained myself to the point of physical illness. When you get to that point, there are limitations to how effective you can be in treatment. The other side of the coin of self-care is accountability. I have a responsibility to be honest with myself about how I am contributing to the problem or if I am being proactive to own my own crap. To be in alignment with the life I say I want and what I am doing about it. And learning that has been the biggest challenge as well as the biggest gift anyone can give.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sacredselfhypnosis.com
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