We were lucky to catch up with Natalie Deering recently and have shared our conversation below.

Natalie, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I am a person that typically takes very little risk in my decision making. I am a first born and usually follow the “rules” of life. So when I was faced with the realization that a part of me was no longer feeling fulfilled in my full-time 8-4:30pm job, it took me a while to pause and listen. The pandemic forced me to look at this part of me that wasn’t feeling in alignment with my purpose at that point in my life. I had given birth to my first child in January 2020, and was soon faced with the major life changes of motherhood and a pandemic.

My husband and I made the decision to leave Lexington KY and move to Northern KY to be closer to my family for support.
Making this decision was hard due to me knowing that moving would make it impossible to continue working at my current employer. Even though I loved my job and my coworkers, I knew it was time to listen to my shift in purpose. The parts of me that carried fear of leaving something so wonderful and safe had a hard time letting go and taking the risk of starting my own practice. It took a big change like the pandemic for me to honor my new purpose, to listen to my parts, and to connect with my authentic Self of today.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was fortunate to figure out when I was a junior in high school that I wanted to go into psychology as a career. I originally planned to go into interior design and follow the footsteps of my mother, however, once I took an advanced psychology class in high school, I felt my purpose shift. I got my undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2008, my masters degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Kentucky University in 2010, and I’ve been a licensed mental health therapist ever since 2011.

Today, I work full time in my private practice, ND Wellness Psychological Services in Ft. Thomas Ky and offer both in-person appointments and telehealth services for mental health. I specialize in using internal family systems therapy, meditation, and restorative yoga in my work with clients towards their healing goals.

Internal family systems therapy, also known as IFS, is a radical type of therapy that welcomes all parts of the client’s system. The belief in IFS is that there are no bad parts and that all parts are welcome in the therapy room. IFS invites the client to get to know the parts of them that are out of balance and that are causing a negative impact in their lives. Once we understand these protector parts and why they do what they do, we then can heal the vulnerable parts they are protecting within, usually from childhood. The Self is the healing energy within every person that is there to heal our vulnerable and protector parts. IFS is great for a wide variety of issues including those with complex trauma backgrounds, anxiety, depression, addiction, and eating disorders . I have been a therapist for twelve years and have never come across another therapy like IFS. It is truly healing!

I am a certified meditation instructor specializing in mindfulness and a trained yoga instructor specializing in restorative yoga. I incorporate meditation, movement, and restorative yoga when appropriate and can provide information and training regarding these modalities for anyone interested.

I am very passionate about my work with others and feel so much gratitude daily when in the presence of others’ in their healing journey.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn as a therapist, as well as in my personal life, was that certain issues like anxiety, panic, and depression were not just symptoms to get rid of, but were parts of us that were there for a reason. In traditional therapy training, we are taught to identify problematic symptoms and then present ways in which to reduce or get rid of them. For the first eight years of my career, I was trying to help people mask over their symptoms instead of healing the underlying issue of why they were there in the first place.

In IFS therapy, the first step is getting to know these symptoms as a protector part within the client’s internal system. Something like anxiety may have been activated within the person when they were younger as a way to distract them from feeling the deeper hurt within. As the person gets older, the anxiety continues to do this job even if the person is no longer in the same situation as before, thus, the anxiety becomes maladaptive and an issue for the client, negatively impacting their life in various ways, So instead of giving the client coping techniques to mask over the anxiety, I invite the client to turn towards the anxiety with curiosity and compassion. This way, we can learn about why it’s there and what it is protecting in the client from being felt, experienced, etc. IFS is true healing which allows the anxiety, for example, to no longer have to be stuck in that job, but instead it can be free to be within the client the way it would rather, maybe using its energy towards playfulness or relaxation instead.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Doing your own personal healing work is going to make you succeed in the field of psychology and mental health. For a long time I didn’t attend to my personal healing and eventually it led me feeling burnt out and jaded. I wasn’t able to be present with my clients in the way that was beneficial to them and their time. My personal healing journey really began when I went through yoga teacher training and meditation instructor training. Taking time each day to meditate and practice the exercises I was learning as a student drastically began shifting my inner awareness of myself.

Once I came across IFS therapy and started seeing my own IFS therapist, that was the game changer for me. As professionals in mental health, we have to be tending to our own parts. We are human like our clients, and we will get triggered and activated by the people we work with and from situations in our personal life. If we are not turning towards these activation within us, then we are doing a dis-service to our clients, we will not be able to be Self-led in therapy sessions and therefore can’t provide a healing container of Self energy for our client’s personal work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nd_wellness_services/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-deering-8b3134b6/

Image Credits
Photos credits: Jeremy Kramer.