Mental Health Therapy and Intuitive Wellness: Processing Trauma on All Levels
Have you ever spent months in therapy processing a traumatic experience, understanding it intellectually, but still feeling it stuck in your body? You can talk about what happened, you know why it affected you, but your body is still holding onto something your mind has already worked through.
This is where energy work and therapy become powerful partners. Your therapist helps you understand and process your experiences mentally and emotionally. Intuitive Wellness Sessions help you release what's stored in your body energetically.
Why Talk Therapy Isn't Always Enough
Therapy is essential. It gives you insight into your patterns, helps you process experiences, and teaches you tools for emotional regulation. I always recommend therapy as a foundation for mental health.
But here's what I've seen repeatedly: you can understand your trauma cognitively and still have it living in your tissues. You can know exactly why you react a certain way and still not be able to stop the reaction. That's because trauma and emotional patterns aren't just stored in your mind—they're stored in your body's energy system.
When you experience trauma or chronic stress, your body creates energetic blocks as a form of protection. Your chakras might close down, energy stops flowing to certain areas, and emotional material gets lodged in your tissues. Talking about it helps you process it mentally, but the energetic residue remains until it's directly addressed.
How These Modalities Work Together
Think of therapy as the architect and energy work as the builder.
In therapy, you're mapping the terrain—understanding where the issues came from, what patterns you're running, and what needs to change. You're gaining crucial insight and developing new ways of thinking.
In energy work, we're physically releasing what's stored in your body. We're clearing the chakra blocks, releasing stuck emotions from your tissues, and resetting your nervous system so you can actually implement the changes you're working on in therapy.
Here's what this partnership creates:
You process something difficult in therapy
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We release the energetic charge of it from your body
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You have more capacity to go deeper in your next therapy session.
Your therapist teaches you boundary-setting skills
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We work on your solar plexus chakra so you feel strong enough to actually use those skills
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Boundaries become possible instead of just theoretical.
You understand why you're people-pleasing
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We release the fear patterns that drive it from your root chakra
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You can start choosing differently because the nervous system activation has decreased.
A Therapist's Perspective:
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Knowing I want to get somewhere, but not sure where that place is. What I do know is that I keep striving for it, with a pull of immeasurable strength. I have always been curious, which I tell my clients is one of the many keys to your authentic self. My story may be similar to yours. You could call this purpose, passion, or just plain survival to keep going, but it is palpable and real. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, with my own practice. I did not get here by accident, I worked hard to have the privilege of hearing my clients’ most vulnerable parts of themselves. I walk alongside them as we navigate the long and windy road of healing. The role I hold is sacred in one’s healing journey, one of many that can help.
We all live in a house of generational trauma (and gifts!), physical memories, emotional wounds, stagnant energy, and sometimes just feeling like something isn’t quite “right”...but we don’t know WHAT that is. This is where energy healing comes in. Call it magic, but it works. Our bodies are energy, everything is energy-it cannot be created or destroyed. BUT it can be transmuted and shifted. I have been receiving energy work for nearly 20 years, and I assure you that it has been a pivotal part of my healing journey. I will go as far to say that I wouldn’t be where I am today had I not followed my curiosity and trusted what, at that time, was not as cool and definitely not mainstream. I truly believe that therapy comes in many forms, and if you are reading this and haven’t yet tried Reiki, this is your sign to take the leap. I have tried many modalities of healing over the years, with Reiki being one of my favorites. I am Sheena’s client, friend, and fellow healer.
When you go on your journey of healing you need a team. Mental health therapy is one of many ways to help yourself heal (one I highly recommend!). Taking care of your body, soul, and mind go hand in hand. One doesn’t need to “see” it, to know it. The work that Reiki can do is not something that is measured by a graph, chart, or assessment. It is one that is FELT. With being a mental health therapist I encourage my clients to feel and process their emotions, challenge their negative core beliefs, and make the changes that they need to heal and grow. At times there may be energy blocks, which could be preventing them from taking that next step in their healing journey.
Our bodies are our home, and just as we need to do different things to maintain our house, we also need to do this with us. Emotions and life experiences can build up like clutter that can hinder your perception of who you are and all that you can be. This is where having a team of your own personal healers comes in. Just as I refer my clients to talk with their psychiatrist or physician about medicine, I also encourage my clients to try energy work if they are curious about it. Healing comes in many forms, and everyone has different needs and goals. It is important that we tend to all aspects of us…heart, mind, body, and soul. This is self-care and self-love. I believe the power of the work I do, I also believe in the power of the work Sheena does. Follow your curiosity, pay attention to what makes you feel expanded and excited, and allow yourself to be open to the possibility of being the best version of YOU.
Amy Davis, MSW, LISW
Diamond Heart Therapy
515-850-2894
Amy understands something important: therapy helps you understand the clutter. Energy work helps you clear it out.
What Energy Work Addresses That Therapy Doesn't
Your therapist is trained to work with your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and behavioral patterns. They're not trained to work with:
Chakra blockages and energy flow
Trauma stored in your physical body
Generational patterns living in your energy field
The nervous system's energetic dimension
Intuitive information your body is holding
This is where Intuitive Wellness Sessions fill a crucial gap.
When Therapy Clients Benefit Most from Energy Work
I see the biggest shifts when clients add energy work if they:
Understand their patterns intellectually but can't seem to change them
Have processed trauma extensively but still feel triggered
Experience physical symptoms tied to emotional issues (stomach problems when anxious, tension headaches when stressed)
Feel stuck at a certain point in therapy despite continued work
Are empaths or highly sensitive people who absorb others' emotions
Have generational trauma that talk therapy alone doesn't seem to shift
How to Structure Both
Most of my clients who also see therapists do weekly therapy and biweekly energy sessions, though some prefer monthly energy work as maintenance.
The key is that both practitioners know you're taking a comprehensive approach. I always ask new clients if they're working with a therapist, what they're processing, and how I can structure our energy work to support that process.
If you're working through trauma with your therapist, I'll be aware that you might need extra grounding in our sessions. If you're working on anxiety, we'll focus heavily on your root chakra and nervous system regulation. If you're processing grief, we'll work with your heart chakra and energetic release.
What to Tell Your Therapist
Most therapists are supportive of complementary approaches, especially if you frame it in a way they can understand:
"I'm also working with an energy practitioner to help release some of the stress and trauma I'm holding in my body. It's been helpful for addressing the physical sensations and nervous system reactions we've talked about."
Some therapists are very familiar with energy work and will be immediately supportive. Others might be less familiar but open-minded. Very few will actively discourage it, especially if you're clear that you're continuing therapy and adding this as a complement, not a replacement.
Between Sessions Support
One of the most valuable aspects of this combination is the support it provides between therapy appointments. Therapy is typically once a week, sometimes every other week. That's a long time when you're working through difficult material.
Intuitive Wellness Sessions between therapy appointments can:
Help you process what came up in therapy without having to wait a week
Give you tools to manage the emotional intensity that surfaces after a deep therapy session
Keep your nervous system regulated while you're doing heavy therapeutic work
Provide another perspective on what you're working through
What Energy Work Doesn't Replace
Let me be very clear: Intuitive Wellness Sessions are not therapy. I'm not trained in mental health counseling. I don't diagnose or treat mental health conditions. I don't teach you cognitive behavioral tools or help you process experiences the way a therapist does.
What I do is work with your energy system to release what's stuck, clear chakra blocks, and help your body feel safe enough to heal. This supports your therapy—it doesn't replace it.
If you're experiencing mental health challenges, work with a licensed therapist. Then consider adding energy work to address the somatic and energetic dimensions of what you're processing.
Your Next Step
If you're currently in therapy and feeling like something's still stuck in your body despite the progress you're making mentally, or if you're about to start therapy and want to maximize your healing by addressing all the layers, let's talk.
In a consultation, we can discuss what you're working on in therapy and how Intuitive Wellness Sessions might help you release what talk therapy alone can't reach.
