Therapist/Counselor Intuitives

An increasing amount of research and evidence shows that there are various levels of awareness in each human being for the unique ability to heal oneself and be “whole” and free of “dis-ease”. Holistic practitioners hold the belief that changes are necessary on a behavioral, cognitive, neurological and/or chemical level in order for “healing” to occur, or for a “healing” stasis. With this holistic point of view, imagine visiting a therapist for only several sessions and coming away completely relieved of the trauma, depression, anxiety, or whatever the malady may be. In this article we’ll examine four clinically trained therapists who also have completed the Master Certification Program in Intuition Medicine (MIM) at the Academy. We’ll see how the two disciplines complement one another for a more effective holistic treatment/healing for the client/patient.

Gloria Horsley, RN, MA, MFT, PhD, MIM

Gloria is a licensed transpersonal psychologist who recently closed her practice though she continually uses her training to help her friends and family. She is a mother of 4 and grandmother of 8.

Psychiatry has always interested Gloria and so that’s where she began her training in Rochester, NY. She received her degrees as a “later student” waiting until she had her children and then going back to school. She holds Masters Degree’s in Psychiatric Nursing, as well as Family and Child Studies. As a faculty member of The University of Rochester School of Nursing, she taught, did research, and was a member of an interdisciplinary team that consulted with both patients and staff. The liaison team, which also included psychiatry, and social work, traveled the hospital giving psychiatric care to both patients and staff. Gloria saw the need to work in the larger system of the family and thus became interested in family systems therapy. She has trained extensively in that area, and is the author of two books on extended family therapy.

After nursing she went on to receive her other degrees. Gloria has taught at both Caroline Myss’, and Byron Katie’s schools; she is also a certified teacher in the Oral Tradition of Helen Palmer’s Enneagram.

She and her family moved to California 11 years ago and she worked initially as an MFT at the Aids Health Project at SF General. Then she went on to have her own ‘family therapy’ practice in San Francisco for eight years. As a general rule in working with others, Gloria says it’s most beneficial “to work from the client perspective, see where they come from, and not be disruptive. People don’t like disruption, people don’t like big changes. You need to stay client focused. The worse thing is to want ‘more’ for your patient than they want for themselves.”

Gloria admits now one of her biggest challenges is, “I have be careful to not go beyond a person’s ability to absorb. One of the major things learned from the Academy (MIM 2002) is to ground myself, protect myself, don’t take on other people’s energy (no contracts with others). In the past, I’ve sometimes run other people’s energy through myself. They (academics) tell you not to — but not ‘how not’ to. The Academy training is the first time I’ve learned this on a technical level.” In making use of the tools for neutrality, she learned that “I can be more powerful myself because I’m comfortable connecting and holding my own energy.”

Presently Gloria is into consolidation, putting all of her tools and training into a more practical daily approach. Several years ago she decided to close her psychotherapy practice and let the Universe take over. Within a year she was asked to write a screenplay for Lifetime Television. She had written several books but never dreamed that she would do something for television. She decided to put some of her unusual life experiences into the screenplay that will be mostly autobiographical. She hopes that her life can help others through common experience. With the Academy work, she emphasizes that we recognize “same” qualities we have in ourselves with others, the idea of human connectedness vs. separateness. “I believe that with some people, when you get to a certain point – just your presence is healing.’ Additionally, and most importantly Gloria says that one must strive to “have fun and be open — don’t take life so seriously.”

Debbie Bellings-Kee, BA, MIM, MS (Candidate), JD

Debbie is currently completing her internship to receive her master’s degree in counseling psychology at Dominican University in San Rafael. Debbie was the university’s counseling intern last year. She is also the mother of five children.

A very interesting fact about Debbie is that before embarking on this current career path, she was an attorney who practiced family law for 11 years in the Bay Area. During those years, she enrolled at the Academy and graduated with her MIM in 1995. Now she is looking forward to graduating from Dominican with a Masters degree in counseling psychology, embarking upon her new career, and starting a practice in Marin and Berkeley. The information gathered in this interview is based on her findings as a counseling psychology student intern.

While a counseling intern at Dominican University, Debbie’s clients came in for counseling, not necessarily energy work. Debbie says, “I also look at what the client needs and wants before I determine what therapeutic intervention to employ. Of course I look at the client energetically if their spirit grants me permission. The mainstream interventions most used were behavioral/cognitive interventions. Within this context I used guided visualization/imagery. In my mind this is a mainstream word for “energy work!” When appropriate for the client, I employed guided imagery, taught meditation techniques (or mainstream word “relaxation” techniques), assisted clients in grounding and protecting their space from hostile energies, taught color meditation and prosperity meditations.

Debbie continues, “When I use Guided Imagery [GI] in my practice, I use it for issues other than pain modification. I use it quite effectively for phobias, anxiety, and healing from childhood traumas. I use color meditations and techniques for pain and migraine work. The communication skills as a therapist range vastly with each client. Some clients needed to speak “energy” language; however others were spoken to in mainstream psychology language. The methods, however, are similar, and healing was always the result!

For many of Debbie’s clients, a recurring theme is about personal empowerment. “My clients are their own healers. I don’t move their energy for them; I assist them in facilitating their own work. I also teach them to protect and strengthen their auras. Many clients come in with a problem – and without using academy language specifically – I suggest they put up a ‘wall of roses, or shield of swords’ as a visualization protection.” She adds that with GI this can be very effective for overall results pertaining to phobias or abuse that leads to emotional trauma. “To survive childhood traumas, clients (as children, and later as adults), often leave their body. Grounding and energy gathering work is helpful for these clients. Using the mainstream intervention of cognitive reframing, along with narrative therapy techniques, and protective energy work, clients can heal from their traumas and move forward with a positive, healed, present time reality.”

When doing her counseling work, Debbie feels the importance of bringing her MIM training into her daily practice. “I clear my personal space, my counseling space, ground the room, ground myself, move into my intuitive center, look at the client energetically (if their spirit allows it) check boundaries, check client receptivity, and affirm Supreme Being energy as present in our work. In between each client session, I clear the energy in the room, and in my personal space. I also visualize neutral separations with each client. The MIM work is critical to my work and my well being.”

Susie Laurenson-Shipley, MA, MIM

Susie is a trained psychotherapist who currently works with clients – not as a talk therapist – but as an Intuition Medicine Counselor.

When asking Susie to describe the complementary aspects of her two counseling practices, she remarks that the combination of Intuition Medicine and psychotherapy has a pronounced effect on overall emotional/cognitive issues. An example of this: a psychotherapist is using a blueprint based on their clinical understanding, they’ve learned how to map out a person based on various constructs and theories; and then they diagnose and treat those disorders (some therapists don’t believe in diagnostic ‘labeling’ and that’s another discussion entirely). The energy worker also uses a client blueprint based on their intuitive sensing of the clients issues. By using these together as an overlay, the therapist has access to a “magnified lens to view the client” for clarity and accuracy in treatment.

When asking Susie about her clients, she responded with a quote from Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul: “The great malady of the twentieth century implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially is ‘loss of soul.’” Susie loosely describes her current clients as the “worried-well” variety – people who function well in society but are struggling with some painful issues. They tend to be well-educated and insightful but are struggling spiritually/emotionally/cognitively with personal issues.

Susie also uses a complementary spiritual/psychological approach in her counseling work, “I believe a lot of my client’s understand psychological language much better than they understand intuitive language. With my dual training, I can put their personal spiritual information into a psychological language that they can comprehend.” For Susie, the dual training helps her to uncover “root-core issues” and to examine the construct and/or theme to a problem – which is often hidden within a cluster of energy symptoms. “This has to do with process therapy… listening to the content but the other half is listening to what’s underneath the content – nonverbal, body language, tone, inflections. This approach allows me to work with the client to clear the energy symptoms and to also neutralize the root of the problem.”

By Anna MacKinnon, BA, MIM. Anna is a business consultant and Intuition Medicine practitioner living in Marin. She specializes in astral travel experiences as they relate to her energy practice and is also a keen follower of Dr. Jung and psychological study in general.