Frequently Asked Questions
Awakening Heart Awareness is where presence, emotional truth, and transformation meet and align.
Emotional Healing
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Emotional healing refers to the process of becoming aware of, relating differently to, and integrating emotional experiences that have been avoided, misunderstood, or carried unconsciously over time. Rather than “fixing” emotions, this work supports a healthier relationship with them—allowing insight, flexibility, and greater emotional freedom to emerge naturally.
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Symptom relief often focuses on reducing discomfort as quickly as possible. Emotional healing looks beneath symptoms to understand the emotional patterns, beliefs, and relational experiences shaping them. While symptoms may ease as a result, the deeper aim is lasting change in how one meets inner experience and life itself.
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Not necessarily. While past experiences may arise, emotional healing does not require reliving events or retelling stories in detail. This approach emphasizes present-moment awareness—how emotions are experienced now—allowing insight and regulation without overwhelm.
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Many therapeutic models prioritize cognition, diagnosis, or behavior change. Emotional intelligence—understanding, tolerating, and responding skillfully to emotional experience—has often been assumed rather than directly cultivated. Awareness-based work places emotional intelligence at the center of the therapeutic process, recognizing it as foundational to psychological, mental, and spiritual health.
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Emotional intelligence allows individuals to recognize emotional patterns early, respond with greater choice, and navigate relationships with clarity and compassion. Over time, this reduces reactivity, improves communication, and supports resilience in the face of stress and change.
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While this work is gentle, it is not passive. Emotional healing requires attention, honesty, and active participation. It’s a structured process grounded in awareness, relational attunement, and psychological understanding—supporting depth rather than avoidance. Many people can live under the impression that they need to be harder on themselves, push themselves harder, and “get over” things. If this approach actually worked—being harder on one’s self—the world would be a very peaceful place to live. Letting go , accessing self-compassion, and identifying what’s at the root of our pain results in transformation and emotional freedom.
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This approach is often well-suited for individuals who are thoughtful, self-aware, or high-functioning, yet sense that insight alone has not led to the depth of change they’re seeking. It can be especially supportive for those in high-responsibility positions like parenting, leadership, education, innovation, business, or the healing arts and sciences.
With emotional freedom, emotions become information rather than forces that control your choices.
Narcissistic Abuse & Emotional Healing
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Many people who seek Awakening Heart Awareness have experienced emotionally manipulative, controlling, or invalidating relationships—sometimes described as narcissistic abuse. This work supports healing by strengthening emotional awareness, self-trust, and relational clarity, rather than focusing on labels or blame.
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For many years, I have supported individuals healing from complex relational trauma, including dynamics often referred to as narcissistic abuse—long before the term became widely used. While this experience informs my work, the focus here is not on diagnosing others, but on restoring emotional intelligence, agency, and inner coherence.
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No. While past relationships may be explored, this approach does not center on diagnosing or pathologizing others. Healing is supported through understanding your emotional experience, patterns of relating, and capacity to respond differently—empowering change rather than fixation.
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Many approaches emphasize education about traits, tactics, or personality structures. While this can be validating early on, Awakening Heart Awareness focuses on integration—helping emotional insight become embodied through awareness, regulation, and discernment so healing extends beyond understanding.
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Yes. By developing emotional intelligence and awareness of internal cues, many clients become better able to recognize misalignment early, establish boundaries with clarity, and choose relationships grounded in mutual respect and emotional safety.
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Yes. Many people engage emotional healing work not because something is “wrong,” but because they want to relate to themselves and others more consciously. Emotional intelligence supports growth, creativity, leadership, and relational depth—not just recovery.
Emotional freedom is the quiet relief of no longer being governed by a schedule but instead by meaningful direction, value, and intention.
Empaths & Emotional Healing
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Many people who identify as empaths are deeply sensitive, perceptive, and emotionally attuned. While this term can help people feel understood, it often describes a capacity rather than a fixed identity. Awakening Heart Awareness supports the development of emotional intelligence—helping sensitivity become regulated, grounded, and empowering rather than overwhelming.
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Rather than working with labels, this approach focuses on how emotional sensitivity is experienced, managed, and integrated. Many clients who describe themselves as empaths discover that what once felt like emotional absorption becomes clearer discernment, stronger boundaries, and greater self-trust through awareness-based work.
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Not necessarily. Emotional sensitivity and emotional intelligence are related but distinct. Sensitivity reflects how deeply emotions are perceived; emotional intelligence reflects the capacity to understand, regulate, and respond to those emotions skillfully. This work helps bridge that gap.
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Yes. When emotional awareness is paired with regulation, clarity, and limits, sensitivity often becomes a source of insight, connection, and resilience rather than exhaustion or confusion.
When emotional awareness grows, relationships become clearer, steadier, more connected and more truthful.
Relationships & Emotional Intelligence
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Yes. Many people seek therapy around relationship difficulties—whether romantic, familial, or professional. Awareness-based work supports change by helping you understand emotional patterns, communication dynamics, and relational habits as they arise, allowing new responses to emerge with greater clarity and choice.
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Absolutely. Relationship patterns are carried internally as well as relationally. Even when only one person is engaged in therapy, increased emotional awareness, regulation, and clarity often lead to meaningful shifts in how relationships are experienced and navigated.
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Rather than teaching scripts or strategies alone, this work focuses on the emotional awareness that underlies communication. As emotional intelligence develops, communication often becomes clearer, more honest, and less reactive—naturally improving connection without relying on rigid techniques.
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Yes. Repeated relationship patterns often reflect unconscious emotional learning rather than conscious choice. Awareness-based therapy helps bring these patterns into view in the present moment, supporting insight, integration, and the capacity to relate differently over time.
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While past relationships may be explored, the emphasis is not on diagnosing others. Instead, the focus is on understanding your emotional experience, relational needs, and responses—supporting agency and growth rather than blame or fixation.
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Yes. Healing after relational loss or harm often involves restoring self-trust, emotional regulation, and clarity around boundaries. This approach supports integration and meaning-making so that healing extends beyond understanding into lived change.
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Many people who feel deeply affected by relationships are emotionally attuned but may lack support for regulation or boundaries. Awareness-based work helps sensitivity become resourced—supporting discernment, steadiness, and self-responsibility rather than overwhelm.
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The goal is not to steer outcomes, but to support clarity. As emotional intelligence grows, people often become better able to discern what is healthy, sustainable, and aligned—allowing relationship decisions to emerge from awareness rather than fear or habit.
Awareness-based work helps parents respond with steadiness and honesty, shaping healthier family dynamics over time.
Parenting, Family & Emotional Intelligence
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Awareness-based work helps family members recognize emotional patterns as they arise, reducing reactivity and increasing understanding. As emotional clarity grows, communication often becomes calmer and more honest, allowing connection to deepen without forcing closeness or agreement.
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Yes. When parents develop emotional awareness and regulation, children benefit indirectly through modeling and relational safety. This supports children in learning how to understand emotions, tolerate uncertainty, communicate needs, and respond to challenges with greater resilience and self-trust.
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Yes. Many families struggle between ongoing conflict and emotional cut-off. Awareness-based psychology supports a third path—helping individuals develop boundaries, clarity, and emotional steadiness so relationships can change without requiring distance or estrangement.
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Very much so. Awareness-based work can support adult children in relating to parents and family members with greater discernment and self-responsibility—allowing connection to continue without reverting to old roles, reactivity, or emotional over-functioning.
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No. Meaningful shifts can occur even when only one person engages in therapy. Increased awareness often changes how interactions unfold, creating space for new patterns without requiring others to change or attend sessions.
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Rather than offering prescriptive techniques or rules, awareness-based psychology supports parents and caregivers in developing emotional presence and discernment. This allows responses to emerge naturally and contextually, supporting healthier family dynamics over time.
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Yes. Many people engage this work not because of crisis, but because they want to foster emotional maturity, communication, and resilience within their families. Awareness-based work supports growth and connection at any stage.
Awareness transforms life by bringing clarity, ease, and value to everyday interactions.
Do I need to be in crisis to begin therapy?
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No. Many people begin therapy not because something is “wrong,” but because they want greater clarity, perspective, or capacity in how they meet life. This awareness-based therapy can be supportive during difficult periods, and it is equally valuable as a space for reflection, growth, and expansion.
Is therapy only for people who are struggling or unwell?
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This is a common misconception. Therapy is often framed as a response to pathology, but at its core, it’s a resource for understanding human experience more deeply. Many thoughtful, capable, high-functioning individuals use therapy to develop emotional intelligence, improve relationships, hone leadership skills, and respond more consciously to change and complexity. It’s considered an invaluable resource and often indispensable to those who sincerely embrace their high-responsibility roles in marriage, business, parenting, career, and more.
How is awareness-based therapy different from traditional talk therapy?
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Traditional talk therapy often focuses on understanding problems through analysis and discussion. While insight is important, awareness-based therapy places equal emphasis on how experiences are happening in real time—emotionally, physically, and relationally.
Is this approach structured or directive?
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The work is structured, but not prescriptive. Sessions are guided by psychological understanding, intuitive depth, and attentiveness to what’s present for you, rather than by rigid techniques or step-by-step solutions. This allows the process to remain responsive, individualized, and relevant to real-world situations. Courtney will expertly guide you through the process, so there’s no pressure to feel like you must know the answers or perform.
What if I feel nervous or embarrassed about sharing personal things in therapy?
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This is a common concern. Many people worry about being judged, misunderstood, or seen as “too much” before they begin. Therapy isn’t about evaluation or correction, but about creating a steady, respectful space where experience can be explored honestly according to your intentions and desire.
There’s no expectation to share everything at once—or to share anything before you’re ready. Trust develops gradually, and the work unfolds in a way that honors your boundaries, timing, and comfort.
Your privacy matters. Therapy conversations are confidential and held with intention, allowing this work to remain personal, contained, and protected.
Can therapy support new perspectives or solutions?
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Yes — though not by offering advice or fixed answers. Awareness-based therapy is a space of encouragement and supports new perspectives by helping you see familiar situations differently. As emotional patterns become clearer and less reactive, people often find that new ideas, options, and responses naturally become available.
In this way, therapy can support creativity, problem-solving, and more flexible living.
What kinds of concerns bring people to this work?
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People come for many reasons, including:
relationship patterns that feel repetitive
stress or burnout
health-related stress or emotional strain
career transitions or questions of purpose
difficulty feeling settled or present
a desire for greater clarity or self-understanding
Some come with specific concerns; others come with a general sense that a more expansive and peaceful way of living is available.
Is this therapy practical, or more philosophical?
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The work is practical and grounded. While it’s informed by depth psychology and contemplative perspectives, sessions focus on lived experience and everyday challenges. The aim is not to adopt new beliefs, but to develop a more workable relationship with thoughts, emotions, and situations as they arise. Many people find working with Courtney is like working with a wise, trusted friend. Emphasis is placed on relationship—the relationship you’re cultivating through the therapeutic process to yourself, Courtney, others, and the world you live in.
How long does this kind of therapy take?
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There is no fixed timeline. Some people come for short-term support around a specific transition, while others engage in longer-term work as part of ongoing personal development. The pace and duration are collaborative and responsive to your needs and life circumstances.
What if I’m unsure whether this approach is the right fit?
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That uncertainty is welcome. A consultation provides space to ask questions, explore your concerns, and get a feel for how this approach works. There is no expectation to decide immediately or continue beyond that initial conversation. Request a consultation
Private-Pay Statement
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Private-pay allows therapy to remain confidential, personalized, and free from insurance-driven limitations—so our work can unfold at a pace and depth that truly serves you. Being private-pay allows therapy to stay focused on your lived experience—without the need for diagnoses or insurance-mandated frameworks.
Confidentiality Statement
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What we talk about in therapy stays private. Sessions are held with care, discretion, and respect for your confidentiality, creating a space where you can speak freely and honestly.
Patterns Transformed through Awakening Heart Awareness.
Feeling emotionally exhausted despite being capable and high-functioning
Repeating relationship dynamics you’ve already outgrown
Overthinking decisions while feeling internally stuck
Carrying responsibility for others while neglecting yourself
Managing well on the outside but feeling unsettled within
Struggling with boundaries—either over-giving or withdrawing
Knowing why things happen, but not how to change them
Sensing it’s time for something deeper to shift