Today we’d like to introduce you to Celeste Ballard.
Hi Celeste, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was younger, my parents were wise and started looking at their parenting role and how it was impacting their children and we all had the chance to meet with a counselor. It was life changing for me to understand how I was behaving, how to care for myself in a healthy way, and to have someone who could see me in a way that.y famiky couldn’t. 4 years later when it was time to figure out what I wanted to do, I felt called to learn to do that for others. Psychology was fascinating, but I learned about a way to do it that was deeper and more effective then just the traditional talk therapy. It was using somatic techniques, depth psychology, and bringing spirituality into the treatment. I opened a practice and then felt called to train other therapists who are coming up in the field with these techniques, so that we can serve more people.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say that it has been mostly smooth, but the hard tunes and trials make it richer and better. People who really want something out of the box, something more inclusive of their whole lifestyle, find us. People who have tried a bunch of different therapies are happy to find something more in depth. Sometimes it has been hard to find therapists who want to be so self reflective, do their own work and be able to be an example for their clients, but we find those gems, those who love their work and want to let it change them. Being a therapist and running a business at the same time can be hard at times, but it has stretched me, strengthened me and taught me a lot. I appreciate the opportunity to care for and train my staff.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I will paste below from our website as I think it explains it the best, but in short form. we work with people who want to retrain their body and mind into a new format. Much like PTSD with the war veteran, we have similar things that we hold and retain in our body from patterns and childhood. We have to understand those patterns and retrain them not only in our thinking, but in their way, our body response to things that trigger it. Irritations in the day, depressions are sadnesses are all held from stories in the body that haven’t been heard and haven’t been cared for at a deep level. I would say the training that I have that leads the practice is the most important thing that sets us apart. Also that we have a dedication to really do our own work and to learn experientially, which is more than just reading out of a book. In sessions, we use concrete tools, but we also really stay in tune with what’s happening and trust the creative movement of what needs to be healed.
My trading includes being in the field for 30 years and these are some of ways that I have been trained….
Celeste’s passion for the field has been a lifelong endeavor and this is evident in the daily commitment to both her personal and professional growth. From this commitment to professional training and personal growth Celeste has cultivated specializations in the fields of psychology of disease, help with relationships, healing from depression and anxiety without medications, and changing trauma patterns in the mind and body.
Celeste has extensive concrete training in mind, body, and spirit, and has been in the counseling field for over 30 years. She has a bachelor’s in human services and a master’s in counseling psychology. Celeste became a massage therapist to learn anatomy and physiology and how the body holds patterns. She also completed a two year training in a somatic-based therapy training called Hakomi, and has been using her training in meditation-based somatic and psychological Eastern and Western techniques for over 25 years. She has done many trainings including EMDR and IFS, workshops with Harville Hendrix in Imago-based couples counseling, somatic workshops with Pat Ogden, Gestalt training, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training, Mindfulness-Based therapy to prevent recurrence of depression, and Jungian dream interpretation and training certification in Polyvagal theory.. She also holds a Pranic Healing certification, among many others.
At Within Holistic Counseling, we believe in getting to the root of the problem. Traditional talk therapy has been proven highly effective, so we combine this with meditation based therapy and somatic psychology to make it even better. To create lasting change in your life, you need to understand where your feelings are coming from.
Do you really know why you feel the way you do?
Intellectual understanding is just scratching the surface. Whatever you are having trouble with will keep reoccurring if you don’t go deeper. With our help, you can positively change, not only your thoughts, but the way that your body and emotions react to situations and the people around you.
Do you have anxiety or depression? Have you had a loss or are making a major change in your life? Are you happy in your career? Is your relationship full of deep connection? Are you vibrantly living or just mechanically getting through the day? Are your children having trouble and you don’t know what to do? Are you chronically sick and medical treatment isn’t helping enough? Is it hard to be in your own skin?
Let us help you heal so that you can have the life you want.
We are clinically trained in psychological techniques as well as, having specialized training in mindfulness meditation and the ability to create a holistic framework that will assist you in getting to the root of your patterns to heal and change them. We don’t have a rote treatment plan that we took out of a book, we tailor your work to your specific goals and needs. We will look at your unique makeup that might have influences from what you are putting in your body, how you think, your family history, how you take care of yourself, how you check out, your relationships, medications you are on, what your energy is like, your physical health, and what the repetitive patterns are in your life.
“Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you can not bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond that pain.”
– Kahlil Gibran –
We create a safe and compassionate environment for you to discover what will help you to lead a happier and more relaxed life. That isn’t to say that this journey will always be easy, you will have to work at it and learn how to feel pain in order to overcome it, but you can and we are here to support and guide you along the way.
We work with a variety of roadblocks; stress, help with relationships, sadness, anxiety, loss, depression, addictions, improving self esteem, parenting, life transitions, working with children, and much more.
What we do:
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
Mindfulness and Meditation Training
Somatic Psychology
EMDR
Studying the Psychology of Disease
Reprogramming Your Negative Thinking
Creative Writing
Art
Yoga & Movement
Deepening Spiritually
Cognitive Based Therapy
Talk Therapy
Career Counseling
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Helping as many people as we can find a way to connect to resources that bring love and growth. For some that is God, for some that is their own self care, to others it is building better relationships, and for others it is making a positive impact in this world. For some of us it is all of them. To me, that includes my team and the people that we serve as clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.withinholisticcounseling.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/within_holistic_counseling_
