Greenhouse Soul Care
Client Focus Areas
Most of my one-on-one clients have been other Christian soul care providers: therapists, coaches, spiritual directors, pastors, missionaries, and non-profit and minsitry leaders who want to grow their connection to themselves and the Lord and see increased fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives.
Sometimes clients have a specific area of struggle that needs a season of care, and sometimes clients simply desire spiritual companionship and facilitation in their growth journey.
Over the years, I have also enjoyed working with a broad range of clients from a variety of faith and professional backgrounds. Sessions are client-driven, and I seek to attune to what would best serve the individual in the moment.
I've walked with clients in healing spiritual trauma and church hurt and am eager to discover what language around faith and the divine is most helpful to each individual.
Types of Soul Care I Offer
I naturally integrate these modalities as we go, and it's also helpful for me to know which modalities you would like to lean into most in each session.
Trauma-Informed Coaching
Coaching is not advice giving! I completed two levels of training with the International Coaching Federation and Moving the Human Spirit. In coaching, I ask questions to help clients clarify desired growth areas, build vision, identify barriers to growth, and develop next steps to move forward as well as accountability if desired. Often external processing helps clients go deeper in their growth process than they could previously. When there are internal barriers that are not easily overcome, sessions naturally transition into combining IFS and Immauel Approach to address root causes.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I'm currently enrolled in the IFSCA Stepping Stones course and have already been doing IFS sessions for others for over two years. IFS helps us understand our internal conversations and connect parts of us we have lost touch with and need attention. IFS can be a tool for helping the internal parts of ourselves that are in tension (part of me wants/thinks/feels...but another part of me wants /thinks/feels....) to get the help they need to be able to negotiate and be led by our centered selves and God. IFS often includes root memory re-consolidation, increasing inner harmony, and enabling more integration and fluid forward movement in areas that were previously stuck.
Immanuel Approach
The Immanuel Approach focuses on connecting with Jesus starting with a positive memory from your life. I've been trained by both the Immanuel Practicum and Alive and Well and have been amazed by the impact of this open-ended style of inner healing prayer. When facilitating pure IA, I step way back, allow Jesus to fully guide the time and simply track the client's interaction with Jesus inviting the client to notice every detail coming into their awareness including what's coming up in their body. Sometimes Jesus wants to offer healing to a specific area, possibly including memory work, and often he just wants to be with the client in creative ways and build connection.
Bi-lateral Stimulation and Brainspotting
I am not yet EMDR-trained and also have no formal training in Brainspotting. As it is safe, I offer these tools to clients to deepen the internal processing , embodiment, and integration. We will not enter heavy trauma that you have not prevously processed with an EMDR or IFS therapist. If we decide it's safe to process moderate or previously processed trauma together, we will always build strong, safe imagery containera and practice other self-regulation skills before going to hard places. These tools are also very effective not just for re-processing hurts but for untangling and releasing the knots of stuck places in our current experience. The two forms of bi-lateral stimulation I offer during sessions are light cross-body tapping (hands crossing the body to tap on shoulders) and lightly drumming on the knees. You can learn more about Brainspotting here:
Somatic Awareness
Emotions are primarily physiological experiences, our bodies remember everything they have ever experienced (survival learning), and incorporating somatic awareness in every session comes very naturally to me. I start every session with a few minutes of quieting to enter in. This can include a body scan, breathing techniques , or just some simple silentce. During sessions, I often invite clients to notice where they feel things in their the body and to attend to the needs of the nervous system as we progress. if desired, we can spend time practicing vagus nerve stimulation techniques and ways to re-wire our nervous systems to be able to more easily regulate back into our window of tolerance throughout the day as we move in and out of state of hyper and hypo arousal. More here.
Sabbatical Coaching
I'm thankful to have experienced three life-changing sabbaticals over my ten years of missions/non-profit experience and ten years of teaching experience. I highly value the important role of sabbaticals in the helping professions (and really all professions if possible!). I enjoy curating sabbatical resources for each unique individual's needs and offering help with planning, coaching and debriefing along the way As desired, I incorporate any of the other modalities as well.
Connect with Mary
Telephone or WhatsApp: 1-770-265-1597
E-mail: marychoyt@yahoo.com
Location: Tucker, GA, USA (Atlanta area)