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When it comes to painful experiences, people often react in one out of two ways. They either attempt to run from the pain, or they deal with their wounds and embark on the difficult journey towards healing.
Karen Whelan, CEO and founder of The Soulution Therapist, prefers to help her clients adopt the latter method.
When it comes to healing, there are many roads one can take to recovery. Of course, there’s no set path a person should take. There’s no such thing as instant healing. This is particularly true for trauma survivors, who often have to make the effort to unlearn unhealthy habits and to develop a sense of self-worth. Each person needs to embark on their own quest to become a better version of themselves.
And Karen Whelan knows this all too well. As a trauma survivor herself, she currently specializes in trauma to help her clients become the best versions of themselves. And she does this through unconventional, spiritual methods.
“My passion is to offer a deep, compassionate space to allow for deep inner work to unfold, and for real healing to take place,” Karen explained. “I want you to know you in a real, loving way. This will bring harmony into your life and passion.”
Facilitating Healing through Out-of-the-Box Methods
Karen initially obtained a degree in social care. After four years in college, she worked in a residential home for children taken out of their homes due to domestic abuse. Whenever she sat down to listen to the children’s stories, she felt in her core that she had an innate understanding of their pain.
However, as a social care worker, she wasn’t allowed to reach past certain lines.
“So all the kids wanted to go off in the car with me,” Karen said about her social care days. “They wanted to spend the day with me because they felt seen; they felt understood. They felt like I got them. But my quiet primary degree didn’t allow me – in terms of qualifications – to work with them therapeutically.”
That was why she chose to pursue psychotherapy instead. During her six years of study, she fell in love with the beauty of the subject. However, she felt like perhaps, psychotherapy wasn’t the best fit for her. There was a framework set down for all psychotherapists to adhere to. But for Karen, she knew she wanted to channel her intuition and compassion into helping people through less conventional methods.
Today, she works with couples, groups, teenagers, and adults. When asked about her methodology, Karen explained that what she does isn’t something based on a set number of steps.
“I have an innate ability to see beyond the story and programs clients identify with and cling to within themselves.”
In essence, she relies on her spirituality and intuition to reach her clients. Karen is someone who believes in a divine presence, one that guides her towards making a deep connection with her clients and the stories they bring to her. She applies an approach that blends many aspects of healing, psychotherapy, tantra, living inquiries, and oracle board readings.
Karen’s Personal Journey as a Trauma Survivor
Karen credits her drive to do what she does today to own personal experiences – particularly, her experiences growing up.
It’s an understatement to say she had a difficult childhood. As a child, she was sexually and physically abused by her father. She grew up believing that there was something wrong with her. She assumed for a long time that she was not capable of being loved. As a result, she hated herself for years.
At the age of 14, Karen attempted suicide. She also adopted a promiscuous lifestyle because she hated her body, and therefore sought to objectify it.
Despite her troubles, Karen now looks back on her past with no regrets. She knew that the choices she made and the things she survived through made her the person she is today. “My childhood was extraordinary, in that it offered me many painful lessons through which I had to find a way when there was no way, and move through pain, suffering, and trauma,” she said.
At the age of 17, Karen moved to France to become an au pair to a traditional healer. Her spiritual encounter first occurred when she crashed her scooter and broke her ribs, after which she was healed by her employer.
She became pregnant in France and returned home seven months later. However, three weeks before she gave birth to her son, Aaron, his father ended their relationship. And there she was, a 19-year-old single mother, forced to take on the world on her own yet again.
But to Karen, the birth of her son marked a major turning point in her life. She felt in her heart a newfound love, one that was unconditional and redemptive.
Karen eventually repaired her relationship with her father.
“My life’s path brought in all this pain, but it brought me home to Karen,” Karen explained. “I could no longer run away from her. I had to turn around and meet myself for the first time, and say, ‘Hi,’ and heal the pain. This led to my training as a psychotherapist, but ultimately, it awakened profound spiritual experiences that brought me to loving myself for all that I am.”
How Love Makes Pain Something We Can Live With
Today, Karen prides herself on her capacity to make her clients feel seen and heard. She isn’t a stranger to the occasional testimony from those clients who come up to her and tell her that she makes them feel understood.
In a way, it’s Karen’s personal experiences that have helped her to understand that so many people struggle to overcome their trauma. So many people carry their proverbial ‘backpacks’ around. And one needs only to love themselves enough to be willing to take these backpacks off.
“My life experiences have given me the passion to show others the way through pain, so they can see their brilliance and not be enmeshed in a disempowering story.”
She puts significant focus on helping her clients to love themselves and others. In essence, she tries to help her clients realize that their trauma is not their fault.
“Everybody needs help, whether they realize it or not,” she said. “Whether they realize it or not, everybody needs a little bit of self-care, a little bit of self-love.”
So perhaps the takeaway from Karen’s remarkable story is this: we all deserve love. To be loved and to give love. To heal from our hurts, and to pursue that voice inside that urges us to achieve our dreams.
