Why I Started This - The Real Version

It was around 2013.

I was a clinical director running two programs I had built and believed in deeply. One for self-injury. One for eating disorders.

And I kept being told - in ways subtle and not so subtle - that my work was not serious. That my patients were dramatic. That what they were going through was not that important. That I was being dramatic for advocating for them.

They were wrong. And I was exhausted from fighting that narrative inside a system that had already decided.

I was also watching something else happen.

Therapy is a predominantly female profession. Until you look at who holds the power. Until you look at who sits in the leadership chairs. Until you look at who gets taken seriously in the rooms that make decisions.

And then suddenly it looks a lot like everywhere else.

I had a female C-suite leader tell me once that I cared too much about my team. I still think about that. How do you care too much about people who show up every day doing meaningful and difficult work - for not nearly enough pay?

I was antsy. Frustrated. Burnt out in a way that had nothing to do with the patients and teams I was serving and everything to do with the system I was serving them in.

And then I started watching what was happening to women more broadly.

Women being pushed out of leadership. Women watching their careers evaporate because the responsibility of childcare lands - as it always has - on their shoulders. Women being told in a hundred different ways that their voice matters less. That their place is smaller than they thought. That they should be grateful for what they have and quiet about what they have lost.

I did not start this coaching practice because it seemed like a good business idea.

I started it because I have spent decades watching what happens to women inside systems that were never built for them.

And I decided I was done being quiet about it.

I want to be clear about something. I still practice therapy and love the work I do. And I do not do therapy with my coaching clients. That boundary matters to me professionally and ethically.

But for the women who are ready to move forward - who are done waiting for permission to choose themselves, who want consistent support alongside them as they figure out who they are and what they actually want -

That is exactly who I built this work for.

If that is you - I would love to talk.

A free 30 minute strategy call is always available here.

No pitch. No pressure. Just a real conversation about where you are and where you want to go.

 xo, Denise

She Rises. She Becomes.

P.S. Not ready for a call yet? The workshop recording is still available at $47. A good place to start.