Coaching in Emotional Wellness
Coaching for Emotions and Relationships
Alyssa Herzig, MA, PhD
"Alyssa has helped me immensely with negative self talk, self doubt, lack of confidence and lack of connection with myself. As a result I’m happier, finding peace and learning to love myself, believing in myself more and more and improving my relationships with those around me." Jo Taylor, Australia
My Approach
Hi and welcome! My name is Alyssa Herzig and I’m a professional coach for emotional and relational wellness. I have a PhD in clinical psychology from Concordia University in Montreal, and I offer coaching in private practice, online. My mission and passion are to develop and share leading-edge knowledge and skills to navigate emotional and relational challenges and accelerate you into inner peace, self-acceptance, relational harmony, and thriving.
I offer a completely safe, non-judgement space where I will welcome and show you how to accept every part of you.
My coaching approach is strongly grounded in mindfulness (present moment awareness), experiencing the body (somatics) and whole-self acceptance, with emphasis on identifying and meeting emotional needs. I integrate valuable understanding and tools from numerous mind-body and spiritual frameworks, as well as eastern philosophies, such as Buddhist and tantric perspectives.
Why Emotional Coaching
Many of us have experienced unmet needs for safety, connection or autonomy in childhoods or in important relationships, which created painful emotions. Then, we weren’t taught how to relate to our emotions in healthy, effective ways. Instead, we were conditioned to fight, fear, and feel shame for our feelings and needs. We learned to fear, reject, avoid, suppress, and numb them.
As a consequence, today we fear rejection or abandonment, feel debilitating anxiety and insecurity, exhaustion, and resentment; feel trapped behind masks and in roles that leave us feeling disconnected and empty; and feel disconnected from our power.
Fighting with and suppressing big emotions produces profound inner turmoil. Unwanted parts of ourselves and feelings get cast away into our unconscious, where they get triggered, sabotage us and steer the ship! We get stuck in patterns of deprioritizing our most longed for needs. We feel overwhelmed or shut down when trying to confront our deepest fears. We may turn to addictive and control patterns to disconnect from or avoid the pain. And ultimately, we feel blocked from going for and enjoying what we truly want.
We need ways to regulate our nervous systems in the present moment, identify and meet our emotional needs as they come up and to feel heard, cared for, validated, soothed, calmed, safe, and grounded in our minds and bodies.
My Missions - To teach and show you, through embodied experience, how to:
1) process experience in healthy ways (rather than stuff down or avoid pain),
2) better identify, meet and communicate your emotional needs,
3) create an inner world that feels safe and supportive,
4) enjoy the peace of inner harmony, and
5) step into your power.
The outcome of this is often relief, peace, grounding, inner trust, joy, and increased energy.
How do we work in the sessions
What we do in sessions is tailored to your unique experiences and goals. Here are some of the processes that we may focus on during our time together:
Connect deeply with your body and your emotions. We bring awareness into the physical body to identify and align with your felt experience, inner self, inner integrity, inner wisdom, core values, meaning, purpose, and wants, so you feel like you’re thriving.
Learn to identify and meet chronically unmet emotional needs, such as needs for acceptance, love, safety, trust, and validation. Develop skills to self-soothe effectively.
Learn to develop internal habits that enable thriving, connection, and presence. Live mindfully, deliberately, and with empowerment.
Utilize emotional expression tools to express and release the energy of suppressed or stuck emotions.
Learn to address and resolve your internal conflicts (e.g., between divergent wants and needs). Find balance and harmony.
Identify, create space for, express, and accept your rejected inner experiences. This is a self-integration process that establishes internal harmony, trust, peace, and love.
Resolve interpersonal and relational difficulties and goals, such as challenges in forming secure bonds and developing and setting healthy boundaries.
Learn to deliberately shift physiological and emotional states through a variety of visualization and meditation tools.
Professional Bio
I completed an MA and PhD in a dual program combining clinical psychology and research methods at Concordia University in Montreal. During my formation, I completed 8 years worth of rigorous, supervised psychotherapy internships and placements in university, hospital, and private practice settings. I was fortunate to be trained and supervised in multiple therapeutic frameworks including, mindfulness, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), emotion-focused therapy (EFT), internal family systems (IFS), as well as Jungian and psychodynamic perspectives, among others. During these supervised placements, I developed a therapeutic focus in working with adults on the impacts of childhood trauma, particularly the kind of trauma resulting from chronically unmet emotional needs in childhood.
My personal, clinical and research interests intercept the realms of mind, body, and energetics. My graduate school research projects investigated the placebo effect on physical healing, hypnosis, and the influence of mind and emotions on the body. Upon completing my PhD, I went on to study somatics and body healing work with the Body-Mind Centering school in Vermont. I also had the opportunity to obtain training in psychedelic integration. Out of school, I have spent years studying and practicing body work, tantra, ritual, energy work, and movement.
Since 2021, I've been offering coaching online, in private practice. I have made the conscious choice not to be a member of the Ordre des Psychologues Québec. Consequently, I do not practice within the field of psychopathology and do not hold the title as psychologist. I am not involved in the practice of diagnosing and treating mental health disorders. Instead, my coaching approach is strongly grounded in mindfulness (present moment awareness), experiencing the body (somatics) with deep presence, and whole-self acceptance, with emphasis on identifying and meeting emotional needs. I integrate valuable understanding and tools from numerous mind-body and spiritual frameworks, as well as eastern philosophies, such as Buddhist and tantric perspectives.
The learning and practicing of wellness and coaching is my passion and I enjoy experimenting with and practicing everything I teach.
I believe in the value of practicing a balanced lifestyle that involves deep listening, cultivating inner knowing, connecting with nature and one another, pleasure, eating to thrive, embodiment and movement, and practicing meaningful contribution.
What makes me different
My interests, education, and philosophy set me up to offer you a unique coaching experience:
My PhD included rigorous training in both clinical and research best practices. See my Bio.
My approach is highly trauma-informed, as I am drawing on my extensive experience working with clients who have experienced trauma. While I am not licensed to treat trauma, I can teach you how to care for your wounded parts in ways that promote inner safety.
As a coach, my approach is practical and directive (if you prefer). I offer clear tools and strategies with step-by-step instructions for implementing them at home to create the transformation you desire.
My approach is somatic, experiential, and evidence-based. I accompany you connecting with the wisdom of your own body through felt experience. This method allows you to feel and understand your current experiences and coping strategies with deep awareness. You will be guided in practicing new habits and feel the effects on a physical, emotional, and energetic level. This approach reaches far beyond the intellectual focus of talk therapies.
My approach aims at empowering you as you become your inner knower and build trust in your body, mind, and needs.
My approach works well with both secular and spiritual frameworks. For those who are open, I combine evidence-based practices with mystical practices to help transform your nervous system and beliefs.
Everything I guide you through is something I practice in my own life.
This is a safe space—I support LGBTQA+, ethical non-monogamy, sex positivity, and various spiritual, religious, as well as secular frameworks.
I also offer psychedelic integration sessions. This means I provide a safe space for you to process your experiences.
Who are my clients and what do we work on
My primary specialization is in supporting clients in navigating the emotional realm and their inner world with increased safety, confidence, and mastery. This can be navigating overwhelming emotions, and learning to feel and express emotions for the first time.
In my coaching, I have developed a particular interest in guiding people to let go of shame and self-criticism and to cultivate self-worth, self-love, and self-acceptance. I want you to feel that you have your back and to feel safe in your body. I enjoy creating a safe and welcoming space for clients to explore their true selves. I deeply appreciate my work in guiding clients to identify and care for their most vulnerable or challenging parts, as well as their deep wounds, desires, needs, and challenging emotions. Through this integration process, clients come to feel more empowered, grounded, and peaceful.
Another focus is in supporting clients to address challenges and goals in intimate relationships. In particular, this involves helping clients who are experiencing insecure attachments to better identify, honour, communicate, and meet their emotional needs and boundaries. This has involved working with clients to navigate ethical non-monogamy and explore sexuality in ways that feel safe and empowering.
In 2020, I received training in and began offering psychedelic integration sessions. This means I can offer you a safe space to process after your experiences.
To date, I have worked with several hundreds of clients and have provided approximately 6000 hours of sessions. I have not described the full variety of goals I support clients in working towards. I offer free 15-minute consultations during which we can discuss your difficulties and goals and identify if my coaching approach will meet your needs. Looking forward to working together. :)
"I love that her sessions combine practical, actionable approaches to problem solving with mindfulness techniques and connecting with the inner self on a deeper, more complex level. I take something away from every session, whether it’s a breathing exercise, a new tactic for self-soothing or a concrete, reasonable to-do list. She is kind, non-judgemental, knowledgeable and empathetic... My experience with Alyssa has been incredibly rewarding and I’d recommend her services to anyone looking to connect with both their mind and body in a deeper, more meaningful way."
- Kelly H., Canada
Réservez une séance de coaching
Des séances individuelles sont disponibles par visioconférence et par téléphone.
Séances de 50 minutes - 150 $ + taxes
Séances de 80 minutes - 225 $ + taxes
*Veuillez noter que les séances ne sont probablement pas couvertes par votre assurance, sauf si vous avez une couverture flexible pour le coaching et le bien-être.
Pour réserver une séance ou une consultation gratuite de 15 minutes, remplissez ce formulaire ou envoyez-moi un courriel à l'adresse ci-dessous :
A note on licensing and titles
My title is ‘coach’, not ‘psychologist’ as I am not registered with any provincial licensing body for psychologists. This means, I am not licensed to diagnose or treat mental disorders or to offer psychotherapy in the field of psychopathology or psychiatry. Instead, our focus is on imparting you with the understanding, skills, guidance, and accompaniment better meet and navigate present moment experiences in ways that cultivate inner clarity, harmony and peace, and better serve your needs and goals.
