I had the pleasure of interviewing Darcy Helene. She is a Certified Creative Depth Coach & Master’s level clinician. With experience in counseling, coaching, creativity and yoga, Darcy knows that healing can and does happen with the right support system in place. She is committed to helping others clear their clutter, whether it is emotional, mental, spiritual or physical. Reinvention, transformation and living with purpose are core to her life’s work. With 15 years of experience working in the field of recovery, Darcy works with men and women committed to living fully, who are facing and have overcome difficult life situations, are actively seeking growth and ready for new freedom. Darcy’s mission is to guide others in thriving through transition & redefining life with joy, meaning and purpose.
Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path as a doctor or healer?
I do not necessarily identify as being a healer. I know healing. Healing and health are the result of knowing the opposite, through my experiences of difficulty, illness and confusion. I have been healed of so many things. From my experience in facing darkness and accessing light, one metaphor for the journey of healing, I have been led to witness others in their own process of healing and recovery.
How have your personal challenges informed your career path?
In a voracious desire to understand myself and others, I have pursued education, insight and information. This has been a key part of my healing, growth and evolution. The quest of healing has been self propelled and led me to share experience with others, helping them heal in any way I can. As a trained therapist, recovery expert and coach, I know that connection and care bridge the gap that different backgrounds or lack of formal education might create. Every gift I have encountered came with or through some sort of challenge. With darkness comes light, every time.
Every single thing that has been lived through is used for good when a commitment to self love and service are chosen. Nothing is wasted when authenticity, commitment, love, vision and courage meet.
Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a Doctor”
- It is not your job to save anyone, and you can’t even when you try.
- Self care needs to be scheduled in just like client appointments if you are going to be effective and able to sustain any effectiveness long term.
- You will question whether you are effective or even making a difference often.
- The rules you learned in school will need to be broken from time to time in order to truly support and empower someone.
- Knowing yourself and investing in your own personal evolution is imperative to be a “great” doctor or practitioner (i.e.: hobbies, values work, play, ongoing character development).
Do you think more transparency about your personal story can help or harm your field of work? Can you explain?
In school, it was drilled into me to not disclose experience in order to most effectively assist clients. This was a tough thing for me to challenge as I began practicing as a therapist. Particularly in the field of addiction recovery, I have found trust is built within the client/practitioner relationship by acknowledging what makes us human, struggles, overcoming, etc. In challenging rigid boundaries around disclosing personal experience and being transparent about things that might seem “off limits” to share, I have found a rhythm and sense of trust in my ability to know what and when to share.
Before sharing details about my story, I ask “what is my intention in sharing this?” This forces me to pause, which is usually a beneficial step in anything, slow down and get conscious. If I am sharing something because I want to change someone’s mind, persuade them or control their perspective/behavior, sharing is not empowering. If I sense that being transparent about something personal will assist in building rapport and conveying helpful information, I will. The balance between focusing on the client and also empathizing with their experience is a dance, there is no 100% black and white way to share the right things.
Basic ethics taught in current psychology protocol provide a structure to operate within. From here, personalizing a way of teaching/leading/conducting business will form (over time).
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I want people to know that healing happens. Through kind words, sincere connection, intentional action, courageous confidence, challenging defaults that disempower, taking responsibility for choices, asking for help and a willingness to change, what might be debilitating now does not have to be for long. Change is real. Recovery leads to freedom. Healing Happens.
This has been a mantra of mine for well over 15 years, when I first faced addiction that was threatening my life. I started saying this to myself because I wanted it to be true and desperately needed to build trust in life, in myself, in what was beyond the challenges I was facing. It was just a couple years later that I claimed healing and committed to the path of restoring my spirit, revitalizing my body and remembering who I really am. Healing Happensbecame my reminder that this too will pass and I have an active role in creating what unfolds in my near and far future. I want to mirror and/or rekindle hope in everyone I encounter. I strive to live by example, which means I must practice what I know to be supportive and recommend to others who are seeking healing. Simple, sincere connection exposes the magic of everyday life and creates miracles. I know that healing happens. I want others to know this, to experience it, to feel the power within them to heal from anything. I don’t know if this is a movement, it is simply love in action. This is my mission. To love, to connect people to what they need, to remember what’s real and lead by example.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Instagram: @reinventingdarcyhelene
Facebook: Darcy Helene, Reinvention + Recovery Coaching