Testimonials from real Rooted Bliss Clients
“My work with Kate has been truly life-changing.”
Breanna V
I had been struggling with what most psychiatrists diagnosed as “treatment-resistant depression” for more than 25 years, and I had tried nearly every treatment modality that I could find, both in Evansville, and throughout the country: nearly every antidepressant, antipsychotic, and mood stabilizer that exists, a wide variety of cognitive-based therapies, group therapy, residential treatment, transcranial magnetic stimulation, ketamine therapy and even electroconvulsive therapy. I tried traditional psychiatrists and therapists, as well as naturopaths, functional medicine doctors and chiropractors. I tried entire regimens of supplements, diet and exercise. Nothing helped alleviate my symptoms of feeling numb, empty and without hope.
I was finally properly diagnosed as suffering from complex post traumatic stress disorder (i.e. trauma), and started seeing an EMDR therapist, though I wasn’t able to successfully participate in the EMDR sessions because I so often disassociated from my body. From the time I can remember, I had been living my life in my head, and not in my body. My EMDR therapist referred me to Kate to see if I could learn to connect to my body.
Once I started working with Kate, I started experiencing a sense of safety in my body, which allowed me to feel more present and grounded. I learned to notice when I was disconnected, and take steps to reorient myself to the positive experiences I felt, rather than the negative thoughts I feared. I learned to notice when old patterns came up, such as the freeze response, and how to create new neural pathways and patterns in my brain that are more appropriate. I no longer live in a constant reactionary state and operate in a more grounded, present state of being. I’m sleeping better, I’m significantly less stressed, and I’m experiencing joy, happiness and hope once again.
Kate has a wide array of techniques that can help address and resolve trauma. She uses a nice blend of multiple modalities to address whatever trauma-related issue you’re experiencing at the time. She meets you where you are, and as you and your body evolve, her techniques evolve with you.
My work with Kate has been truly life-changing. Everyone close to me can see the difference in me, even if they don’t know about the work that I’ve been doing. It’s so nice to be able to fully live life again.
“Kate is easy to talk to, very understanding and makes you feel comfortable talking about difficult issues.”
Anthony O.
I was referred to Kate by another counseling service who recommended her for Somatic Experiencing, which was a new term to me. For years I experienced symptoms of anxiety related to my health or perceived thoughts about my health. While fairly active and no major health issues, I often felt chest pain and felt like I was on the brink of a heart attack. This usually presented itself when I was alone. My father passed away from a heart attack when he was home alone.
Kate worked with me virtually at first. Telling my story about past experiences, family, discussing anxiety and health was still unfamiliar to me. Kate was very attentive and remembered my story and issues I suffered from session to session. She helped me open up about past trauma that I really didn’t discuss with anyone. It enabled me to process those experiences in an open-minded way and understand them better. Scenarios I had imagined for years and years seemed like the truth, but it turns out that they were not. She helped me become comfortable enough to reach out to other family members to discuss sensitive topics and found out what I believed to be true [about what happened] was not at all.
Kate seems to have deep understanding or knowledge about a lot of different aspects of mind, body, health and life. She is easy to talk to, very understanding and makes you feel comfortable talking about difficult issues. She has a calming attitude and her style keeps you relaxed during the session. I also appreciate the due diligence she did on issues relating specifically to me. It seemed like she researched things I asked about, and she always seemed to keep notes and remember things we discussed during prior sessions. It means a lot to know you’re being listened to and understood. All sessions have a gentle close to leave refreshed, she’s never in a rush to move onto the next client.
“Our sessions have profoundly helped me to shift how I relate to myself, how I interact with my own thoughts and physical body.”
Devika Bellamy
By the time I landed in Kate’s office, I had tried so many things with so many different providers, and was lost and incredibly frustrated. Traditional Western medicine hadn’t helped me at all, neither had the Eastern medical approaches I tried. Physical therapy and massage therapy helped some, but not enough to create meaningful and lasting change. I was still having daily persistent debilitating migraines, brain fog, nausea, heart pounding, and neck pain from an automobile accident. My mom suggested that I try working with Kate, and while I didn’t understand any of the science behind SE work, I was willing to give it a try. I am SO thankful I did, because after 2 sessions with Kate, my heart pounding nearly resolved, and over time, many of my other issues dissipated as well!
Not only was my work with Kate instrumental in managing my acute symptoms from my car accident and subsequent brain injury, but also in my realizations that I have actually struggled with anxiety throughout my entire life. Throughout our sessions together, I was able to begin to have major shifts in my relationship to self, both physically and conceptually. I began to notice all the subtle ways my body was sending me messages, and how I never had the tools before to receive and process that information. I also began to see how my concept of “self” (e.g. what I expected of myself, the quality of my self talk, having less compassion and grace for myself than for others) wasn’t in alignment with the kindness and gentleness I wanted to extend to myself.
Our sessions have profoundly helped me to shift how I relate to myself, how I interact with my own thoughts and physical body. I am grateful to be able to say that I have now been able to stop all of the different habits I had that were unhealthy or unkind to my body: inconsistency with nutrition, poor sleep patterns, excessive multi-tasking and lack of cognitive rest, aggressive exercise that caused physical pain, among others. Again, none of that is what initially brought me to Kate’s work, but were unexpected bonuses that improved the quality of my life!
What amazes me about Kate’s work, is that it isn’t anything that grabs your attention upfront, that announces its presence loudly. It is slow, gentle, subtle, able to change course as needed throughout the session. It really is most of the things that many of us do not know how to create or allow in ourselves. I think this slowness and non-intrusiveness is what creates such an opening for awareness and growth that many of us are just zooming right past with other approaches to healing and health.
I truly can’t say enough about Kate or somatic experiencing work; they have changed the quality of my life. So much so, that even though I am trained as a physical therapist and yoga instructor, I am going to begin the path to formal training in this work, because I know there are many patients whom I could help so much more if I were better equipped to address their nervous system, as Kate addressed mine. It is now the area I spend the most time researching on my own- TRULY transformational work! And Kate has such a natural gift and intuition for how to bring this work to others in a palatable and effective way! I am so grateful for how her work has touched my life!
“Kate, I feel truly blessed to have been brought into your orbit, to be your student and client.”
Michael Mayron
This was at a difficult time in my life as my wife had just died from Covid and I was awash with a flood of raging mixed emotions. Little did I know that my first meeting with Kate would show her skill as an empathic, caring, and nurturing counselor. As no one has ever done for me in the past, she created a safe space for me where, no matter what I did or said, there was no judgement – just compassion and caring. I was able to weep – which I did for most of the session. From there, over the ensuing months, we did more of the same and then began more energy work with yoga and now sound/vibration techniques.
My emotional torrent calmed down and I began to experience a level of understanding and compassion that I never experienced before. I noticed my surroundings in a strange, new way. Everything was brighter and more beautiful, though I had seen the same trees and sky thousands of times previous. I experienced moments of utter calm and peace wherein everything felt “right” to me just as it was.
I never used to say the cliché “life is good.” Every time I heard other people say it they sounded cynical or trite. Now, I have found myself saying it with deep reverence and quiet joy. I’m happily excited about the prospect of meeting later with a friend or trying on a new shirt. This is all new to me. And, it is wonderful. This doesn’t mean that I no longer have my moments of anger and bitterness, but they are fewer and less intense.
If anyone should read this and think that Kate is a miracle worker or a magician, they wouldn’t be far off the mark. However, they must realize that they have to put in the effort, time, and work to make these “shifts” in consciousness happen, Besides the energy work and yoga that I learn from Kate, I am also studying traditional yoga under another teacher. Doing one’s “practice” and studying the sutras on a daily basis is important, Indeed, imperative. But, my God, it’s worth it. Actually, it’s a joy to do my practice every day.
Kate, I feel truly blessed to have been brought into your orbit, to be your student and client. Thank you for being. Thank you for the gifts that you have given me.
“Working with Kate on Somatic Experiencing and the Safe & Sound Protocol has facilitated a big change.”
Mike Boren
The biggest change I have experienced is the coordination and communication of my mind and body. In the past I have worked with my mind through meditation and therapy. I would work with my body through exercise and eating well but the two [mind and body] never spoke to each other. I don’t think I really ever paid attention to my body as an intelligence with a voice.
Kate works through knowledge and direct experience which makes trusting the process much easier. Along with having a unique skill set she also does a great job working with the client to determine what they need and what direction to take.
I’ve been in and out of therapy for years. It was always good for support until I started doing EMDR regularly the last few years. That was the first therapy that got good results but didn’t go deep enough to get through some triggers. I’ve been on the right medication for about 5 years which has also been helpful. In addition to that I have been doing meditation for decades. I think between meditation, medication and therapy there wasn’t much left my brain could do to help. It was extremely frustrating. What I was experiencing wasn’t something I could think my way out of.
Working with Kate on somatic experiencing and the safe and sound protocol has facilitated a big change. I now actively listen to my body and what it is saying. It says exactly what it needs when it needs it. Listening to the body isn’t complicated but it was completely foreign at first. It conveys a lot more information than “I’m hungry, tired or out of breath.”
Everything just feels smoother, especially in situations that used to be difficult. I feel my body get my attention. By shifting the attention to my body and away from the stressful thoughts, my mind is occupied. My body relaxes, my mind relaxes then the whole situation relaxes. By experiencing the body I can experience stressful things without the stress.