Therapy That Honors Your Spiritual Gifts
Why you shouldn't have to choose between psychology and spirituality
By Bethany Russell, MA, LPC
I'm tired of the bullshit.
You sit in therapy talking about your anxiety, your relationship patterns, your work stress. But you can't mention that you felt your grandmother's presence after she died. You can't talk about the dream that felt like a message. You definitely can't say that you just "know" things sometimes.
Because you've learned that therapists either look at you like you're having a psychotic break or they change the subject real quick.
So you split yourself in half. Psychology over here, spirituality over there. Never the two shall meet.
But here's what I've learned working with intuitive, spiritually-gifted people: you can't heal half a person.
THE PROBLEM WITH TRADITIONAL THERAPY
Most therapists aren't trained to integrate spiritual experiences. They often don't know what to do with this content, so you end up having to compartmentalize parts of yourself.
They've been taught that hearing from deceased loved ones means you're not processing grief "properly." That intuitive hits are just anxiety in disguise. That your empathic abilities are boundary issues that need fixing.
They mean well. But they're missing the point entirely.
Your spiritual gifts aren't symptoms to manage. They're not things to medicate away or analyze into submission. They're part of who you are.
And when therapy ignores or pathologizes the most authentic parts of you, it can't create real healing.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HIDE YOUR GIFTS
You learn to edit yourself. In therapy, in relationships, in life.
You start questioning your own experiences. Maybe that wasn't really intuition—maybe you're just reading too much into things. Maybe you're not actually empathic—maybe you just have poor boundaries.
You lose connection to one of your greatest assets: your inner knowing.
Meanwhile, you're trying to heal trauma, work through relationship patterns, or manage anxiety while pretending half of your experience doesn't exist.
It's like trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
What if your therapist actually understood that your sensitivity is a strength, not a pathology?
What if they got that your intuitive abilities aren't something to be fixed, but something to be honored and integrated?
What if you could talk about your spiritual experiences as part of your healing, not separate from it?
In my work, I don't separate psychology from spirituality because they're not separate in real life. Your trauma affects your spiritual connection. Your spiritual awakening can trigger old wounds. Your intuitive gifts can get buried under layers of conditioning and criticism.
We work with all of it.
HOW IFS AND SPIRITUALITY WORK TOGETHER
Internal Family Systems is naturally spiritual work, even when people don't realize it.
When we're working with your parts—the anxious part, the people-pleasing part, the critical part—we're also working with the parts that have been protecting your spiritual gifts.
Maybe you have a part that shut down your intuition after someone called you "too sensitive." Maybe there's a part that learned to hide your empathic abilities because they felt overwhelming.
As we help these protective parts relax, your natural spiritual connection often comes back online.
And here's what's beautiful: your spiritual gifts actually support the IFS work. Your intuition helps you connect with your parts. Your empathic abilities help you understand what they need. Your spiritual practices become resources for your Self.
WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE
I work with clients who are psychics, energy healers, mediums, and intuitives. I also work with people who just know they're "more sensitive" than others but don't have language for it yet.
We might explore how your empathic abilities affect your relationships. We might work with parts that carry religious trauma. We might integrate spiritual practices into your healing process.
Sometimes we do traditional parts work. Sometimes we work with energy. Sometimes we explore past life themes that are affecting current patterns.
It's all therapy. It's all healing. It's all valid.
THE RELIEF OF BEING SEEN
The thing my spiritually-gifted clients tell me most often is how relieved they feel to finally have a space where they don't have to hide.
They can mention their spiritual practices as part of their healing toolkit. They can talk about energy and intuition without getting blank stares. They can explore how their spiritual awakening connects to their trauma patterns.
For the first time, they're working with someone who sees their gifts as part of the healing, not obstacles to it.
IF THIS IS RESONATING
If you're reading this and feeling that familiar relief of being understood, you're not alone.
You shouldn't have to choose between getting professional help and honoring your spiritual truth.
Your gifts aren't too much. Your sensitivity isn't a problem to solve. Your spiritual experiences aren't delusions or distractions.
They're part of who you are. And healing works better when it includes all of you.