December 20, 2021
The art of Compassionate Inquiry Counselling- I am Atiyeh Baradaran
Hello there!
My name is Atiyeh.
I am honored to offer my trauma-informed counseling and therapy services online to the Float Now community.
I’m also excited to be contributing to this blog on a regular basis. My writings and teachings center around mental health, therapy, and general wellbeing.
I was born and raised in Iran until the age of 16.
I have now lived more than half of my life in Canada, and currently live in Mexico.
For the last 12 years, I have traveled and lived for extended times in many different parts of the world, gathering knowledge and teachings from different cultures, indigenous groups and ceremonial ways. With permission, I use these in my practices and in supporting the healing of my clients when needed.
I love learning different languages! I have fluency in three: Farsi (my mother tongue), English, and Spanish. I would be so happy to work with you within the comfort of your own language.
When I look back at my life up until now, it feels like I have lived a few different lives in one. I can’t say it has been easy, but it has never been boring 😉 and I am excited to see what else life has in store for me!
I have a passion for learning. Especially deep learning about the human condition and psychology- including my own internal and intergenerational make-up. My friends would call me a psychology nerd!
Ever since I can remember, I have been delving into the topic of healing and growth. Unlearning what doesn’t serve, and deepening into my true essence.
Eight years ago, I undertook a long intensive yoga training. During this time, I became very clear that one of my main purposes in this lifetime is: to pull back the layers of my constructed personality and my belief systems, and to return to the seed of who I Truly Am.
I recognized that by becoming familiar and comfortable in my own authenticity, I could then offer the gift of safety, inspiration, and support to others in doing that work for themselves as well.
When I look at my life now, I realize that I have aligned my work and my life with this exact purpose.
I am a survivor of trauma myself. Growing up in Iran, where sadly in these times there is a lot of suppression and lack of true safety- especially for women- and also through my other life events, I have come to learn quite deeply about Trauma and its effects on the life of a person if not tended to properly.
I have dedicated the last 9 years of my life to the deep healing of these unresolved wounds. With that work I have also gained the capacity and tools to support others in their work of gaining freedom from the effects of Trauma in their life.
I have always had a huge passion and desire to help people find healing and joy in their life. This is why I do what I do. And I find a lot of joy in doing it. I have committed my life to holding space for others on the path of healing. In our sessions, I always aim to create a very safe and loving space to support each client in finding their way back to their fully healed and fulfilled self.
My Education and Training Background :
I graduated with a Psychology degree from Simon Fraser University in 2014. In the same year, I completed my Yoga Teacher’s Training to become a certified and registered Yoga and Meditation Teacher. I have taught yoga and offered meditation circles in different parts of the world since then. I am also a dancer and a singer, and have found both of these channels of art to be incredible resources in my and my clients’ path of healing.
Most of all, in my therapy work with my clients today, I draw from the framework of Compassionate Inquiry- the work of Dr. Gabor Maté .
In 2012, I met Dr. Maté at a conference on plant medicine healing. When I heard him talk, I knew there and then that he was going to be one of my main teachers in this life. I spoke to him about this right after and stayed in touch. It wasn’t until 4 years later that I finally gathered the resources to attend one of his retreats in Mexico. Since then, he has become a mentor, a dear friend, and a guide in my path. I became dedicated to attending all his lectures, seminars, and trainings around the world to learn from him.
As I drove him to his talks, he would share teachings and insights. And during the Q&A breaks, he would invite me to sit beside him as people approached with their questions and issues, so that I could learn his methods.
Finally, to my excitement, January of 2019 marked the first official training of Compassionate Inquiry. I was one of the first people to register, and to graduate.
After a year of deep work, practicums, and study, I became a Certified Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner at the beginning of 2020. And I continue to deepen my work with the C.I. team.
What is Compassionate Inquiry?
Compassionate Inquiry® is a psychotherapeutic approach developed by Dr. Gabor Maté. It reveals what lies beneath the appearance we present to the world. Through this work, the client can recognize the unconscious dynamics that run their lives; and how to liberate themselves from them.
Dr. Maté describes it with precision here:
“The essence of trauma, which is underneath all human dysfunctions – addictions, afflictions, disease, confusion – is separation from the self! Therefore, the essential intention of therapeutic interaction needs to be helping a person Reconnect with themselves, knowing that as they do, their own innate wisdom will guide them in the right direction.”
So in other words, Compassionate Inquiry is a process to support people Regenerate and Recover that lost connection to the self.
My deep belief is that the real healing from trauma only begins when we feel Held, Heard, and Accepted in exactly where we are.
I aim to always offer my clients my Absolute Unwavering Loving Presence in our session to create Safety for healing to begin.
Drawing from my training in C.I. and other fields of healing, in our sessions, we first focus on recognizing what is held in the body through somatic work. With love and compassion, I then work with you in gently unlocking the suppressed emotions and the memories that have been stored in your system. They have created some of your fundamental beliefs and patterns in life, caused by the unprocessed and unresolved traumas of the past.
This process has the power to be an enlightening and direct gateway to releasing unhealthy and un-serving patterns in our lives.
I also believe that the healing we need and all the ability and capacity for that work, is stored right within ourselves.
With my experience, I am confident that I can support in guiding you to find that place and resource within yourself.
Life can get hard at times, and we are truly not meant to do this alone.
I am here for you.
Please get in touch with me and let’s start the journey of healing and finding true joy in your life.
FB: www.facebook.com/
My bio can be found at https://floatlove.ca/remote-counselling/
You can also email me directly at: atiyeh.b@gmail.com