About Iria
Iria Sebastião, Spiritual Life Coach & Catalyst for Personal Change
Helping you find clarity, confidence and courage to create a life you truly want.
Iria’s style blends compassion, cultural sensitivity and humor. Her work respects your life’s experience and guides you to access and trust your inner wisdom. She holds a loving and safe space to help you develop additional skills for your transformation process.
Iria holds a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology and has a license as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California. Iria is Life Coach certified, and she brings clinical experience and wisdom gained from various spiritual practices and personal experiences.
During her free time, Iria enjoys nature, spending time with loved ones, travel, and learning something new “just because.” She is also an avid reader and has fun practicing Improv Theatre.
The skills and experience you will not get from others life coaches!
My story in a nutshell
One of my biggest joys is seeing a client light up during a session because they found calm or clarity about something important for them. I am able to provide a safe space for them to connect with their inner guidance because of a combination of personal and professional development.
From an early age, I learned to cope with the chaos around me by going within myself. It felt safer connecting with my inner guidance than relying on unreliable and disconnected adults around me. Over the years, connecting with my inner guidance became a valuable skill for personal and professional life. And, it has helped me support my clients to find their connection within.
Also, I have been curious about topics related to spirituality, healing and personal development since I was young. That is probably because I grew up going to all sorts of healers. When I was around 2-year-old I became seriously ill. My parents felt helpless with the doctors because they could not figure out what I had, and it was only getting worse. They were afraid I could die and my parents took me to a healer. She gave them specific instructions that included to drink a holy water, which they followed. After her blessings, I started eating again and getting better. My parents believe that the healer saved my life. After that, regular visits to healers to help other family members were part of my childhood. And, in their waiting rooms, I grew up listening to all sorts of healing and even miracle stories. So, what can be very strange for many people was very normal in my childhood.
Also, I have been curious about topics related to spirituality, healing and personal development since I was young. That is probably because I grew up going to all sorts of healers. When I was around 2-year-old I became seriously ill. My parents felt helpless with the doctors because they could not figure out what I had, and it was only getting worse. They were afraid I could die and my parents took me to a healer. She gave them specific instructions that included to drink a holy water, which they followed. After her blessings, I started eating again and getting better. My parents believe that the healer saved my life. After that, regular visits to healers to help other family members was part of my childhood. And, in their waiting rooms, I grew up listening to all sorts of healing and even miracle stories. So, what can be very strange for a lot of people was very normal in my childhood.
Perhaps that experience also added up to my curiosity about people. I have always been curious about why people behave the way they do and what could make a difference to alleviate suffering. It led me to explore and study various Western and Eastern spiritual, religious and healing paths. And later, pursue a Masters in Counseling Psychology and become a psychotherapist.
The combination of various layers of my personal and professional life took me into a path of healing for myself and healing others around me. Healing often does not happen in the way that we desire or expect. At the end of the day, healing is being at peace with oneself and what it is, while moving towards our continuous expansion with trust. This is not an easy task because we can get lost in a lot of drama and narratives that unconsciously permeate our decisions. And that is why, sometimes, the best gift you can give to yourself is to seek support to connect within. I am here to help you connect with your inner peace and guidance to help reveal what truly matters to you and move boldly towards it.
Iria believes that the path of personal growth and healing is lighter when one can have a healthier relationship with oneself, others and the world. This process can be easier when we are able to relate and integrate the aspects that seem conflicting within ourselves, with the tools that match our level of readiness.
Trauma-informed care approach
My training includes a trauma-informed care approach based on the understanding that a past trauma (or emotional wound) may significantly affect a client’s emotions, behaviors and choices.
This perspective and experience with trauma work allow me to bring additional skills with more insights to better support clients who need further understanding to feel safe to take practical steps towards their goals.
“The good life is a process, not a state of being.
It is a direction, not a destination” - Carl Rogers
Life and experience in bullet points
- Masters in Counseling Psychology, with specialization in Creative Expression; from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now Sofia University)
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist/Psychotherapist in California (LMFT #106897)
- 6+ years of experience in clinical settings, working with a variety of challenges, including:
- Anxiety, depression, trauma, grief
- Relational and spiritual issues
- Life Transitions
- Cross-cultural relationships
- Parent-child relationship
- Children with autism, other developmental delays, selective mutism and attachment disorder
- Facilitation of psychotherapy groups and classes in different topics including:
- Anxiety, depression, trauma, grief
- Child sexual abuse
- Parenting skills and parent-child relationship
- Some relevant clinical trainings:
- Mindfulness
- Solution Focused Brief Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Trauma-Focused (TF-CBT)
- Trauma-Informed Treatment for Children with Challenging Behaviors
- Crisis Intervention and Management
- Suicide Prevention (ASIST)
- Motivational Interviewing
- Triple P (Positive Parenting Program)
- Explored and studied different Western and Eastern spiritual/healing paths
- 15+ years participation in Shamanic and other healing practices, including personal apprenticeship with a modern day Shamanic Healer
- ThetaHealing® Practitioner (Healing modality with guided imagery technique focusing on a sense of connection with the Creator/God/Source)
- Multidimensional Therapy (Healing modality with guided imagery technique focusing on the heart)
- Facilitation of groups, classes and workshops in various topics of psychology, personal and spiritual development.
- Certified Professional Coach
Personal new beginnings include, but are not limited to:
- Change of career (more than once)
- Unexpected divorce
- Change of country and culture (more than once, and still counting)
- Overcoming depression and suicidal thoughts (more than once)
- Overcoming chronic fatigue, workaholism and burnout without medication
- Embarking on a sabbatical and solo backpacking trip (in my thirties) after letting everything go
- Making peace with important dreams that did not come true as planned
- Evolving and transforming while learning and experiencing different western and eastern spiritual/healing paths.
"Our aliveness and expansion comes from a place of expressing ourselves from a loving place, not within the constraints of judgment and fear." - Iria Sebastião
About
Inner Resources Solutions
Iria Sebastião’s services operate under Inner Resources Solutions, a name which was inspired by a chapter in the Tao of Leadership, by John Heider.
Inner Resources Solutions aims at supporting personal development and personal growth, with more heart-centered choices, so we can be the world we want to see.
Inner Resources
To know how other people behave takes intelligence,
but to know myself takes wisdom.
To manage other people’s lives takes strength,
but to manage my own life takes true power.
If I am content with what I have,
I can live simply and enjoy both prosperity and free time.
If my goals are clear,
I can achieve them without fuss.
If I am at peace with myself,
I will not spend my life force in conflicts.
If I have learned to let go,
I do not need to fear dying.