In therapy and counselling, qualifications and techniques are important, but what clients often respond to most is subtler: your presence. Beneath professional training and carefully chosen words lies something only you carry: your essence.
Your essence is the unique imprint of your lived experience, the way you naturally hold space, the qualities that arise when you are simply yourself. When you work from that place, your practice becomes more sustainable, magnetic, and nourishing.
Here’s how anchoring your business in your essence strengthens both client trust and your own wellbeing.
Your essence attracts the right clients
When you work from your true self, you naturally draw in the people who resonate with you. This is about leaning into the qualities that arise effortlessly in you: your curiosity, warmth, steadiness, humour, creativity etc.
These qualities act as a signal that differentiate you from others. The clients who are aligned with your way of being are drawn in almost before you meet them, creating a practice that feels in flow and mutually nourishing. Your essence, expressed authentically, becomes the foundation of your client relationships.
Your story differentiates your work
Authenticity is also a differentiator. The path that brought you here: the insights, challenges, and awakenings all infuse your work with depth. You don’t need to share every detail; simply allowing your history to inform how you hold space gives your practice a texture no one else can replicate.
Clients may not know why they feel it, but they recognise the resonance of a practitioner who has integrated their own experiences. That lived authenticity draws people in.
Alignment strengthens your marketing and presence
Marketing stops being a performance when it’s rooted in who you are. Too often, visibility feels exhausting because it comes from a persona of who you feel you should be, rather than your own presence. When your messaging, online profile, and client communications reflect your natural rhythms and values, they stop being tasks to complete and start being a coherent expression of your practice.
Your essence becomes the lens through which your business speaks. Every email, post, or introduction communicates your energy and your approach, building trust before a client even steps into a session.
Marketing feels more sustainable as you lean into what works for you, and share from a place of what comes naturally.
Bringing your essence into your business
Authenticity is more than a personal ideal; it’s a strategic choice. Rooting into your essence helps you:
- Build trust naturally with the people you’re best placed to serve
- Communicate and market your work with coherence and ease
- Protect your own energy so your practice feels sustainable and life-giving
When your business grows from your truth rather than external expectation, it becomes more human, magnetic, and aligned with who you are.
If this resonates, the upcoming workshop ‘Connect to your unique essence’ (22nd October, available to Welldoing members) offers a space to explore these ideas more deeply, to rediscover your essence, align your work around it, and remember the power that comes from simply being yourself.
Feedback from previous sessions:
"I found that the workshop was centring and restorative – it put me in touch with a bodily message that I need a break! I have a tendency to run from one thing to another and I found myself thinking that the stillness in the workshop was exactly what I needed. The time passed in the blink of an eye. I have since resolved to make meditation more a part of my daily practice." – Anonymous psychodynamic psychotherapist, London
""The Creative Business Workshop was a truly enriching experience - gentle, insightful and full of depth. Although it was just an hour, it felt longer in the best possible way – spacious, considered and impactful. Tara held the space with such care and clarity, creating an environment that felt both inspiring and grounded. I walked away with valuable insights, fresh perspectives, and a deeper connection to my business journey. A beautifully crafted and facilitated experience that I would wholeheartedly recommend." – Anonymous online psychotherapist
"I found the workshop gently powerful. Tara held space for and gently guided with prompts an inward connection to wisdom of the body. It was an enpowering practice and reminder for me to slow down and consistently make time and space to be embodied and creative." – Anonymous psychotherapist, Swansea
