Using Life’s Transitions to Help Others
I had the pleasure of photographing Leah Katherine Hill, Psychedelic-Assisted Coach and Mental Health Advocate. She shared some of her transformational journey.
“For over twenty years, I worked in the tech industry successfully navigating a male-dominated high-pressure environment. I faced many challenges as a woman in leadership and kept rising. In the last few years though, I saw that burnout had enveloped me and I made the courageous decision to step away from corporate. Being in tech, I got told a lot of things, some I didn’t internalize but some of the rough commentaries I did. Because I did not question or challenge those sorts of ideas and beliefs, burnout developed. Women get put in tiny boxes and many expectations get laid upon us but we need to decide for ourselves who we are and how to live fulfilled lives.
My transition began about 2 years ago. I knew that to heal, transform, and recover I needed another path. Through meditation, therapy, and microdosing psychedelics I began to heal from that burnout. In expanded states of consciousness what psychedelics do is to create connections and communications in parts of the brain that would not normally communicate with one another to help restore and bring healing and alignment. What became clear to me through my journey was I wanted to pivot my career from tech to coaching. I decided to marry the amazing modality of microdosing and coaching using psychedelic therapy to help clients transition from burnout to finding themselves.
My premise was this, people have been using psychedelics for thousands of years. It is trending again and people are using microdosing in the mental health space potentially relieving anxiety, depression, and PTSD. I marry the usage of it with a goal, a journey, and a life or career plan. I bring my experience, and hard-fought wisdom into serving my clients, many of whom are already seeing a therapist, so I work in tandem with mental health professionals. My goal is to help more women in life transition with their beliefs about themselves, their potential, and their ability to contribute positively to all aspects of their lives.
One piece of advice I’d give is to be gentle with yourself and learn to treat yourself as you do your friends. We often put ourselves last and speak in a way that is not kind and generous to ourselves.
My experience with Alissa was wonderful even though I was nervous. Part of the reason was that four other times I’ve had headshots, and though the photography was good, I did not like the result. Perhaps partly because a lot of times there is so much advice around headshots, and suddenly, you don't feel like yourself because you feel forced into wearing certain clothing. Alissa did not do that. She had suggestions but she was very supportive of my choices. I loved the first photo she showed me. I heard myself say, ‘It’s Me. It looks like me!’ This was the first time I saw myself. It was a moving experience!”