I had no idea I could experience this much freedom

Most days I swim in a sense of feeling “this is so surreal!”

I had no idea I could have this much freedom. I thought I would, maybe at best, one day be in private practice as a traditional Art Psychotherapist and no longer working in an oppressive agency position. Hopefully, I would get remarried after my divorce, have my 2.5 babies and live with my partner in a middle class home in the middle of suburban Maryland (where I grew up). That was about where I believed my growth would end.

I didn’t know that instead I would be running a large and successful psychotherapy business in Denver, with 2 magical babies, married to a super loving, extremely attuned and devoted man, be the main breadwinner (flipping traditional gender norms), a spokesperson for women’s empowerment on a national documentary, making a multi six figure income, in a huge beautiful house, part of an incredible spiritual community in Boulder and simply feeling CONFIDENT and FREE.

Me, the chick who hides in her office in DC pulling oracle cards and lighting pieces of paper on fire to release all the pain. Me, the little girl who was bullied for being too bossy, too angry, too quiet. Me, the girl that could not snag her first boyfriend until college. Me, the girl who got divorced before most of her friends had even been married for the first time. Me, the woman who spent any tiny bit of extra cash and then some to cope with stress. Me, the woman that serial dated all of DC because she felt undesirable and unworthy of respect. Me, that woman that was destined to work forever in a dead-end job making 30K a year listening to people tell her how much they hated her for trying to help them.

There were so many stories of shame, pain and limitation being held in my body for the majority of my life. So much intergenerational trauma that had been passed down that made it very difficult for me to thrive as a child and young adult. I didn’t have any idea who I was or what I truly wanted, for so long I was just seeking safety and sense of worth in my relationships with others and my career.

Intuitively, I knew that if I just kept doing personal healing work, I would continue to feel better and have more connection to my core being, my essence. So I kept at it, relentlessly. And soon I surpassed just feeling stable and happy with my life, I began to truly thrive. I live a life well beyond what I could have seen for myself and life continues to amaze me. The more I persist in my healing and expansion, the more opportunities, freedom, ease, joy and love show up at my doorstep.

Truly, I am now just a woman obsessed with finding freedom. I am fascinated by business and money and psychology and all things creativity. My soul has an absolutely unquenchable thirst for enlightenment, having felt the rewards of this pursuit. It is so strong, I cannot stop it, no matter how hard I have tried in my childhood and early adulthood to fit into the light and pleasant and normal.

And integrity is all that matters to me. I prioritize family and integrity. Everything I do comes back to being available to my children, creating freedom and connecting to love in all senses of the word.

I have been called to support other women in finding freedom. Freedom is the most magical thing I have ever possessed and I simply wish to help you connect with yours too.

That time we were featured in a Netflix documentary…

Kim was recently featured in the Netflix documentary “Get Smart with Money” where she and her partner were followed for a year while being coached to learn about how to align her finances with her values and life goals. “Kim and John from Boulder, CO” were highlighted as parents coming out of the financial and energetic depletion of the initial parenting years looking to learn how to optimize their finances for the remainder of their working and living years. The documentary culminated in their first ever 5 week vacation as a family to Costa Rica and downsizing of their home, aligning with connection over consumerism. Check out my blog post for more about our experience.

More about me and my career

Growing up with parents who were both scientists, I was headed in the direction of engineering throughout high school and into college. Despite feeling different and fearful to take the leap into my soul's desires, I followed my heart and instead completed my BA in Fine Arts. Shortly after, I fine tuned my passions in the form of a career in Art Therapy and completed my Master's Degree at George Washington University's Art Therapy Program in 2009. I continued my academic journey in a number of trauma sensitive advanced trainings. I served the DC/MD and more recently, CO and expat community as a psychotherapist since 2007, helping children, families, and adults heal from trauma, history and self-limiting beliefs. I am passionate about serving from a place of integrity and my highest vibration. I continuously participate in my own growth process in many different ways.

I have always followed my intuition, even as a young girl, always making the choice to be myself rather than just fitting in. It has not always been an easy road, but definitely fruitful! I am absolutely an old soul, with many past lives - if you are reading this, I am sure you are too. I have known intuitively that my life’s purpose was to be present and hold space for others in their healing process since I was young. I know now it is to help women access and own their strengths, their power and their joy. Over the last few years, I knew that my soul was calling for me to step up and evolve; to create something new. Women needed something more robust for true transformation.

So I was inspired in 2019 during my second maternity leave, after 10+ years in the psychotherapy world, and realizing how important it is to heal our family legacies, to start something new and different from anything else I have seen offered. I created a coaching program after recognizing the need for more accountability and education than is possible in a traditional psychotherapy setting. And also more deep healing than is available in a coaching setting. A program that asks for a commitment to growth, depth and vulnerability to create true long lasting transformation and step into your power. From there, I expanded fully into coaching both 1:1 and through group programs to provide a unique and powerful service for women.

I am also the founder of and run the thriving psychotherapy practice, Brave Embodiment Counseling LLC in Denver, CO. I opened the practice in late 2017 and it has since grown to be a practice of ten psychotherapists. The practice continues to grow and support many of the bright and beautiful souls of Denver to heal from trauma and old relational pain. I support many therapists in the Denver area and beyond to create practices aligned with their feminine energy and power.

At home, my life is all about connection and love. My family is my highest priority. I have strict boundaries around work/life balance and spend as much time as possible with my two young children, while balancing my calling to guide women throughout the world to heal and transform. In fact, we made the decision to have my husband be a stay at home dad during the early season of COVID, to be present with our children. We have since continued to make that choice, even with our children in school and John’s capacity to make a lot of money in his career, to create as much cumulative bandwidth as parents during the early years of our children’s lives.

My experience in my own pain and struggle greatly informs my work with clients. I have experienced two “dark nights of the soul.” One in early adulthood where I dropped out of my prestigious engineering program in my first year of college due to incapacitating depressive and anxiety symptoms related to a phobia of vomiting. And a second after getting divorced in my late 20s. I know what it means to build my life back up from rock bottom. And I know what it means to learn to love yourself before you can love someone else. I was broken open by both experiences, letting the pain illuminate a path to deep healing and enlightenment. I am extremely grateful for these experiences of adversity. I have since remarried to a wildly loving soul. I have continually grown through this relationship, learning more about the intricacies of marriage and parenthood. I am now mamma to two magical souls. Beautiful goddess in the making daughter, Carina Sol and sweet cuddly soul, Lucas John. I know how important it is to work through your patterns to be your highest and most present self in partnership and as a parent and to work towards living your best life.

I invite you to do your deep work of knowing your truth and evolving. I am ready to support you to meet your highest potential.

XOXO,

Kim

(Kimberly Ottinger Massale)