Tell us a little about yourself. You’re a trauma therapist, completion process facilitator, shadow work practitioner, inner child healer and hypnotherapist – what was your path into this work?
I grew up as an orphan in an orphanage and foster home. My experience in foster care was pretty dark, with loads of emotional, mental and physical abuse. I left my foster family when I was 19 and then it has all started for me. I gained freedom that I always wanted but had nothing else. I thought I would immediately gain peace, but it took me over a decade to get to a true, authentic peace inside.
I was emotionally broken and although on the outside I appeared to have it all together, I struggled to hold my closest relationships, from intimate partners to friends. I started to heal my physical body first, lost 20kg in my early 20’s, and for the first time started exercising and eating healthy. The more healthy I felt physically the more I started to become aware of my emotional wounds. I’ve spent the last 20 years in therapy of all sorts, and have tried many tools and techniques, with many therapists and practitioners.
I studied and took training in, for me, most efficient techniques, and it feels amazing today that I am not just able to live and embrace this life fully, but to be able to help others to do so too.
I think you worked with Teal Swan – is there anything you’d like to share about that experience?
In 2016. in Berlin, I was trained by Teal, it was incredible, very deep and rich experience to be personally mentored by someone who I have learned so much from, and who is helping millions of people around the world.
You’re from Croatia, but you also studied in London, Dubai and Berlin, and seem to have workshops in several countries. Where do you spend most of your time now, and how do you spend your days?
I have been traveling for the past 2.5 years around the world following the sun. This year I spent my winter and spring in Australia and New Zealand and summer on Croatian coast, where I am at the moment. I am still making the decision where to go next. I spend my days exercising, doing yoga, meditating, doing some outdoor sports and exploring this beautiful island I am on, connecting with my friends, meeting new people, working with my online clients, writing, and involved in (too many) other creative projects, and so on. It’s pity a day’s got only 24 hours!
You work now as a healer. What are some of the more common problems that people come to you with?
Depression, loneliness, isolation, relationship issues, and not being happy in career but being afraid to change it. The root cause is usually emotional trauma, due to neglect and abuse, abandonment
You offer both individual and group therapy, and are there any special benefits that people can get from working in a group, rather than alone?
In a group setting people very quickly – because of a deep emotional work we do – get a profound sense of connection with others and belonging, which most of them don’t have nor have ever experienced. In such groups most people are seen, heard, acknowledged, validated and accepted for the first time in their lives for who they truly are and what they really feel. It also feels good to be able to see you are not the only one who struggles. It feels amazing to take off the mask we carry around and be totally ourselves, with all the good and bad, in a space where we are not judged, shamed or blamed, where we don’t have to fake a smile nor pretend to be strong. For many people it is a warm, home-coming feeling they’ve never had.
So in addition to diving deep into our shadows and healing our childhood wounds, in this type of workshop we are gaining friends for life. People often haven’t shared themselves this openly with anyone before, so the connection made between people is deep and lasting. And it’s not just pain which is shared there, we are exploring all ranges of human emotions, there are lots of giggles, crazy laughter, we sing, dance, draw, and do other ‘inner child stuff’ too.
You have a weekend workshop coming up, September 29 and 30 in Ljubljana, called “Let Your Inner Child Guide You”. As I understand it, this is based on the Jungian idea that we keep some of the child we once were in our unconscious, and so maintain a connection to the source of some of our deepest problems, and in particular our “shadow self”.
Yes it’s Jung’s concept – in times of trauma our consciousness splits, so we have many broken aspects of selves which turn into our shadow. Most people try to ignore their triggers, which are strong negative reoccurring negative reactions or emotions, and so hide or run away from them. If those aspects of ourselves, the inner child, are not dealt with and healed, we can struggle with all sorts of negative sensations, feelings and emotions. We can struggle in all or maybe just one area of our life, and in the end if we are suppressing and ignoring our trauma for too long it manifests itself physically and we get ill, often seriously.
How will the workshop will help people connect with their hidden selves?
Group work, small group work, pair and solo work – deep emotional work. My workshop is all about exercises, so there will be lots of those and very little of me talking and lecturing. I prefer to do a workshop rather than seminars and lectures, as we can only shift and change when we feel it, when we practice it. That’s once big difference between coming to a workshop and reading about the underlying ideas – most people will just read the books or watch the videos, but very few apply the powerful exercises from such material.
What can people expect to feel?
Loads of emotions, both positive and negative, and to feel alive, feel happier, more peaceful, stronger, and connected with their inner child, with themselves, and many of “light bulb” moments.
People will also gain new tools to work with at home – to practice maintaining a conscious connection with their loved ones, to continue working to enable a transformation of their life. They can thus unlock their potential, find the root causes of their problems, which are always in childhood trauma, and so heal them. In this way they can improve an area of life they always struggle with, breaking their old unhealthy patterns, limiting beliefs and blockages.
And what languages are the workshops conducted in?
In English, Slovenian and Croatian, whatever's needed.
You can learn more about Angelica’s work as a trauma therapist, and her workshops conducted in various countries, on her website or via Facebook.
