Pathways to Authenticity: Healing and Self-Discovery

Pathways to Authenticity: Healing and Self-Discovery

How do individuals turn their lives around after feeling out of place in their own family, culture, or skin? This conversation between host Valeria Teles and licensed mental health counsellor Heejin Ryo gently walks through that question by focusing on one central idea: the authentic self. Heejin, founder of HJ Holistic Therapy in Florida, specialises in trauma-informed, somatically grounded psychotherapy and brings a rich cross-cultural lens as a Korean clinician practising in the US.

She talks about arriving as a teenager, facing racism, and the silent weight of having to adapt: learning new social rules like eye contact, and facing a culture where seeking counselling was seen as weakness. Her lived experience fuels her work with clients facing anxiety, trauma, identity struggles and major life transitions. A core thread is her belief that, “you are not broken.

Therapy helps you remember the strength you already have.” For Heejin, authentic self means being able to say, “I know I got my best,” and trusting that inner centre even when emotions swing. She normalises sadness and depression as part of life rather than a personal flaw, stressing that feelings come and go and don’t need to be clung to.

They talk candidly about intergenerational trauma, cultural expectations to ‘suck it up’, and the pressure to be happy all the time. Heejin links emotional suppression to physical illness and highlights how therapy can break cycles like codependency and abusive dynamics, especially for victims of narcissistic behaviour. She also touches on her specialist tools, from hypnotherapy for unresolved trauma to couple assessments that help partners compare values before marriage.

With humour, warmth and a very down-to-earth style, this episode offers comfort for anyone who has ever felt “too sensitive” or “not enough”. If you stopped trying to fit in and started trusting yourself, what might change in your life?