From Trauma Therapist to Messaging Architect: What Selling Has in Common With Healing
If you’d told me years ago that my background as a trauma therapist would become the foundation of my business as a storytelling strategist and keynote writer & TEDx Strategist, I would have laughed and said, “What does therapy have to do with sales?”
Turns out—everything.
Healing and Selling Both Start With Safety
When I worked with clients in trauma recovery, my first priority wasn’t to fix them. It was to make them feel safe enough to open up.
Because healing doesn’t happen in defense mode—and neither does buying.
People don’t buy when they feel pressured, uncertain, or unseen. They buy when they feel understood. That same principle that guided me in therapy sessions—creating psychological safety—now guides every sales conversation, stage story, and marketing funnel I build.
Whether someone is sitting across from you in a therapy room or a Zoom room, they’re asking the same subconscious question:
“Can I trust you with my truth?”
If the answer is yes, you’ve already begun the transformation.
Selling Isn’t Persuasion. It’s Permission.
In therapy, you don’t force someone to change. You help them see themselves differently.
That’s exactly what happens when you sell through storytelling.
When you share a story that mirrors your audience’s struggle—that “I’ve been where you are” moment—you’re not convincing them to buy.
You’re giving them permission to believe change is possible.
The sale isn’t manipulation. It’s a moment of recognition.
It’s when someone quietly says to themselves, “If she did it, maybe I can too.”
That’s not sales psychology. That’s human psychology.
The Wound Is the Window
For years, I thought the goal was to leave my old story behind—to “move on” from the trauma, the burnout, the self-doubt.
But the truth is, your wounds are what make your message magnetic.
In therapy, we’d call this “integration”—taking the parts of you that were hidden and reintegrating them into your story with compassion and strength.
In business, we call it authenticity.
When you have the courage to show your audience the cracks in your armor, you’re not showing weakness. You’re showing proof of healing.
And that’s what builds trust faster than any perfectly polished pitch ever could.
Your Audience Isn’t Looking for a Hero—They’re Looking for a Mirror
Here’s the biggest crossover between healing and selling: in both, people are searching for belonging.
No one wants to feel like they’re the only one struggling. When you tell your story—the real story, not the highlight reel—you become the mirror that says, “You’re not broken. You’re becoming.”
When you shift from “Here’s what I’ve accomplished” to “Here’s what I learned,” you transform from expert to empath.
And that’s when your audience leans in.
Selling, at Its Core, Is a Healing Process
When I guide a speaker to craft their keynote or a client to build their offer, I’m not just helping them sell.
I’m helping them find the language that makes someone else feel seen.
That’s healing.
That’s transformation.
That’s storytelling done right.
So the next time you feel uncomfortable about selling, remember this:
You’re not trying to get someone to buy.
You’re giving them the courage to believe.
Healing and selling are both acts of love—one for the self, and one for the world.
Both require vulnerability, empathy, and presence.
Both ask us to stop performing and start connecting.
And maybe that’s the greatest overlap of all:
When you speak from your truth, you don’t have to sell.
You serve.
And people feel that—deep down, where healing really begins.
If you’re ready to take your story beyond healing and turn it into a message that moves people—and sells—I can help. My 1:1 Story Mining Intensives and Keynote Writing Sessions are where psychology meets strategy, helping you articulate your truth in a way that feels authentic, grounded, and deeply impactful. Because when your message aligns with who you are, it doesn’t just inspire—it converts.
Let’s uncover the story you were meant to tell, and build the message that was meant to be heard.
