Meet Catherine DeMonte LMFT

Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine DeMonte LMFT (Licensed Marriage, Family Therapist).

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Catherine. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I feel so incredibly fortunate to do what I do. I have been a psychotherapist for over 25 years, and it’s an honor to sit with people who are there because they are strong enough and honest enough with themselves to say that something isn’t working and they want to shift it. It takes some kind of bravery to call up a person – in this case – ME! -And say, “Here. Let me open myself to you. This is my *stuff*. It hurts, or is shameful, or feels broken, and I would like to tend to it with you because I am trusting you to be able to help me find the answers.” Whew. You can probably imagine how satisfying it is to help people dive into the conscious and unconscious parts of their lives and see what needs to be coaxed out of hiding and tended to. Often the “thing” that brought them to me: the broken relationship, the pains from childhood, the feelings of “I Am Not Enough,” the infidelity, the struggles with their children… whatever IT is, is often just the vehicle for getting them into therapy and then the healing begins!

The “gifts wrapped in sandpaper” I guess you’d call those original things that brought them in because we often discover that those things lead to deeper healing than just whatever they came in to talk about and get solutions for. I love that. And it’s never too late to address what ails us, and it doesn’t require years on the couch! The way I do therapy is pretty holistic, and I help my clients find the answers within themselves because ultimately, who knows what’s best for us better than the US?!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It hasn’t always been easy. Even after being in practice this long, I don’t have a huge, packed practice. I don’t have a waiting list of clients wanting to come in. I work about 3/4 time; not half time but not full time either. The good aspect of that is two-fold: new clients can get right in, and 2) I lead a beautifully balanced life with good Work-Play flow, something I am big on teaching my clients to do, so maybe that’s why the Universe worked it out this way! Also, the bump in my abundance that this caused at times meant I dove deep into my own abundance blocks, limiting stories and beliefs and into the laws of manifesting. Doing so much work in this category would ultimately lead me to create intimate 8-session in person Abundance Circle groups in my office. The same group meets together every other week for those eight sessions to learn seven life-changing manifesting tools. The participants grow quite close and are very, very supportive of each other. The tools that came to me while on my own laborious abundance journey, I now share with others, and Holey Moley, the things that have come out of those Circles! They, the tools, work for whatever someone is deeply desiring to call in that has been elusive to them for way too long. Sometimes a decade. Like a romantic partner. A baby. Financial flow and freedom. Marriage. Getting a dream project into reality and showing up more fully in the world, such as writing a book or starting a blog, or winning an Oscar. I have seen ALL of these happen when people in these Circles have said these are what they were longing for and were sick and tired of it not showing up. Most of the time, the One Big Thing they wanted to call in showed up by session 4 of our gathering together. Often people are at an “I can’t take it anymore” place when it comes to wanting The One Big Thing in life that still hasn’t manifested. Going without it, whatever it is for them, is soul-crushing and taxing. And sometimes, what the participants said they wanted to attract and have in their lives looked “impossible” to them when they first came to the Circles, because on paper maybe it made no sense to be able to get it (but what has “sense” got to do with manifesting anyway?!).

I discovered we are actually doing something that keeps that big point of desire away (yet it’s easy to create a Parking Lot spot showing up when we ask for it every damn time!) and we go into what it is we do that keeps it away and how to shift that. We also go into Shadow work to heal some unconscious blocks as well as other less daunting tools like Synchronicity, or Grace & Gratitude, which are such enjoyable, lovely ones. The tools are simple once you know them and can be applied immediately. And when used together it’s pretty mind-blowingly wonderful!

The other wonderful thing that came from my journey of abundance not flowing for me and the Circles that came from that is that from the Circles came a book! I just published it this month, and it’s on Amazon. It shot up to #10 on its category the first day it was up which felt good and obviously there is a need for it. It took me three years to write and was truly a labor of love. It is called “Beep! Beep! Get Out of My Way! Seven Tools for Living Your Unstoppable Life”. I got the name for it because I saw that when the participants applied the tools in their lives, they were manifester dynamos and really quite Unstoppable! Things were showing up in their lives with grace and ease. They were happier, more fulfilled, felt a deeper connection to themselves and others, and were basically living a pretty Lit-up, Unstoppable life!

Please tell us about your work.
Even as a little girl, I loved connecting to and with people, was drawn to the ethereal and to psychology. By 11th grade, I knew I wanted to be a therapist. I was drawn to things like Mind/Body connection, holistic living, reading biographies because I loved people’s stories. So now I am a therapist and the things that moved me and stirred my soul then still do. Those loves and interests inform the way I see the world and how I engage with my clients in my work. I give them a lot of space to be themselves, and they know I am never, ever judging; that I hold the space as if it’s sacred because it is. I know that people make sense for them, given their backgrounds and beliefs, so I don’t have to agree with their responses or make the same decision they do in order to align with them. That said I am proactive in the room and will point out inconsistencies I am hearing or have them reflect on their choices and comments when I feel they are not coming from their best and highest, most authentic selves.

I know that is what we are doing in life- trying to come back to the purest self we came into this world as.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I wouldn’t do a thing differently. I don’t think that life is good and bad. I think it is good and rough. I have had some rough spots and some regrets. Things to get past and things to get over. I grew tremendously because of the rough spots, so I can’t call them “bad.” The rough times are how the light gets in.

Pricing:

• $190.00 for 50 minute private session (individual, couples or family)
• Abundance Circle groups: $800.00 for 8 one and half hour small group gathering in Calabasas.
• “Beep! Beep! Get Out of My Way! Seven Tools for Living Your Unstoppable Life.” book. $5.99 Kindle, $18.95 paperback.

Contact Info:

• Address: Catherine DeMonte, Calabasas
• Website: http://www.catherinedemonte.com/
• Phone: Office 818 880~6559
• Email: [email protected]

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