HSS Pt.1
Hi there,
My name is Juliana Vassolo. I am a digital collage artist, integrative psychotherapist, and pioneer in the creative recovery of the core self. My life’s work is inspired by my self-healing journey and those of my clients.
This blog is for women and mothers in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s—but it also speaks to to sensitive hearts, deep thinkers, closeted creatives, wounded healers, neuro-outlaws, black sheep, and aspiring entrepreneurs finding their way.
My approach to blogging is purely experiential, creative, and intuitive. This is not intended to replace therapy.
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Let me begin by telling the story behind Her Self Spoken.
Alone as a teen and adult, she’d journal, philosophize, and make art. In the presence of others, however, feelings of shame and self-doubt often shattered her voice and left her fragmented on the inside—sort of like a house of mirrors (minus the fun).
To stay connected and in good graces with others, she tunneled into the roles of:
1 the good, obedient, never-makes-a-fuss kind of girl
2 the angelic, self-less woman
3 the flirtatious maiden who knew how to be wanted, but not known
And despite all the praise and attention, she always knew—submerged in her organs—there was a persistent ache, an anxious pleaser, a caged tigress, a dying martyr, infinite loops of “what if,” sludge of shame, quiet addictions, and a very sad little girl.
Good girl was her autopilot, “selfish” feelings and thoughts were suppressed.
It wasn’t until she was 30 that her self-perceptions began to crumble and shift. Thanks to feminist psychology—especially the work by Dana Crowley Jack—she came across two experiences described by hundreds of women: the divided self and self-silencing.
For the first time, she heard in those words what she had always felt.
It was a relief to belong to a movement, to a community of women who speak for the depression, divided self, martyrdom, self-silencing, and suppressed rage she endured for years. And what linked their experiences together was…oppression through sexism.
From that moment on, she dropped the “good girl” charade, normalized her rage, questioned diagnoses, and began her slow descent into the feminine psyche.
AT LAST, HER SELF WAS SPOKEN.
