The Unspoken Rule Every Therapist Absorbs and How To Finally Outgrow It Ft. Dr. Nicole Nasr
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The Unspoken Rule Every Therapist Absorbs and How To Finally Outgrow It Ft. Dr. Nicole Nasr
[VOICEOVER] Welcome to From Trauma to CEO: The Psychology of Transformational Success with Faria Barlas. This is a space for cycle breakers and leaders ready to transform from the inside out. Now here's your host, Faria Barlas.
Faria: So, there is a version of every woman who arrives in my world that I never, ever forget. Particularly because of who she is on the edge of becoming. And when Nicole walked into my space a few years ago, she was already an accomplished and exceptional psychologist—brilliant, deeply devoted to her clients and her work—but I could feel something even more powerful sitting with her.
So, this was a woman who was building her entire life from an identity that was just too small for her. I could spot that straight away. And I knew instantly that this is where your current self is running the show for you. However, your bigger self is already knocking.
And then in the following years that followed, through our work, through her courage, through every internal expansion that she said yes to, I watched Nicole outgrow her past identity and step into the founder, the leader, the CEO who built Journey.
And today, you're not just meeting a guest. You're actually meeting a living example of what becomes possible when a woman stops negotiating with her old self and finally becomes the one that her future self requires. And if you're listening to this because you know that you're meant for more, you are definitely going to love this episode.
Because this is what real expansion really looks like—and not the structural kind of expansion. So with that—[laughs]—let me formally introduce you to Dr. Nicole Nasr. Hello! Firstly.
Nicole: [Laughs] So honored with everything that you just said. I'm like, I'm processing it.
Faria: Well, I'm not done yet, because I'm going to formally introduce you. So, Dr. Nicole Nasr, she is a brilliant counseling psychologist. She is the founder and CEO of Journey, and the host of Journey Podcast. And Nicole actually created a platform that, in my opinion, fills a very significant gap in the support and wellness industry and space.
And she's built a platform that not only will help the clients find the right support and the therapeutic support that they need, but also it gives therapists and coaches a home to be able to showcase their work, to receive ongoing training and expand their skills. And most importantly, connect with a community of other practitioners who refuse to burn out in isolation. Definitely my kind of community.
And also, she has been my client and mentee for several years. So I had the front-row seat to her transformation.
So, welcome! [Laughs] With that said, I'm just going to welcome you. And I'm so excited that you're here.
Nicole: Thank you, Faria. Thank you so much for these words. I was listening to you, and I'm like, coming from you, seeing me from this light and describing me in this way, I felt like you summarized so well how my growth has happened over the four years now that we've been together. [Laughs] So thank you so much for this.
Faria: No, that's my absolute pleasure. So, for people that haven't had the privilege of hearing about you or knowing what you do, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and and just generally what it is that you do, and then I will dive into your journey of becoming?
Nicole: Yeah. So, I moved to the UK 12 years ago. And I grew up in Montreal, Canada, moved to Beirut for six years, and then moved to London, where I did my whole training. So coming from a background of just moving around a little bit and meeting different people at different stages of my life, I always think that everybody and every experience that I've had has built upon the next one that came.
I trained as a counseling psychologist. Becoming a therapist was a no-brainer from a very young age. You and I have talked about this at length, how being the person that I am and feeling things at the depth that I do meant that there was no other choice for me but to become a kind of healer, you know?
And I trained here and worked in private practice for almost a decade now. And around two, three years ago—I would say around a year after you and I started working together—I found the courage to start this company. But what I think is very important to say is that I never had this idea from before. It's not that I was scared of doing it or that it had been sitting on this startup idea for years. Actually, the idea wasn't there because I feel like I was too busy dealing with a lot of insecurities that I was having, a lot of traumas that was very much at the surface.
And the work that you and I have done together—and I'm sure we'll dive more into it as we continue our conversation—is that you removed a lot of the fog that was surrounding my, my mountain. This is usually how I describe it. But yeah, anyway, I found the courage to launch Journey, and we've been at it now for around two years. We're a community of 150 practitioners. We have started somewhere, we pivoted midways. I love where we're at at the moment. And as you said, it's a community of like-minded practitioners that want to grow together, they don't want to burn out, they want to feel and need for community. And I'm very proud of this work.
Faria: Well, I would say you should definitely be very, very proud of this work, because as, you know, we spoke many times, this is exactly that gap that the wellness space needed. So that means that you work with a lot of people who are in a helping industry, or providing services, and what do you think as somebody, well, that you have gone through your own journey—you are a psychologist and you work with lots of clients, but also you work with lots of practitioners, coaches—what do you see as the biggest factor or preventer for people to be able to actualize their dreams? Or let's say they know that they're meant for more—I mean, that's just my area—for people knowing that they're meant for more, but not necessarily knowing where to go with that and what to do. What do you think the biggest obstacles are in a path of somebody who is a high achiever and they want to do something meaningful with their lives, but something is preventing them?
Nicole: As clients and as therapists, I think it's a bit the same. I think it's the self-doubt, and the negative voice inside your head that keeps on telling you that things like that don't happen to people like you, whatever the "like you" is.
And I have found that the people that truly make it always have a bit of crazy in them, and the crazy that they have—which is something that, again, you and I have talked a lot about—is a crazy of complete self-belief that sometimes can also feel as like delusion, right?
Faria: Yes.
Nicole: But one thing that I keep on noticing is how people don't necessarily feel that they have permission to go and to grow and to get outside of that bubble that was, in a way, designed for them, you know? As therapists and coaches—and I'm actually going to focus a bit more on the therapists rather than coaches, because I think coaches are better at this than therapists are. I think coaches, a lot of them come from a corporate background, a business background, have been exposed to people who also believe they're fighters, they're a bit more sharks in the industry. Whereas therapists most of the time are people that have trained from their undergraduate degree and just continued training.
And if you think as well about the setup of therapy, it is confined to a room with one person. So there's a lot of quality and there's a lot of depth into it, but there is generally this element that you are confined into that space. And what I wanted to do with Journey was to not give permission per se—perhaps it has also happened in this way—but to empower my practitioners, our members on Journey, to realize that there is so much more that they can do. And not only that, but the world needs them.
And for me, there's very much of a problem in bridging therapists that are doing incredible work—work that corporations need, you know? Yesterday I was at a dinner event and I met this PR company that works with beauty brands, and they were saying how they are looking for psychologists to either come and present the mental health impact of taking care of your beauty from an external perspective, or are looking for therapists to know how to approach from a branding experience consumers. And I was just thinking like, therapists don't often think about themselves in these kind of roles, right?
And for me, with Journey, it has really been about letting them realize that there's so much more that they can do, but many will say no just because they don't really have that self-belief. And I think, especially after my experience with you, without self-belief, it's very difficult to get anywhere. But then we understand that due to our traumas, that self-belief is not always very good.
Faria: Absolutely. And of course, in what you're working with and who you're working with, in this context, are primarily, and you're referring to therapists, but the reality is—and I think you would have also seen and experienced it with yourself and with your clients—is that that is kind of a little bit of a universal preventer, right? I would say especially with women—I mean, we say trauma, but it is not just individual trauma, it's the collective as well, how we understood the idea of expansion, the idea of growth.
The idea of expansion and growth is something—I always say that it's a little bit masculine, and at times, people either feel like they don't have it in them, or that success or the next step or whatever has a certain shape or form or whatever, and it doesn't apply to them, and it's either that, or just they just don't want to be burnt out, or they do get burnt out, right, because it's overriding everything, you know, your inner system.
And I think what I'm hearing you say is even in industries such as beauty industry and it's becoming more and more evident that doing the internal work, doing the inner work and understanding ourselves, that is the key to any form of expansion. I personally don't believe that you can successfully expand and for it to be sustainable if you're operating from a trauma adaptation place, which always gets us somewhere, right? It gets us to a level, and then after that expansion becomes almost impossible, right?
So, I'm curious to know a little bit about your process of what do you think you were resisting the most, because I know that you already knew that you wanted something much bigger, right? And you still do. And this is an ongoing process, and there's many times in the past, currently, and the future where your past identity and your future vision will get into a conflict with one another. So I want to know, what were you resisting the most when expansion, as you said or I said, I don't even remember, came knocking? What was the biggest resistance for you?
Nicole: The first thing that came to my mind right away was the fact that I found it difficult at the beginning to understand why I needed to do this. I remembered that I felt something, but I also know that I was carrying a lot of residue of not feeling good enough and feeling like, am I doing this for a sense of validation? So for me, finding the right reason of why I'm doing this—and I remember we had a couple of sessions where you had to explain to me how, yes, external validation, money, all that stuff is great, it doesn't get you very far. And having to find that real purpose is what will fuel you and motivate you to keep on going, especially at times when it's quite difficult.
So for me, there was this element of how do I honor my own process and the real reason as why I'm doing this into an industry that doesn't honor that stuff? It's very much, you know, a "go, go, go" industry, very fast and all.
And a story that I say very often is, so when I launched Journey—so when I say launch, I mean like the branding and we were starting to work on the actual website—I bought like two, three startup books and I started reading them. And every chapter—not even chapter, every page—was like inducing anxiety, and then I would finish a chapter and have these like very big panic attacks where I'm like, I don't know any of that stuff. I don't even know what they're talking about.
Don't forget that I come from a background where I studied for like eight, nine years only psychology, not one business class, not one advertising class, nothing around entrepreneurship either. So I come from a family, and actually generations of entrepreneurs, but they were entrepreneurs that were very "street entrepreneurs" kind of thing, you know, in construction. So it wasn't like a proper company startup like you see, you have like 20 to to more employees, it was just my dad working for himself and then seeing him get contracts here and there.
But I didn't have that, and I remember reading these startup books and having a terrible time, and feeling that that this was a blockage like, what am I doing in this race when I don't even know what the words they're saying, I don't know anything?
And then we had a session about that, and you told me, "Well, who is the product? What is Journey?" I said, "Well, Journey is me, like I want it to resemble me. I want it to resemble the way that I work, and I see the world, and how I want to approach the whole industry of healing and all." And then you said, "So why are you reading all these books? The only thing that you should be working on is yourself, because you are the one that is going to bring Journey wherever."
The moment that you said that, I remember I opened a drawer, I put all these startup books in it, and then I bought all the spiritual books that I needed to hear. And many of your recommendations: The Surrender Experiment, The Untethered Soul, Seat of the Soul, Eckhart Tolle's books, and this mixed up with at least one or two podcasts a day around spirituality as well, plus my meditation, plus you, was literally the combination that I needed in order to start feeling, first of all, a bit invincible—although invincible in the way that like, I can do this. So, so that self-belief that I was talking about. But more importantly, to give me a real sense of purpose and direction, which was, I think, lacking at the beginning because I wasn't too sure, was it my ego that really wanted to do this and prove something to someone, or—and then basically where it shifted is that it then felt like it was my soul's purpose, and then things started making a lot more sense.
You know, since I was a kid—and I think I told you this story two, three years ago—I said there's a video of me being like six, seven, where someone asks me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And I just said, "I want to be a CEO." Didn't even know what a CEO meant, but I knew that I wanted to be a leader and in charge, and I had it in me. And that moment felt just like a full circle.
Faria: Oh, I love that! I absolutely love that. And yes, all of the work that you have done, everything that you had to overcome, it was always leading you towards this, right?
And this is what happens, as you know, with many people. We get caught up in, okay, how are we going to do this, right? How are we going to build this? How am I going to take the next step? How, how, how? And then, well, firstly, that's asking the wrong question, [laughs] and secondly, that moves you away from who, you know? Who is going to take the next step?
And a lot of the work that we do, and one of the most important aspects of this podcast, is around that, is around how trauma takes away—it gives you a lot of stuff, but it also takes away your ability to connect with you. So, you know, the same you that knew that you were always going to be a CEO, right? So even when you were small, you knew that, but then going through, I mean, you know, trauma, different kinds of programming, then we move away from that, and actually, the work really is to connect these two back together again.
So, and I know that the word "trauma" [laughs] is a big one, and I don't know if I mentioned this to you or not, like every time I go somewhere to meet new people, networking event or whatever, and I see lots of very amazing, amazing people doing amazing things and high achievers and ambitious people, and I have to really take it easy with the word "trauma," because there is a real resistance.
But of course, we're not talking about something drastic. We are talking about every time that you had to betray yourself and move away from who you authentically are in order to belong, in order to feel loved, and this happens time after time, that becomes your go-to what some people like to call personality, but of course it's just a trauma response.
I want to hear whether this has also been your ongoing experience, because this kind of work, the more you expand, the more you want to step into the next level—whatever that expansion looks like for you—another layer may come up. So, does this land with you, the blocks that programming brings up and it moves you away from, well, essentially your purpose, which then leads to success, abundance, and everything else that comes as a result of being aligned with your purpose?
Nicole: Well, I remember—and I still have that—a lot of grief was coming through this kind of work, and the expansion that I have experienced, although it's not even an expansion of the business itself, it's an expansion of me into these roles, I kept on being reminded by you, mainly, that no one has ever done what I'm doing right now.
So I'm the first one that is walking this path, and I have no example in front of me. I don't know how this is going to unfold for me. I don't have a lot of people that look like me that have reached the places that I wanted. And one thing that was very difficult for me was even visualizing that success felt so difficult, and—so as I mentioned, I meditate a lot, and some of the meditation that I do is very much around visualization and manifestation—and there was a moment where I couldn't see it. And it's like I wanted to see it, but I remember thinking like there was such a big voice inside that was saying, "No, no, things like that don't happen to people like you. Stop it," and almost like feeling scared of even just imagining it.
So imagine actually doing the work to get there, how scared I am. But when I realized that even the picture of it is impossible for me to create, I started panicking a lot, because I was like, "Oh my god, am I on the wrong path? Am I doing the wrong thing? Is this not what I'm supposed to be doing? Am I completely delusional here, and I'm not supposed to become this person that I thought I was going to become?"
And when we had a session around this, you said something important, and that really stayed with me. You said, "That really big picture that you have, it is there, but it's very, very, very far, and the distance between where you are right now and where you want to be feels too big for you to even imagine that. So take that picture, put it far away, know that like it is there and it does exist, but create smaller ones that feel a bit more achievable and reachable."
And when I paired that knowledge and that insight with also very important conversations with my husband around the speed at which I wanted this to go—and this is where I also think, perhaps this is the personality rather than the trauma, or you can correct me on this, but just the impatience, you know, of like, it's supposed to look like that and it's going to feel like this—and having permission to really slow it down and to realize, again, no one like me has done this before, so I have to design it in a way that makes sense for me, and I felt like I needed to get permission to do that, because it's just, there's there was always this external pressure that if it doesn't look like this, if you don't do it at that speed, if you don't go through these specific experiences, then it's a no-go. I don't know if this answers the question.
Faria: It does, and where did that permission come from?
Nicole: The lack of it, or the actual permission?
Faria: Well, the actual permission. The lack of it, probably—because when you were mentioning even the impatience and you were saying that "I don't know if it's to do with the trauma," but I would argue, especially knowing you [laughs] and your background and everything else, it may not be yours, but it definitely is an ancestral and collective trauma around achieving things quickly before you lose either momentum or before something is taken away from you, right? Because a lot was taken away collectively from you and your family, and that plays a part in it as well, but where did that permission finally come from, do you think? How did you get have access to that permission?
Nicole: Well, I don't know if it's the right answer, but first of all, starting with my husband giving me permission to slow down, and he said this during the summer, he said, "You're working as if there's a gun over your head. You're working as if you owe people money, you're working as if like it's either it happens in this two, three-year timeline or that's it, it's gone."
And I remember this resonated with me because there was a point where it was completely disproportionate. What I was giving was not being reciprocated by Journey, and then this is where you start becoming very resentful about it. So when he gave me permission to slow down and to realize that even if it takes time, it's okay, let it take time, no one is taking that company away from you, as long as you know your members are happy and you're doing things, there's a bit of a momentum, you're going to be okay, and I think that reassurance calmed me down a lot that there's not a race here. I make my own rules.
I don't want to be part of the race of these big American startups, which I thought I did at the beginning, but then around two years into it, I was like, it doesn't resemble me either. There's a part of me that is attracted to that, definitely, but I think also when you're a therapist and you're a woman and you're in your mid-30s, I'm smart enough to know that life is not just about the hustle and the working and all of that. So I think yeah, it started with him, who, I think he's a yeah, very wise man [laughs].
Faria: He is! [Laughs] But, if I may, I would correct that from "he gave you the permission" to "him reminding you that you don't need the permission, that you already have the permission within yourself." So he actually mirrored something back to you, and it really landed. And this is it, right? Because when we are right in the middle of something, it is very difficult. In your case, I know that you're a very, very capable and just amazing therapist, you are an amazing psychologist, but even with what you have gone through, the things that you know, sometimes when it's your own process, you have blind spots, or the old programming gets in the way and it becomes convincing, and you go, "Okay, well, maybe I don't have the permission." And it just takes that solid ground to remind you that actually you don't really need permission, you are the one that gives the permission to yourself.
Nicole: And that reminds me of what you were talking about earlier about this masculine energy. When I was finishing my doctorate, I came across a study that was explaining why men tend to reach more places than women do, and there was very much this element of men saying yes and having the confidence that they will then figure it out, whereas women feel the need to figure it out and then say yes.
And I remember that I've always felt like I had this masculine energy, and I think one of the problems that I was encountering was that this masculine energy was not bringing me the stuff that I also wanted. And for me, I never really labeled it in that kind of way, but one of the obstacles that I've been having through Journey is the marrying of these two energies: the masculine that is very much of a "yes woman" that just wants to do it and go for it and and hustle and, and then bringing back that feminine energy that needs roots, needs something that that feels a lot more grounded. So I understand very well what you said about that permission, because it did feel like it was something that was inside, and he held the mirror and he facilitated that.
Faria: And reflecting back on, let's say, our own work together, what did our work reveal to you about your own pattern that maybe theory or trainings or the books and everything wouldn't have touched, right? So what do you think some of the things that might have surprised you as a result of our work and as a result of diving into your identity, well, I guess upgrade to where you want to go, and obviously the journey continues, but for that period, I'm just curious to know, because I don't actually think I've ever asked you this! [Laughs]
Nicole: I will answer this in the other way around, that I don't know how any entrepreneur can do what they do without having this space. And I think that if they do, it's because I think they're almost like dissociating through the experience, like they're very much just on autopilot, but if you're someone like me who also sees clients, so I'm a very reflective person on the daily basis, for me, Journey—and we've talked about this so many times—Journey is not about just a company. This is actually my own journey into life, and this is something that is accompanying me.
So the development and the things that have come up, and the expansions, and the grief, and the the self-doubt, and I don't know—and I say it with a lot of certainty—that I wouldn't be here with Journey if it wasn't for my constant work with you, because I needed to be held so many times throughout. I continue to need to be held, and like I said, I also have a life in parallel to my company, and that life, when you're an entrepreneur, when you're a founder specifically, it is going to come into your company and vice versa.
So for me, the things that have been unfolding as I navigate these new identities have been massive, from friendships, from my own personal hobbies, from my relationship with my husband, my siblings, a lot of things have been coming up, and this is not about just creating a company and selling it at some point and be done with it. I'm not a serial entrepreneur. I'm not someone that is doing this one time, two times, three times—this is not my journey. I'm someone that was actually very happy being just a therapist, teaching at university, doing my own little thing, but this felt like a calling that I needed to answer, right?
So doing this is not a random thing just because I have the entrepreneurial gene in me. It is a calling, and because of that, because of all the business stuff that just comes in, the KPIs, what you're supposed to do, you go and you compare, you have always been that voice of reason that just [makes swooshing sound] realigned me, every single time, every single time. And whenever I do feel like I am a bit—I'll describe it like I'm losing it, I'm losing the focus, the direction, the motivation, the drive—I know very well that just having one session with you will bring this back. And sometimes I even start the sessions where I'm like, "I just need your wisdom. I just need you to bring back this perspective," and I would never recommend someone to start a company without being in therapy. I genuinely wouldn't. And not the therapy that is about your performance. Coaching is one thing, and great, but the type of therapy that you and I do, where it's very profound, is the thing that just keeps me going, really.
Faria: Thank you. And yes, it is the thing that changes everything internally, and then your external world would reflect that, and it's not the other way around. And I like that you mentioned about "not the kind of therapy," and as you know, that's always been my kind of mission to make sure that—well, whoever I work with, right, if they are therapists or coaches—that these two need to become closer to one another, right?
And I think this is why sometimes therapy gets a bad reputation, especially with high achievers, because I've heard it so many times: "I don't want to sit and talk about my childhood forever," you know. And I think that's a very valid, very, very valid argument, because come to think of it, I don't, either! [Laughs] You know? I want to explore things, but for the purpose of expansion, right? I'm curious to know what your thoughts are around, I guess, traditional therapy or traditional coaching, and how do you think they're missing the point, because that's certainly been my experience of people not really wanting to engage because of all the stuff around it, right? What is your experience?
Nicole: The reason that Journey has therapists and coaches, it's because I genuinely do believe that both of them marry together so well, and things that therapists can't do, coaches can, and vice versa. And I know this for a fact, not every practitioner will know what to do with clients because of the lack of work that they've also done on themselves, right?
I love what you said when you presented me, you said, "I'm a therapist and I'm your client," but most importantly, "I've been your mentee, and you have been my mentor," and the type of therapist that I am today is a result of the type of therapy that I've received from you. Now, I called it just now "therapy," but you can call it whatever you want, and we have gone into the childhood when it was needed. There was no lingering there for months and months and months aimlessly. There was always a reason.
But, if I may say, I was also a very good client, because when you gave me books to read, I went and I read them. When you told me, "You need to start meditating," I went and I did that. When you told me, "You need to start getting massages every week," I very happily started doing that! [Laughs] You never went into the homework and, "You know, I want to see this from you next week," because I don't resonate with that approach. I don't work like that with my clients, and I am not a coach in that sense, and our session wouldn't have been the same thing if there was that type of accountability for me, but you looked at me as a whole: a physical, a mental, and a spiritual.
And I always say this, for me, the spiritual aspect, this is when my real spiritual awakening started happening. And by spiritual, I don't mean astrology and all the woo-woo stuff. It was just going back into my soul. So, it wasn't necessarily therapy or coaching in the traditional way that other people would understand it. It was the way that you approached that with me, but I also want to say for whoever is listening that your approach works as well when people want to do the work.
And I remember the first session that we had, because obviously I was also doing first sessions with clients, and I had a very specific form that I would go through and all of that, as they taught us during the doctorate and in the NHS, and in your first session, you asked me, "Why me? And why are you here?" And then at the end, you didn't book an appointment with me. You said, "If you're going to work with me, we're going to do real work, so either you're serious about this, or if not, I do have a waiting list of people waiting for me."
Anyway, your approach really resonates with me, so when you said that, you said, "So sit on it, think about it, and if you're ready to do the work, send me an email and book our next appointment." When you did that with me, Faria, it was COVID, so I ran into my husband's office, and I started crying, and I'm like, "Oh my god, like, this is real. If I decide to do it, she's going to open all sorts of doors, and I don't know what is going to happen," and then he said, "Okay, well, do you want to not do it with her?" And I said, "No, there's something about the way that she works that just called me," and this is why I said your approach was fantastic, but I also was a client that—and I am still a client that—wants to do the work, that wants to change, and that's when I think the real magic happens, when you have that combination.
Faria: Well, this is why at the beginning I mentioned that there is something inside of you that knows you want more, right? It doesn't have to be loud and it doesn't have to be groundbreaking, but you do have to, in a way, have that awareness, right? Then otherwise, none of this is going to make any sense, right?
Throughout this process, I know that there are going to be many people, many women who may be going through more or less the same process, or the same journey, same doubts, same calling for something that they want to step into, and then their kind of old identity and everything that they know is holding them in one place. What is it that you would like to say to them?
Nicole: It might sound very cliché, and maybe I speak as a therapist right now when I say this, but I'd rather finish my life here on earth knowing that I've tried and that I've experienced and that I've grown, than to finish it with regrets.
And personally, as a believer as well in reincarnation, I I understand that I am here to grow, and for me, the worst thing that could happen is to stay in my shell of fear, and thinking that maybe I'm not the right person for this, and maybe this, and maybe that. Courage is, I think, the most beautiful feature that anybody could have, and if you have the courage to jump into something, I think you definitely have to do it.
I would say if you're doing it for the wrong reasons, to then twist it around and to end up doing it for the right reasons, don't do it aimlessly. Like anything in life, I try to do it as consciously as possible, so whether it's being a friend, being a therapist, being a founder, I want to be very conscious of my experiences as I do it, and I would feel, Faria, like it would be such a wasted opportunity for me to have had that chance and to not do it from a place of my soul and my heart, and to just have done it like, unfortunately, many people go through it. I was not interested in that, I am not interested in that, so whoever is flirting with the idea, literally, what is there to lose? Other than maybe a couple of money, like a bit of [laughs]—that's that's completely fine, as you always tell me, money does come back.
Faria: It always does come back! [Laughs]
Nicole: [Laughs]
Faria: And yeah, I love that, and it's absolutely right. And one thing about everything I say [laughs] is that there's only one life that we are living as we know it, right, so we better make it count!
And if I haven't said—I'm sure I have told you this before—but as we are closing our conversation, which by the way was amazing, and we literally just scratched the surface, [laughs] there is just so much more to talk about, but for now, I'm happy to conclude, and if I haven't said this before, again, which I'm sure I must have, I am so proud of the work that you have done. I'm so proud of your becoming journey.
I'm so proud of who you became, and I'm proud of who you're becoming as you continue this path, and your journey, everything that you've done, everything you've accomplished internally, externally, somebody like you is the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. Someone like you and you are the reason that I have this passion to get people from just living a normal life to let's see how good it can get, let's see how much bigger it can get, how much more fulfilling and thriving it can get, and I just want to point out that you are a very beautiful template of the kind of work that I spend my whole adult life doing, so for that, I want to say thank you, but I also want to say thank you for sitting with me and speaking, and I know that we both had long days, and I know that we work with lots of clients and doing all sorts of things, so I really appreciate the time that you gave to come and speak with me.
Nicole: Thank you, Faria, and you know I'm such a big believer. Anything that you do, I really do sell it from a place of having experienced it and lived it, and you really have changed my life for the best, so thank you so much for everything that you do.
Faria: It's been my absolute pleasure. Thank you again, and take care.
[VOICEOVER] Thank you for listening to From Trauma to CEO. Check out the show notes to explore more of Faria's teachings. And if this episode resonated, follow, review, or share, and we'll see you next time.
Episode Summary
In this deeply transformative episode of From Trauma to CEO, Farya Barlas sits down with counseling psychologist and founder Dr. Nicole Nasr for an honest conversation about identity expansion, self-belief, trauma, and what it truly takes to step into leadership.
Nicole shares her journey from therapist to founder and CEO of Journey, a growing platform supporting therapists, coaches, and wellness practitioners. Together, they unpack the emotional realities behind entrepreneurship, including fear, grief, impostor syndrome, perfectionism, and the challenge of building something meaningful when no one around you has done it before. This episode is a powerful exploration of what happens when women stop negotiating with old identities and finally allow themselves to become who they were always meant to be.
What You’ll Learn
Why self-doubt and lack of internal permission often stop high-achieving women from fully stepping into leadership and expansion.
How trauma and old identity patterns can disconnect people from their purpose, intuition, and vision for their future.
Why sustainable success requires inner alignment, nervous system safety, and deep self-belief rather than constant hustle.
The difference between building from ego versus building from soul-led purpose and genuine alignment.
How healing, spirituality, therapy, and identity work can become the foundation for authentic business growth and long-term fulfillment.
Resources
Free Diagnostic: faryabarlas.com/diagnostic
Method™: faryabarlas.com/services
Book a Call: Book with Farya Barlas
Journey Platform: Journey by Dr. Nicole Nasr
Journey Podcast: Journey Podcast
