As our understanding of mental health continues to evolve, it’s becoming clearer than ever that postpartum struggles with depression, anxiety, and trauma can have a significant impact on entire families, from the new mothers who are wrangling with the challenges of having a baby to their partners’ aiming to adequately support them. Stepping in to serve in this sector is Jillian Holper, a life coach and hypnotherapist with a passion for providing guidance to women throughout some of the hardest parts of their lives. “I knew from the get-go that supporting moms with postpartum anxiety and depression was something I wanted to do and was passionate about,” Jillian explains.
What Jillian didn’t anticipate was having a secondary specialty show up in her practice. “Smoking and weight management clients just kind of fell into my lap,” she recalls. “It was never part of the plan, yet I realized this is something my clients are seeing significant results from and that feels just as good as the shifts I am facilitating with my mamas!”
Jillian is humbled and in awe of her clients’ success, and she loves the feeling of helping clients make a breakthrough. Hearing about how her clients have felt their lives shift for the better is energizing: “I love how what shows up in my office is a constant reminder of the synchronicity of the universe! I love how this is a way for me to constantly be growing, changing, and expanding personally and professionally.” After all, when your life coaching clients succeed, you do, too!
Jillian feels that the most growth and inspiration occurs when she’s able to hold safe space for her clients who are willing to be vulnerable. Letting your darkest moments be seen by another person takes a lot of strength. Jillian has discovered that everyone has experienced trauma and that they do the best they can with the frame of reference they have. She believes there are always reasons for people to behave the way they do— regardless of how hurtful that behavior may be. This attitude keeps her from judging individuals based on their actions and helps her to see the full picture. “If they are raging, there is a reason. If they are judging, there is a reason,” Jillian articulates. “For everything, there is truly a reason… and if we understood it, we would find compassion. The release of judgment has created so much more space for love and understanding in my life and in my heart!”
Jillian’s favorite tool to use with life coaching clients is the Less/More tool, which helps clients get clear on what they want less of (like stress, uncertainty, and negative self-talk) and what they want more of (like peace, confidence, and self-love). “This tool is great for both coaching and hypnotherapy because we can then interweave what needs to be released, reframed, and resolved into the imagery and have them experience the power of the shift when they can embrace what’s on the other side of that shift!”
Jillian says the most rewarding part of being a life coach is knowing her clients are making big changes for the better. “Undoubtedly the feeling of reward you get is from knowing that a client has made a major empowering shift,” she says. “It is why I do what I do and the impact I wanted to make ever since I was a little girl!”
One such instance was when a client came to her with a heavy smoking addiction. While she had initially hoped to quit over the course of a few sessions, complications arose and it became evident that the client was smoking as a major crutch for her overwhelming social anxiety. Jillian changed the focus of their first session from smoking cessation to coping with that anxiety and managing her discomfort. Jillian received a telephone call from the client and her partner after that single session to report that the client had quit smoking and that her anxiety was gone; in fact, the client was so moved by the results she had received with Jillian that she still refers at least one new client to Jillian a month. Reflecting on this, Jillian humbly confesses, “It is amazing the transformation you can see in someone when you address the root of their habit or addiction!”
