Healing Was the Doorway — Integration Is the Destination

In this powerful and deeply personal solo episode, Dr. Nat Green shares the truth that so many eventually discover: healing isn’t the destination — it’s the doorway. After 35 years as a psychologist and trauma specialist, Dr Nat opens up about her own evolution from therapist to integrated leader and the moment she realised her next chapter required not more “doing the work,” but living it.

She recounts her frustration with trauma treatment models that made it acceptable for lengthy trauma healing, describes the birth of her ABS Method® through lived experience, and the profound identity shift that unfolded during her recent overseas trip — where she learned that integration, embodiment, and alignment were the missing pieces she had been seeking.

This episode is a soul-stirring exploration of what happens after healing…
and why the next level of your leadership, business, and purpose is found in your integration, not your trauma story.

Dr Nat introduces the Seven Archetypes of Transformation© — and looks at how  they represent a crucial part of your integrated identity as a leader, coach, healer, or entrepreneur.

She also shares her own raw truth: the identity she must now let go of — her long-standing role as a psychologist — in order to fully step into the work she knows she was born to do.

This episode will speak directly to you if:

•  You’ve done the healing work but feel something deeper calling
• You’re craving alignment, purpose, and identity clarity
• You’re a coach, healer, practitioner, or conscious entrepreneur ready to lead from your wisdom
• You’re navigating identity grief or stepping into a new version of yourself
• You’re ready to thrive, not just survive

🔥 What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Why healing is not the end point — and what lies on the other side
• How the ABS Method® was born from lived experience
• The role of identity, embodiment, and integration in leadership
• How a transformative overseas experience revealed the next layer of Nat’s purpose
• A dive into the Seven Archetypes of Transformation©
• How each archetype influences your leadership and business
• The identity Nat is now courageously releasing to fully step into her next chapter
• A powerful invitation for coaches, healers, and leaders who feel the pull to evolve

✨ Links & Resources Mentioned

Take the Archetypes of Transformation™ Quiz
Discover which archetype is leading your transformation — and what you need to integrate to fully thrive. (here)
 Final Reflection If you’ve healed and you’re now asking yourself, “Now what?”
This is your invitation to step into your integrated identity. The one who leads, creates, and lives from her truth — not her trauma story. Because healing was never the final chapter. It was always the doorway to who you were born to become

If this episode resonates with you then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Transcript

Dr Nat Green: 0:01

Welcome to the Growing Tall Poppies Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Nat Green, and I'm so excited to have you join me as we discuss what it means to navigate your way through post-traumatic growth and not just survive, but to thrive after trauma. Through our podcast, we will explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater purpose, self-awareness, and a deep inner peace. Through integrating the many years of knowledge and professional experience, as well as the wisdom of those who have experienced trauma firsthand. We'll combine psychology accelerated approaches. Coaching and personal experience to assist you, to learn, to grow and to thrive. I hope to empower you to create deeper awareness and understanding and stronger connections with yourself and with others, whilst also paving the way for those who have experienced trauma and adversity to reduce their suffering and become the very best versions of themselves. In order to thrive. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. Hello, beautiful people and welcome back to Growing Tall Poppies, thrive After Trauma. I'm your host, Dr. Nat Green, and today I wanna talk about something that's been brewing in me for a while now. It's about what happens after the healing, that moment when you realize you've done the work. Now something deeper, so much deeper is calling you forward. So many of my conversations lately with clients, students, and fellow practitioners and coaches come back to this same point. We've healed, we've learned, we've grown. But now we are being asked to integrate, to lead from our wisdom, not our wounds, to fully embody the message, not just teach it, to live it fully, to live and breathe it. And today, I wanna take you behind the scenes of how I came to that realization myself. You know, people often assume I became a psychologist because of my own trauma or pain, but that's not my story. I've always known deep in my bones that I was born to help others. Even as a child, I was drawn to understanding people, to making a difference, to being the one who could hold space for others to feel seen and safe. It wasn't something I found. It was something I was, so I followed that calling. I studied psychology. I spent over two decades helping others, supporting thousands of people through their darkest moments. It was deeply fulfilling. But over time, something in me began to stir.'cause inside those therapy rooms, I saw something that really troubled me. It was widely accepted. In fact, even expected that healing from trauma had to take years, that recovery might never fully happen, that people would always live managing their symptoms if they were lucky. Not truly free of them. Something inside me really couldn't accept that it didn't feel like truth. It felt like resignation. So I started to question it to research and do more research and more research to explore new methods, different approaches. And this included coaching strategies and accelerated. Coaching approaches and eventually I found some approaches that made complete sense to me and I adapted them and added my own twist through my lens. And when I applied it in my coaching sessions, I started to see amazing results in short periods of time, people letting go of old patterns that have been keeping them stuck. Old beliefs. Old decisions that they'd made past traumas and really seeming transformed as a result. And I finally felt I was making a real difference then as if through a life lesson that I apparently still needed to learn. Life handed me. As many of you know from past episodes, my own significant traumas was like there was more to still learn and experience, and I needed to do it firsthand, and suddenly I wasn't the therapist anymore. I was the human in the middle of the storm. I had a choice to accept what I had been told and the widely accepted way to navigate recovery from trauma and stay in survival mode if I was lucky. Feeling like that hamster on a wheel and getting nowhere fast or to truly apply the principles that I discovered and developed and been testing out. To myself, I've always been a firm believer that we learn through our own lived experiences, and I knew I had to test everything. I believed on myself to truly determine whether practice-based evidence could be enough. So I set about. Really testing my ABS method on myself. That was where the ABS method was truly born and modified to what it is now. Not from theory, but from experience, my lived experience and that of many, many others who I've now coached and done breakthroughs with. I used it to heal myself, to release the layers of pain, fear, past traumas, and old narratives and intergenerational stories that I had carried unknowingly and subconsciously in my nervous system, and to release the identity that no longer aligned with, who I truly was, and it worked. Not overnight, but far faster, deeper, and more completely than the old systems I had learned and operated from, would've believed possible because I realized it wasn't about managing trauma, it was about transcending it, and then I was able to move on. Really shifting that next layer, and here's the thing, no one tells you healing isn't the end. Healing is just the doorway. Once I walked through it, something shifted. Yet again, I realized that all the inner work, all the breakthroughs, all the emotional unraveling. Was preparing me for something else, integration To no longer just talk about transformation but to live it. So earlier this year, as you know, I went with my family on a once in a lifetime trip overseas, not to escape, but to expand. I had no fixed plan for what would happen for me over there. No real agenda. Just a deep knowing that another layer of me was ready to be revealed, I just didn't know what it would be. And that trip cracked me open again, but in the most beautiful way. Without the roles, the routines, the expectations, just traveling and experiencing the here and now and being rather than doing it was in the being that I found parts of myself that I hadn't met before In the quiet and awe inspiring backdrop of the Swiss Alps and the beautiful lake. Crystal clear just outside of Interlaken. I finally rested and listened to that deep inner knowing, my intuition, the interconnection of my head, my heart, and my gut brains, and I discovered a deep soul connection within. And I knew what I was really meant to learn as a result of this experience and found some deeper, more entwined parts, playful parts, peaceful parts, powerful parts that didn't need to try anymore. And I realized the true goal was never just healing. It was integration to become whole, to walk my talk, to live from wisdom, not wounds, to create, to lead, and to serve from alignment, not identity, to create my legacy, make a real difference, to really do what I had always deep in my bones wanted. And to help others learn to lead, inspire, walk our walk and talk our talk. I realize that's what thriving really is. And this is where I wanna speak directly to you, the coaches, the healers, the purpose led and heart led entrepreneurs who are listening. You came into this work because you care deeply too. You may have your own deep wounds and scars. You've probably done a lot of inner work. You've read the books, attended the trainings, done the healing, because you know that integrity matters. But this next season isn't about doing more healing, it's about living it. It's about shifting from healing to embodying, from helping to leading, from fixing others, to modeling what is possible. Because your life and indeed your business will always mirror your level of integration, the more regulated you are. The more magnetic your message becomes and the more embodied you are, the more aligned opportunities will flow. The more integrated your identity, the more sustainable your impact. And this is the work of the integrated leader and it's what. I believe that the next generation of conscious entrepreneurship is all about. I'm sure that you've heard me talk about the seven archetypes of transformation. I delve into it in episode 33, so you might wanna go back and check that out if you haven't listened to it and you're newer to the podcast. So listen to episode 33 where we talk about how we can apply these seven archetypes to trauma and trauma recovery, and I've been delving far deeper into these archetypes in recent months. And firmly believe that they hold the key to being able to lead yourself and others and to fully show up in life and in business in the way that you truly deserve to thrive. Each of my seven archetypes of transformation holds a key to this journey from healing to integration. And when you're still in survival mode, you might embody just one or two. But true wholeness, true integrated leadership means all seven archetypes working together in harmony. So let's walk through them now through the lens of how you now apply them in your life and in your business for true integration. Let's start with the Phoenix Riser. She's the part of you that's learned to rebuild after everything fell apart. She teaches you that destruction and rebirth are one and the same, that ashes are not the end, but the beginning of something extraordinary. Integration for the Phoenix means no longer waiting to feel ready to rise. But recognizing that she already has and it's not something you need to repeat over and over again. Then we have the Resilient Sage, the inner wise woman who knows that strength doesn't come from pushing through, but from grounded presence. She's learnt to find wisdom in her wounds. And to share that wisdom without attachment. Integration for the sage is trusting her lived experience as her greatest authority, not something she has to prove over and over again. Then there's the Empowered Trailblazer. She's the visionary and the risk taker, the one ready to lead a movement. Not just manage a message. Integration means leading yourself first with alignment, not adrenaline, creating impact from integrity, not urgency. Then we have the Authentic Warrior She's the protector and the truth teller who once used her armor to survive. Now realizes that true power lies in vulnerability. Integration for the warrior is learning to soften without losing their strength to lead with both courage and compassion. And there's the Reflective Orchestrator. She's the thinker. The planner and the deep feeler who sees patterns everywhere. Her growth edge is to move from analysis to embodiment, to trust her intuition as much as her intellect and integration happens. When you allow space for flow, not just control. Then there's the Radiant Alchemist. She's the transformer. The part of you that turns pain into purpose, challenge into change, and shadow into light, but you can get stuck always doing the work. Integration for you means resting in the knowing that you are the work. Your life is already the masterpiece. Then last but not least, we have the Liberated Voyager, the Explorer of truth, freedom, and Expansion. The part that longs to live fully aligned and unbound by old conditioning. Integration for the Voyager means understanding that freedom isn't about escaping. It's about arriving home within yourself to build a business, a life, and a legacy that truly reflects your wholeness. And it's when you integrate all seven archetypes that you stop fragmenting yourself. You stop oscillating between who you were. And who you are becoming. And you start living, leading, and loving from your whole self. And that's the essence of integrated leadership and the foundation of true thriving. So as I stand here really on the precipice. of Making a huge decision, one that I know needs to be made that I've been putting off probably for the past couple of years because I wanted to keep all my options open. I've worked as a psychologist for 35 years. There's really not much I haven't seen or heard in that 35 years and lots has changed. So much has changed from when I first was trained and the approaches that I used and how I showed up and turned up. For my clients, but I know that if I am truly to live and work and create transformations and lead others to experience those too, then I need to let go of that last identity, that last part of me. That I'm most grateful for, that has well and truly served me for so many years. It's time to let that go, to fully step into me who I am at my core, knowing that I can make a difference. That it's time for me to now lead from my scars and my wisdom, not my wounds. So I am stepping off into the abyss and truly embracing a life as a coach rather than a therapist. And I'll talk more in coming episodes about how that plays out and the identity grief that I've had to work through in order to fully embrace who I am. I know that the approaches that I now use make the difference that I always wanted to make within myself and with others. So it's time for me to no longer be invisible, holding back and not living a fully integrated life. So thank you so much to all the amazing clients that have come into my therapy room years and years and years. Of amazing people, relationships, and now it's time for me to fully step into the approaches that I believe are more aligned for me. I still love therapeutic approaches and I know that they also make a huge difference. For me to be the best version of myself, it's time to shed that last layer of my identity and fully step into who I now need to be moving forward so that I can do more being rather than doing, and really. Live an integrated life of thriving. So if you've been feeling the pull lately as well, the nudge that says you've healed now what? This is your invitation to stop seeking the next breakthrough, the next lot of qualifications so you can let go of your imposter syndrome and start being the embodiment of what you already know. To live from your wisdom, not your wounds, to lead from your truth, not your training. To let the integrated, whole thriving version of you take the mic in your business, in your life, and in your legacy. Because healing was never, the destination it was always the doorway. And on the other side is. Everything you've been dreaming of, it's up to you to make it happen. Thanks so much for joining me today on this episode of Deep Reflection. I'd love to know if this resonated, and if you haven't already, I'd urge you to take the archetypes of transformation quiz so you can see which of the seven archetypes you are most connected with, so you too can work on embracing. Your strengths and the shadow sides and integrating all seven of them to truly thrive. I'll make sure to put the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining me today. Bye for now. Thank you for joining me in this episode of Growing Tall Poppies. It is my deepest hope that today's episode may have inspired and empowered you to step fully into your post-traumatic growth, so that you can have absolute clarity around who you are, what matters the most to you, and to assist you to release your negative emotions. And regulate your nervous system so you can fully thrive. New episodes are published every Tuesday, and I hope you'll continue to join us as we explore both the strategies and the personal qualities required to fully live a life of post-traumatic growth and to thrive. So if it feels aligned to you and really resonates, then I invite you to hit subscribe and it would mean the world to us. If you could share this episode with others who you feel may benefit too, you may also find me on Instagram at Growing Tall Poppies and Facebook, Dr. Natalie Green. Remember, every moment is an opportunity to look for the lessons and to learn and increase your ability to live the life you desire and deserve. So for now, stay connected. Stay inspired. Stand tall like the tall poppy you are, and keep shining your light brightly in the world. Bye for.