Caught between who you had to be and who you really are?
Life coaching for the quiet survivors, the sensitive thinkers, and the ones tired of holding it all together and still feeling alone.
Dear Deep Thinker,
You’ve spent so much of your life surviving, keeping things running, and showing up for other people.
You’ve been the strong one, the mature one (cause you had to be), the one who holds it all together when things fall apart.
But somewhere along the way, you lost touch with what you need.
Maybe you’ve built a life that looks fine from the outside but feels empty inside.
Maybe your relationships feel distant, confusing, or painful, even though you’re trying your hardest.
Maybe your childhood taught you to shrink yourself to survive, and now you’re wondering if it’s possible to live any other way.
This work is about finding your way back to yourself.
Not by burning it all down or pretending it doesn’t hurt, but by learning how to care for the parts of you that have been carrying too much, for too long.
By untangling the old patterns that kept you safe but now keep you stuck.
And by building a life that feels like yours, not someone else’s version of what your life should be.
This isn’t therapy. But it is deep work.
We’ll focus on the present, where your past still shows up.
And we’ll build the tools, the clarity, and the self-trust to help you move forward in a way that feels steady and real.
Let’s find your way, together. Book a chemistry session.
“When I first started working with Ikey, I couldn’t even tell you what I was feeling. Everything was a mess and I thought if I just worked harder or explained myself better, it would somehow get better. But of course it didn't. Ikey showed me how to listen to the parts of me I’d been shutting out for years. Now, I’m setting real boundaries with my family (which I never thought was possible), having honest conversations with friends (actual connection, not just surface-level stuff), and for the first time ever I feel like there’s an adult in the room when life gets hard. And that adult is me. :)
(...this is already too long, but what I’m trying to say is: I finally feel like myself, and I didn’t think that was possible.)”
- Manuel. M.
The Work We’ll Do, Together
Reclaiming Your Identity
Reconnect with the parts of yourself you’ve had to hide, shrink, or abandon. Build a life that feels like yours again.
Breaking Free from Old Patterns
Recognize the ways you’ve been keeping yourself small, stuck, or silent, and learn how to choose something different.
Unlearning Roles You Didn’t Choose
Step out of the caretaker, peacekeeper, or overachiever roles your family or past taught you to play, and discover who you are underneath them.
Practicing Real Self-Compassion
Learn how to treat yourself with the same kindness and honesty you offer others, especially when you mess up or feel lost.
Trusting Yourself & Making Decisions
Quiet the noise of other people’s expectations and build the kind of self-trust that helps you make choices from a place of clarity.
Creating Healthy Boundaries
Boundaries aren’t walls. They’re the space where you can protect your well-being and stay connected to the people who matter.
Setting Limits & Saying No
Learn how to say no without guilt, set limits that protect your energy, and stop over-giving just to keep the peace.
Building Healthy, Meaningful Relationships
Create deeper, more honest relationships with yourself and others, not from fixing or pleasing, but from real connection.
Developing Emotional Resilience
Learn how to stay steady when life feels overwhelming. Not by being perfect, but by being present.
Living with More Meaning & Joy
Reconnect with what brings you alive and create space for joy, purpose, and rest, not just survival.
What I Bring to This Work
I don’t offer quick fixes or one-size-fits-all solutions.
I bring my own lived experience of growing up in complicated family systems, learning how to survive without losing my softness. And I bring years of walking alongside people like you, thoughtful, sensitive, capable people who’ve carried too much for too long.
People who’ve been told they’re too much and not enough, often in the same breath.
People who’ve kept their world together while their inner world quietly fell apart.
People who’ve learned to be the strong one, the calm one, the protector, but never quite learned how to be held themselves.
In our sessions, you won’t have to perform.
You can ramble, cry, over-explain, sit in silence, or laugh about how weird this human experience is.
We’ll look at the patterns you’ve been stuck in, sometimes gently, sometimes directly, and figure out how to start choosing something different.
I draw from Relational Life Therapy (RLT), parts work, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), but more than anything, I bring deep presence, care, and honesty.
Because at the end of the day, this work isn’t about fixing you.
It’s about helping you see that you were never broken.
"I came to Ikey during a terrible breakup, which would have crushed me before. But thanks to Ikey I could actually take care of myself. I didn’t know I had that in me."
- Caroline. J.