Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Katie Larson.
Hi Dr. Larson, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi Y’all, I am Dr. Katie T. Larson, Ph.D.: founder of GrowthQuests and a coach and hypnotherapist.
When I was a little girl, my grandfather used to gift me his old National Geographic magazines– and I always thought to myself, “One day I’ll have a life like this magazine”.
I had no idea how it would happen, but somehow, big life decisions did give me a life worthy of a NatGeo feature!
I fell in love with nature first and became a high school science teacher who was a field biologist in the summers: I traveled to far-flung places to work as a scientist: Mongolia, Kenya, and Borneo. I spent my days living in the bush studying animals like giraffes, elephants, and orangutans and my nights living with local families eating meals I never dreamed of (goat stew, fish-head soup — yum!). Soon, my 7-year science/teaching career was halted after my husband, and I decided to sell all our belongings in Chicago and move abroad to Barcelona, Spain.
Living overseas in very different living conditions slowly resembled a magazine spread again as fun life/work decisions took us from Spain and brought us to fascinating places in South Africa, Singapore, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. Through each move, I focused on a different career aspect: I built and sold a cooking and catering business in Spain, I ran a boutique NGO consultancy in South Africa and Cambodia, and I finished a Ph.D. in Transformative Learning (and began my current business: GrowthQuests) in Hong Kong.
As I built GrowthQuests into a successful Growth coaching and Transformative workshop business, we continued to “settle down” in Hong Kong for eight years, even having a beautiful daughter. But like all things during the pandemic, we had a major plot twist that brought us to Dallas in 2021 (we knew no one here!).
After having my baby son after we arrived, I knew I was ready to lean into another aspect of my life that is often overshadowed by those fun “NatGeo-worthy” external journeys, which was sharing my inner journeywork with others.
Through all those travels, I was doing many inner-journeys. In fact, a decade before, I was personally given the gift of hypnotherapy, which gave me the courage to lead the magazine-worthy life I described. Wanting to offer this same kind of inner journey and re-alignment to others, I certified as Hypnotherapist in 2022 and specialized in the sessions that were the catalyst for me: Past Life Regressions and Life Between Lives Sessions.
I now complement my coaching for Highly Sensitive clients with Hypnotherapy, and I couldn’t be happier! I love watching my clients begin to thrive after taking an inner journey with me (which one client called a “scavenger hunt for their soul”).
Growth is unavoidable after working together, so I love to see where you go and how you Grow! I see my international clients online and in-person clients in Oak Cliff/Bishop Arts.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest obstacle for me has always been how to balance my roots and wings. I desperately always want to feel rooted and grounded in myself, family and work, BUT I simply can’t clip my wings (I have tried, y’all: it doesn’t work). I need to move about the world and travel or I get depressed and disheartened.
I finished my Ph.D. while living in 17 different countries (!!) This sounds more glamorous than it was — although reading assignments on a hot and sweaty slow boat down the Mekong River and writing my dissertation on the back of a bus in Vietnam was memorable!
Not traveling during the pandemic was hard, but I turned inward and reinvented myself and my work to be a more authentic version of who I really am (and, in turn, help others to so).
I face a lot of challenges as a Highly Sensitive Person, which I have luckily been able to explore and decrease as a result of tools and practices I now share with all my clients.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a Coach and Hypnotherapist for GrowthQuests.
As a coach, I help Highly Sensitive People and Empaths understand how their lives are very different from non-Sensitive people and how to thrive in the nervous system they were born with (spoiler: you have a lot more “SuperPowers” than you think!). I offer engaging, interactive sessions that bring in embodied practices, creative expression, and deep self-reflection so Highly Sensitive People can step into the greatness they were born to be.
As a Transpersonal Hypnotherapist, I help those who feel “blocked”: in health, work, relationships, and more. We take an ‘inner-journey’ to the root of the causes and allow you to understand your multi-dimensional Self and how it is influencing your daily life. This can be in the form of meeting your inner child, higher self, spirit guides, or my specialty: past lives. You experience the session in a very visceral way (some liken it to a shamanistic experience) and remember everything as it becomes a catalyst for even further Growth…
I also run a fabulous women’s circle called “Her-Quest” once a month and can be hired out for your group of girlfriends by appointment. This is not your average women’s circle, but one for women who normally would not attend one but have always wanted to try. I call it an “introvert-friendly, holistic self-care sampler”
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Dallas: The home I never saw coming! 🙂
I LOVE my neighborhood Oak Cliff and Bishop Arts: the murals, the diversity, the tree-lined streets: it feels like a slice of heaven (like Emporium pies, my fave!) hidden in DFW. The community here is top-notch and people are sincerely generous and down-to-earth.
I LIKE spending time with my husband and kiddos exploring the city and traveling in and out of it. Our fave spots are Kidd Springs Park (the ducks!) and Houndstooth Cafe (we visit every Sunday by wagon!). We also love to travel (obviously), and we are heading from Dallas to my “heart-home” of New Zealand later this December.
I DISLIKE how hard it is to access proper (tree-filled) nature in Dallas. I can’t wait to hear from readers their favorite nature-spots in DFW!
Pricing:
- 90-minute “HSP-101” Coaching call: 150 USD
- 90-minute Coaching/Hypnotherapy: 250 USD
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.growthquests.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkatiegrowthquests/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Fgz78gG_dhsXpHxW8l3Wg
Image Credits
Kim Campbell
