Media & Speaking

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FEATURED MEDIA | FEATURED MEDIA |

Speaking Topics

I offer transformational keynotes, workshops, and panels for audiences ranging from corporate teams and therapist trainings to retreats, summits, and wellness communities. Whether you're looking to deepen connection, foster resilience, or explore the unconscious patterns that shape us, I tailor each topic to meet your audience’s needs.

COMPANIES I’VE WORKED WITH:

TOPICS:

  • Whether our mothers were loving, absent, or somewhere in between, the mother relationship imprints us in ways that echo across every part of our lives. I unpack the cultural, generational, and archetypal layers of the Mother Wound, how it impacts identity, boundaries, and relationships, and how healing it becomes a portal to reclaiming selfhood and intuition.

  • Burnout isn’t a personal failure. It’s a cultural symptom of disconnection. I reframe burnout as a crisis of soul rather than stamina, helping audiences shift from external validation to inner belonging. This talk is an invitation to move beyond over-functioning and into values-aligned, sustainable living.

  • Boundaries aren't about pushing people away. They're about keeping what matters close. In this signature talk, I break down the six categories of healthy boundaries: emotional, mental, energetic, physical, material, and spiritual and how learning to set and honor them transforms relationships, workplaces, and self-respect.

  • We live in a society that teaches us to outsource our worth, silence our intuition, and abandon ourselves for belonging. In this powerful session, I reframe codependency not as a personality flaw, but as a survival strategy rooted in early fear of abandonment. I guide participants toward reclaiming their inner authority by exploring how:

    • Codependent dynamics show up in all of us

    • Abandonment wounds shape our behaviors and relationship patterns

    • Resentment can become a compass for unmet needs

    • We shift from reaction and survival into conscious, connected thriving

    This talk is an invitation to step out of performance-based worth and into relational freedom built on self-trust and emotional clarity.

    • Codependent dynamics show up in all of us

    • Abandonment wounds shape our behaviors and relationship patterns

    • Resentment can become a compass for unmet needs

    • We shift from reaction and survival into conscious, connected thriving

    This talk is an invitation to step out of performance-based worth and into relational freedom built on self-trust and emotional clarity.

  • (With Vanessa Bennett & John Kim) With a blend of depth psychology, lived experience, and real-talk chemistry, John and I take on the messy beauty of modern relationships. Based on their bestselling book, It’s Not Me, It’s You, this talk explores projection, communication breakdowns, and how to break out of relational autopilot together.

  • Behind many of our struggles with direction, trust, and self-worth lies a wound we rarely name. I explore how our relationship to the archetypal and personal father impacts our ability to lead, love, and take up space. Healing this wound invites us into authentic inner authority and purpose-driven living.

Media / Speaking / Bio

Vanessa Bennett, LMFT, is a licensed depth psychotherapist, author, facilitator, mental health content creator known for her no-nonsense yet compassionate approach to healing, and her commitment to telling the truth without shaming people in the process.

Often called the “cold water in the face therapist,” Vanessa has a rare gift for translating complex psychological and spiritual concepts into grounded, practical insight. Her work blends Jungian and depth-oriented psychology with embodiment, myth, and liberation psychology—helping people understand not only their personal patterns, but the cultural conditioning and harmful systems that shape them.

Vanessa is the author of The Motherhood Myth and the coauthor of It’s Not Me, It’s You (with her partner, John Kim, LMFT). She is the founder of Inner Compass Academy, a depth-based training and coaching program devoted to bringing soul, meaning, and real-life integration into the work of coaching and therapy and hosts the Inner Compass Podcast, where psychology meets spirituality, culture, and the messy work of becoming more free. She also leads transformational retreats and workshops that invite people into deeper relationship with the unconscious through ritual, group process, somatic practice, and honest conversation.

In both her life and her practice, Vanessa is committed to removing the healer from the pedestal of “expert.” She’s transparent about her own ongoing work and invites people into radical responsibility, empowering them as the true experts of their own lives. With equal parts warmth and precision, she helps clients and communities break generational patterns, reclaim agency, and live less from conditioning and more from choice.

A native New Yorker now based in Los Angeles, Vanessa is also a mother to a tenacious (and far too wise) daughter who continually deepens and challenges her work.

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