If you’ve ever had a season of life where you’ve been to every kind of health practitioner — the family doctor, the naturopath, the physio, the osteopath, the therapist — you’ll know how confusing it can be. Each has their own language, their own explanations, and sometimes their advice even contradicts each other.

And yet, I find myself deeply respecting each discipline. Every one of them brings a piece of the puzzle. But none of them, on their own, can tell the whole story.

That’s where holistic healing comes in — not as another specialty, but as an umbrella approach to your health. It’s a way of weaving together insights from multiple sources to recognize that we are not just a body that needs to be fixed, or a mind that needs to be reprogrammed, or a spirit that needs to be soothed. We are mind, body, and soul — interconnected, layered, and deeply complex.

When we take a holistic approach, we stop seeing health as something linear. It’s not just “take this pill” or “do this exercise” or “talk about this feeling.” It’s all of those things working in relationship.

Take, for example, a client I once worked with who had a chronic illness. They were doing everything “right” — seeing their doctor, nutritionist, and physical therapist — but each professional gave a different set of instructions. The result? Overwhelm. Confusion. Decision fatigue. My role as a therapist wasn’t to add another checklist to their life, but to slow down and help them trust their own intuition again.

I asked, “Out of all the advice you’ve received, what feels most important to you right now?”

And in that moment, something shifted. Instead of being the passive recipient of healthcare, they became an active participant in their healing.

That, to me, is holistic health — not outsourcing our wellness to a dozen experts, but gathering wisdom from different disciplines and deciding what truly resonates with our body, our beliefs, and our current capacity. Holistic healing isn’t about throwing money at every possible practitioner or trying to “fix” everything at once. It’s about cultivating awareness — learning what different approaches offer, and feeling out what feels manageable and supportive in this season of your life. It starts with curiosity, not urgency.

You might begin by asking yourself wide, reflective questions like:

• Is it possible, helpful, or realistic for me to work with more than one practitioner right now?
• Who do I trust — friends, family, or others with similar experiences — who might share honest insights about what helped them?
• I’m noticing something physical; could there be a nutritional, emotional, or spiritual layer underneath it?
• What kinds of care (body, mind, or soul) actually leave me feeling lighter or more grounded afterward?
• Are there simple things I can try at home before taking on more appointments or expenses?
• How will I know when something is working for me — what signs of healing can I look for?

In therapy, we see this same principle in action. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), for example, already acknowledges that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are intertwined — and that change in one area can ripple through the rest. But beyond CBT, therapy also explores the physical sensations that live in our bodies, the relational wounds that affect our nervous system, and the spiritual questions that shape how we see meaning and purpose.

A holistic therapist might use tools like:

• Grounding and breathwork to regulate the body,
• Mindfulness or journaling to help clarify thoughts,
• Art or music therapy to express emotions that words can’t reach,
• Exploration of values or faith to strengthen the soul.

We all learn and heal differently. Some people are verbal and love talk therapy. Others are kinesthetic and heal through movement. Some need silence and prayer; others need structure and cognitive tools. Each person is going to find a different way of approaching their health that will resonate best with their values, beliefs, personality, finances, time, and so on.

Holistic healing is about honoring each person's individual needs while also striving for humility — recognizing that no single approach or practitioner holds all the answers. Healing becomes less about adherence to rules, and more about integration: noticing what our body is feeling, what our emotions are sensing, what our soul is longing for— and inviting those parts into a conversation.

If you’ve been feeling stretched thin by all the voices in your healthcare journey, here’s a gentle reminder: The goal isn’t to collect more advice. It’s to listen inwardly, with compassion, to what your body, mind, and soul are trying to tell you.

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If you are feeling lost in your health journey, or feel like your life needs a direction, we are here to help. Our team of therapists is here to gently ask questions so that you can gain clarity and perspective. To book a session, please use https://resetbarrie.janeapp.com

This blog is a companion to our podcast from Season 2 of Beyond the Session which you can stream on Spotify or YouTube. This episode features a conversation between Lindsay Tsang (Registered Psychotherapist) and Kathleen Tsang (Registered Social Worker) who support psychotherapy clients in Barrie, Ontario.