Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Mitchell-Hardt Field.
Hi Molly, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my journey as many people in a healing profession do, in my own suffering. Much of who I am was forged in the dark cave of my inner sanctum. I have always been a deeply relational and sensitive person and yet was not met with the warmth and emotional nourishment I so craved. In the absence of this I did what many do, I wondered what was wrong with me, I walked around with an aching void inside that I did not know how to quell. It was in my first romantic relationship at fifteen that I thought this void would finally be filled and perhaps in moments it was, but the feeling of completion was always fleeting. This relationship opened the door to the mysteries inherent in life, but being so young and both of us wounded in our own ways, this relationship did harm in equal measure as good.
It was not until I was introduced to yoga in my early twenties that the doorway into my inner reality truly opened. I began to scaffold myself through yogic philosophy, taking seriously the yamas (how we treat the world) and niyamas (how we orient to ourselves) of Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This supported an inner organization around purpose and right action and I eventually traveled to India to study yoga more deeply. When I came back I dedicated my life to teaching yoga and did this for ten years.
It was at this point that I wanted to take my study of the human experience deeper and I enrolled in a Master’s program to study Depth and Jungian Oriented Psychology. This experience proved to be a transformative one and continued to organize my inner being around purpose and brought clarity to the great mysteries I was feeling around in the dark for.
In this time I got married, became a mother, and started my private practice as a depth-oriented psychotherapist. My own inner work deepened through working with a somatic experiencing practitioner. It was this immediate experience of the work that inspired me to train in somatic experiencing. I watched as my work with clients transformed beyond insight and understanding to completion of deeply held trauma imprints and patterns. This is the work I have dedicated myself to since both in my own healing and in supporting others as we navigate the impact of the systemic and cultural oppression of the feminine.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This road has certainly had its twists and turns. I would say in my younger life, the locus point of many of my struggles was the tension between my authentic being and the gravity of cultural and societal pressures. When who I was fundamentally opposed the collective overculture, it was hard to convince myself that I was enough, or even okay. It was not until I could clearly see the sociocultural milieu I was existing in that I could reclaim the sacred space of my own blueprint. It was then and only then that flow and ease became available to me. However, time is spiralic and I often encounter familiar contractive parts of myself, most often when I am birthing something new. I have to remind myself that contractions are a part of birth and wise action is surrender.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Vessel Collective?
I began as a solo private practice therapist and more recently have expanded into a group practice where I supervise burgeoning clinicians. The group practice is called Vessel Collective, vessel being the healing container in which transformation occurs.
At Vessel, we are depth psychology trained and somatically oriented, this means that we are fundamentally interested in the deeper workings of one’s being, beyond the symptoms that are arising in life. We are also interested in the ways in which we have all internalized the distortions of patriarchy and unraveling the ways this has made us unwell. We view symptoms and triggers as communication, our psyche’s intelligence pointing us in the direction of healing.
This is the approach we take to relationship struggles, communication issues, boundary work, anxiety, depression, complex trauma, ADHD and HSP, and the many life transitions that leave us vulnerable and in need of support.
The perfect fit for us is someone who is open to something a little bit different than traditional talk therapy, who is willing to slow down enough to move beyond thought and story and begin to unveil the often forgotten language and wisdom of the body. It is through this process that true integration becomes possible, when we stop trying to think our way through our problems and begin the night sea journey of truly encountering ourselves. The beautiful thing I see unfold again and again is through this encounter, which initially can be uncomfortable, clarity, vitality, and access to beauty and joy start coming back into people’s lives.
We do this work with teens, adults, couples and groups. Our passions lie in the realm of the triple goddess, the maiden, mother, and crone. Associate therapist, Anja Svensson, wrote her graduate thesis about the intersection between the menstrual cycle and mental health. I wrote my graduate thesis about navigating pregnancy and birth within the patriarchy. Collectively we share the intention to support people through life’s many passages and allow for a space for the sacred to enter and be guide to the process.
Through my somatic experiencing work, I also offer touch work, which is simply another somatic modality that supports the nervous system by using the most primal language we have to communicate presence and holding. It is through this work that I have learned how much our human physiology needs and craves safe physical contact, especially when so many of us hold our overwhelming life experiences all on our own, in our own psyche and soma.
I have also started offering more intensive work with clients that can range from a package of working on something specific for three days close together for 2.5 hours each day to having sessions that are longer than the traditional 50 minute therapeutic hour or scheduling longer sessions once per month during a cycling person’s luteal phase, when they might need more holding and support.
We offer our services both virtually throughout California and in person in Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara areas.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Perhaps the thing most would not know about me is that I have a natural proclivity to handiwork. This lends itself to fixing things around the house, crafting, sewing, gardening, even doing puzzles. In another life I think I would be a woodworker, engineer, potter, handywoman, I don’t know, but something that engages the hands and the mind.
Pricing:
- Individual Session with Molly Mitchell-Hardt Field Starts at $250
- Individual Session with Anja Svensson starts at $175
- 3 Day Intensives $3,300
- 1 Day Luteal Phase Support $350 for 90 minutes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vesselcollective.love
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollymitchellhardt/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/molly-mitchell-hardt-field-carpinteria-ca/757107
