My Masters in Healing: A Journey Through Therapy, Gratitude, and Self-Awareness
- Daniele Vasconcelos
- May 21
- 5 min read
I want to dedicate this article to the incredible therapists, and mentors who have helped shape the person I am today. Each of them played a unique role in my journey toward self-awareness, healing, and resilience. Thanks to their guidance, I learned to look within, to practice gratitude, and to develop compassion for others and for myself.Throughout this self-awareness journey, I discovered not only my strengths but also my shadows. I was able to face the light and the darkness within me—recognizing both the good and the pain I received and gave to the people who crossed my path, in both my personal and professional life.
The Beginning of My Healing
My healing journey began in 2018. I had been suffering from depression since late 2017, and a dear friend kept insisting I see a psychoanalyst named Fabiana Guntovitch. A few months later, when I couldn’t carry the weight of my depression any longer, I finally started therapy with her.
From the very first session, I embraced the process wholeheartedly. I shared my life story from birth in our first two sessions. That deep openness helped accelerate our work and showed me how crucial transparency is in therapy.
With Fabiana, I learned the power of gratitude exercises in managing depression. I began to understand that healing is not just emotional—it's also mental, spiritual, and scientific.
Enter ThetaHealing — A New Layer of Awareness
At the same time, my friend Barbara Haddad, who worked with a ThetaHealing practitioner, kept inviting me to attend a seminar. I eventually joined one taught by Gabriela Borges and instantly felt connected. In our private session, I uncovered the root of a lifelong conflict with my brother.
Curious to learn more, I took another seminar with Sharon Wacks. On the last day, I wrote a letter to the depression I was feeling—a powerful moment that felt like a true turning point in my healing.
Sadly, just weeks later, a close friend who also battled depression took his own life. That loss shook me. But again, Fabiana helped me make sense of the pain and gave me the strength to keep going.
I continued to explore ThetaHealing through several seminars with Janaina Eliasquevici, Fabiane Mendes, Jade Gouvea, and Sharon again. Through this path, I became a certified ThetaHealing practitioner.
Embracing a Holistic Path — Neuroscience, Crystals & Family Constellation
In 2018, I met Edel Pontes, a Ph.D. in neuromarketing. His work, grounded in neuroscience and epigenetics, helped me understand the scientific basis behind what I had learned with Fabiana. In 2019 I became certified in his methodology, which deepened my appreciation for the science of gratitude and the importance of self-awareness. Edel became not only my mentor, but a friend who I considerer as my brother, and until today, he's part of my life.
Driven by that realization, I pursued other modalities. I was introduced to Family Constellation therapy and had a life-altering session that led me to become a certified facilitator under the mentorship of Mauricio Braz.
Crystals had always fascinated me, a passion inherited from my great-grandmother. I then met Paola Ranova, who created the Cardinal Method, combining crystals with Family Constellation work. Her scientific approach resonated deeply with me.
 I was introduced to Kundalini Yoga by Renata Spinardi. I had never imagined yoga could be so powerful—her guidance opened yet another door in my healing journey, helping me connect with my energy and intuition in ways I had never experienced before.
Deepening My Knowledge — Neuroscience, Enneagram & More
In 2020, I studied neuroscience with Pedro Calabrez and dove deeper into personality traits. That same curiosity led me to the Enneagram. I took a workshop with Cintia Kava and completely fell in love with the tool.
By 2022, I met Tricia Moreira, a psychotherapist and Family Constellation mentor. I decided to revisit Family Constellation work with her and joined her mentoring program. Our sessions had a regular rhythm, and each class was a blend of deep learning and emotional healing. With Tricia, I didn’t just learn a new method—I experienced another transformative moment in my life. Her guidance helped me process and release layers of pain I didn’t even know I was still carrying.
A Period of Pain and Rebirth
October 2022 brought immense personal challenges: I was diagnosed with pre-breast cancer, and my son experienced a severe emotional collapse. By February 2023, I had to make the painful decision to send him to Brazil to live with his father. It broke me. But therapy—this time with his psychologist—helped me accept that I had made the best possible decision for both of us.
On January 2024, I started therapy with Daniel Abes. In March 2024, I went through the darkest trauma of my life and decided to return to Brazil. I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. Just like Fabiana once did, Daniel carried me through.
During this time, I also resumed Reiki practice with Graça Reis, returning to the energy healing I had first encountered in 2003. By October—two years after everything began—I finally felt whole again.
I am now preparing myself to one day share everything that happened to me and my son between October 2022 and October 2024. It’s not an easy story, but it’s one I believe can help others.
I would never have been able to heal the way I did if it weren’t for the knowledge I gained from all my mentors—and especially from Fabiana and Edel, who laid the foundation for my entire journey.
Giving Back What I Received
Every therapist, mentor, and guide I met since 2018 gave me the tools to not only heal myself but to help others. In 2023, I founded Sisters in Hands, a nonprofit to support single mothers. That moment helped me understand why I had spent so much time, energy, and money studying: it was to give back. To offer resilience, love, and healing to women like me.
The Greatest Lesson
Above all, I learned to love myself. I thought I was doing my best to be a good mom, but the truth is, I had to first learn how to mother myself. Only then could I become the mother my son truly needed.
Self-awareness is a lifelong journey. I haven’t stopped—and I don’t intend to. This journey has shown me that healing requires not only love and light, but courage to face the darkness within ourselves—and to forgive, transform, and grow from it.