We’re looking forward to introducing you to Sehrish Ali. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Sehrish, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about your customers?
How accomplished they are and how invisible their struggles often feel.
From the outside, many are high-functioning, successful, and deeply capable. They’re the ones others rely on. What surprised me most is how little space they’ve had to be unsure, tired, or human without feeling like they’re failing.
Many don’t come in looking for “fixing.” They come looking for permission to slow down, to feel, to stop performing competence. They’re not lacking insight or motivation; they’re overwhelmed by how much they’ve been carrying alone.
What I’ve learned is that support isn’t about teaching them how to do more. It’s about helping them feel safe enough to do less and still feel worthy
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Sehrish Ali, a licensed therapist and the founder of Guided Growth Therapy. I work primarily with high-functioning, high-achieving individuals people who look put-together on the outside but feel overwhelmed, disconnected, or quietly exhausted on the inside.
My work sits at the intersection of mental health, identity, and nervous system regulation. Many of my clients are navigating perfectionism, life transitions, cultural expectations, or eating-related concerns, and they’re often used to being the “strong one.” What makes my practice unique is that we don’t focus on fixing or optimizing people we focus on helping them feel more at home in themselves.
Guided Growth Therapy was built around the idea that growth doesn’t always mean more effort; sometimes it means more honesty, more space, and more self-trust. Alongside clinical work, I’m also developing writing and educational projects that explore what it really costs to be high-functioning and how to build a life that feels sustainable, not just successful.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
What breaks bonds most often isn’t conflict’s disconnection. Unspoken expectations. Resentments that go unnamed. The slow habit of performing instead of being honest. When people stop feeling safe enough to tell the truth, distance grows quietly.
What restores bonds is not perfection or resolution it’s presence. Being willing to listen without fixing. To take responsibility without defensiveness. To stay curious instead of certain. Repair happens when people feel seen rather than analyzed, and chosen even when it’s uncomfortable.
Connection is less about never rupturing and more about learning how to return to each other again and again with humility and care.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
When I stopped believing that insight alone leads to change.
For a long time, I thought that if people understood why they felt the way they did, relief would follow. What I’ve learned both personally and professionally is that awareness is only the beginning. Real change happens when the body feels safe enough to do something different, not just think differently.
That shift changed how I work, how I relate, and how I take care of myself. It taught me that healing isn’t about trying harder or knowing more it’s about creating the conditions where change can actually take root.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
That safety changes everything. People don’t grow, connect, or heal because they’re pushed they do so when they feel safe enough to be honest.
That rest is not a reward; it’s a requirement. Nothing sustainable is built from constant urgency.
And that presence matters more than perfection. Showing up with humility, curiosity, and care does more to repair relationships and shape a meaningful life than getting it “right” ever could.
These truths guide how I work, how I relate, and how I move through the world even when I don’t name them out loud.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Absolutely! when what I wanted was rooted in external markers rather than internal alignment.
There were moments when I reached goals I’d worked hard for and still felt restless. Not because the achievement was wrong, but because it couldn’t meet needs it was never meant to fulfill connection, safety, meaning.
That taught me that wanting isn’t the same as needing. Satisfaction comes less from arrival and more from whether the path honors who you are becoming.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.guidedgrowththerapypllc.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sehrish-ali-phd-lpc-s-ceds-c/
Image Credits
juliagutierrez
