omen are pulled in more directions, juggling more roles than ever before. With all the gains women have made comes more pressure than ever to measure up to impossible ideals—to have exciting, high-achieving careers, perfect bodies and designer homes, to manage their families and balance their home and work lives perfectly, and to do it all with constant confidence and good cheer—and if they can’t accomplish all these things flawlessly, to blame themselves for their “failure.”

I don’t believe in trying to fix your self-perceived flaws, or changing to meet some external ideal. Real, lasting change comes a different way. It comes when you open the door to your inner self; when you begin listening to your own inner self with open ears and an open heart. That’s when you open yourself to hearing, and living from, your Inner Voice. That’s when you begin feeling better about yourself and making positive, lasting changes in your life that come from deep within your heart and soul.

I’m Helene Brenner, psychologist and author of I Know I’m in There Somewhere: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity. I offer individual psychotherapy services and couples counseling in my office in Frederick, Maryland, and Inner Voice Life-Coaching and Inner Voice Telegroups by phone to women all over the country and around the world.

I feel that women today are doing an amazing job doing more and more with less and less, and deserve congratulations and support, not more pressure on how to be even “better.” My purpose is to help you learn to listen to yourself and follow your inner voice in every aspect of your life. I want to help you use your emotions and sensitivity for yourself rather than against yourself, and to strengthen your sense of self, because it is easy to lose that sense of self amid all the pressures and demands of everyday life. I want to help you stay connected to your wisest, deepest and strongest self in the face of the most challenging professional and personal circumstances, and to find the balance between caring for the people who matter to you and paying attention to your own true needs. Finally, I want to help you get in touch with what you truly want out of life and support you to pursue it.

Whether through individual or couples counseling or psychotherapy, Inner Voice Life Coaching by phone, or joining one of my Inner Voice telegroups, I welcome you to discover what has always been yours all along – the wisdom and the power of your own Inner Voice.