Healing Insomnia
A 1:1 insomnia coaching program.
Learn how to address your insomnia for good.
Does this sound like you?
You feel like you have tried it all, but your insomnia is persistent, and nothing has worked consistently.
✓ You have spent countless hours researching, trying to figure it out, and identify all the potential triggers/ causes to no avail.
✓ You’re sick of friends, family, co-workers, and people you don’t even know asking you if you’ve tried…melatonin, ashwaghanda, magnesium, meditation, yoga, and boiled banana peel ‘tea.’ The advice is endless and you’ve tried it all.
✓ Sometimes insomnia even feels like it’s part of your identity, and you just want to get back to who you were before it all began.
You are scared of not sleeping and spend a lot of time worrying about not getting sleep.
✓ You feel like insomnia is robbing you of the life you want to live, which only fuels the fear more.
✓ You have tried standard cognitive-behavioral-therapy for sleep and it did not work or you started to obsess more about sleep.
✓ You have a history of trauma and worry that you have to heal it all before you will be able to sleep.
You fear your body is broken, your brain is broken, or all of you is broken.
✓ You are scared that your lack of sleep will destroy your health or that you will never sleep well again.
✓ You feel alone - reaching out to friends or family during a bad bout of sleep doesn’t offer much reassurance, but you keep doing it anyways.
✓ You often cancel plans you are looking forward to like travel or an event because your sleep is so bad, or you are scared it will be bad if you travel.
I understand, because that used to be me.
I had chronic insomnia for many years. It was a lonely and disheartening place to be. I spent a long time trying to dig deep into the causes, and when I had the resources, try every treatment under the sun.
This of course was happening while I often woke up feeling like the walking dead. While I found a few things that temporarily helped with sleep some of the time, several years later, I still had not gotten to the root of it all.
By this point I had tried: a whole lot of therapy, neurofeedback, acupuncture, sleep hygiene, hypnotherapy, meditation, sleep hypnosis, yoga nidra, yin yoga, food elimination diets, naturopaths, multiple sleep medications and supplements galore.
Something inside kept me searching though, and eventually the pieces of the puzzle came together.
I now teach clients what worked to heal my own insomnia. I use a mindfulness approach based on Acceptance & Commitment Therapy which supports clients to work through their root fears for longterm recovery, rather than offer a short-term, topical solution. I also find that with insomnia, knowledge really is power, and provide psychoeducation both on the nervous system and sleep, since learning about both can be a powerful way of undoing the fear that comes along with insomnia. I like to provide individualized support and go at the pace of your nervous system.
Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 but I wish I knew then what I know now. The good news is that I created the program that I really needed when I was struggling.
My Approach
This program is all about getting to the ROOT of insomnia - your FEAR of not sleeping.
The root cause is perhaps the most obvious but easy to miss. I spent several years obsessing over finding a cure, so I understand how this might seem counterintuitive, or perhaps even disappointing, but it’s actually great news.
Hear me out.
We all think our struggles with insomnia are complex and unique - like a cryptic message we have to unlock to set ourselves free. While we are complex and unique individuals, the science behind sleep and the solution to recovery is actually quite simple.
Once you have the right knowledge, instead of feeding the fear, you learn to think and act in ways that change your relationship with sleep - then everything shifts.
The paradox is that a lot of things we do to fix our sleep (tea concoctions, google remedies, supplements, medication, yoga nidra, meditation, sleep hygiene etc.) may be supportive temporarily, but they don’t get to the source of the problem - the fear. In fact, they can sometimes even feed into the fear.
It is the FEAR of not sleeping that perpetuates the endless cycle of trying to find that cure.
So, instead of addressing the fear, it gets fed by the obsession to fix. In this program you will learn how to end that cycle so you can finally sleep for good. The approaches listed below all help to get to this root cause.
How I Support You To Work Through Your Insomnia
Mindfulness
If you are a meditator or practice yoga, you are probably familiar with this term. I won’t give you meditation guides or mindfulness practice to sleep better.
Rather, the mindfulness in this program is about developing an awareness and thus a mindful relationship with sleep. Paradoxically, when we become less attached to the outcome of sleeping enough, our sleep improves.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Learn how to respond in ways that help you break through the fear of not sleeping (even when you are exhausted). Insomnia has the curious effect of making you obsessed with finding a cure, as quickly as possible. This makes sense. Sleeping is important, and our survival response can go a little haywire. The paradox here is that when you are obsessing about fixing it, you might find something that works as a bandaid for your sleep problems, but they don’t get to the root. Why?
Because, it’s the obsession with finding a solution that is actually the culprit. If you are annoyed by this statement , I get it. But, this is actually liberating once you learn how to deprogram your brain from being so obsessed with sleep, and that’s where I come in.
Psychoeducation
I love teaching my clients about how their brains and nervous systems work.
The right kind of information is empowering and it’s a joy to share it with you in a way that is easy to understand and practical - you won’t catch me dropping some abstract knowledge that you can’t do anything with.
I will be educating you in a way that allows you to apply it to your life right away.
1:1 coaching program
✓ Personalized insomnia coaching to guide you through the healing process, from someone who has been through it.
✓ Two 30-minute private coaching sessions with me per month to help get you on track, unstuck, and sleeping again.
✓Written support 5-days a week ( I check once a day) in between your 1:1 sessions with me so none of your questions go unanswered.
What you’ll get:
This program is great for you if you’re looking to:
Learn how to address your insomnia for good.
✓ SUPPLEMENTS, MEDICATIONS, AND SLEEP GADGETS CAN BE HELPFUL, BUT THEY DON’T ADDRESS THE ROOT OF INSOMNIA. This program is meant to work alongside any medication or supplements you take for insomnia under the guidance of your GP. Although everyone is different, when we work on the root cause of insomnia, it’s often the case that the need for medication or supplements is reduced or eliminated.
Get the ‘pre-insomnia you’ back
✓ EXPERIENCE MORE ENERGY, PRESENCE AND JOY. When you’re obsessed with fixing your sleep issues, and not getting enough of it, there is not a lot of room or energy for presence and joy. Daytime anxiety about sleeping then turns into nighttime insomnia, and so the cycle repeats. When we work on everything that gets in the way of sleep, there is more room to experience what matters in life.
Transform your relationship with sleep.
✓ LEARN TO CONTROL RUMINATION AND WORRY SPIRALS ABOUT SLEEP.
‘If this continues will I be putting my health in jeopardy? If I don’t fall asleep in an hour will tomorrow be ruined? What about the rest of my week? Will I be miserable to everyone around me? Will I have to call in sick for work? What if this doesn’t get better…ever? Will I go crazy? Will I lose my job? Will I die?’
These are all thoughts directly from my former self’s brain. I will work with you to better control these worry spirals. Once you do, nighttime no longer becomes something to be feared.
FAQs
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I understand. I have spent thousands of dollars over the course of many years in the hopes of finding lasting relief. While I cannot guarantee, this program is designed to get at the root of insomnia. I do not want you to be wasting money on a temporary bandaid solution. When I finally got over my fear of insomnia, everything shifted, and I have developed this as the program I wish I had when I needed it most.
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Yes! Finding the right fit for this type of work is important. I want you to feel confident about your decision, and have the opportunity to ask any questions you see fit. My consultations are 30-minutes long and held over zoom. You can email me at: kirsten@kirstennoack.com to book.
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Yes! I am both a coach and a licensed psychotherapist with a MSc. in clinical psychology. The approach I use integrates research on neuroscience and is based on Acceptance Commitment Therapy.
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This program may not be the best for you if:
You are looking for instant relief. This program is designed to provide lasting change, and gets at the root of insomnia, but it is not instantaneous. It requires patience and work.
You believe that your issues are rooted in solely physical medical problems, and are not psychological in nature at all. While I work with the nervous system and educate you on that, the core of this program is about tackling the psychological root of insomnia.
The other issues in your life are manageable. Insomnia can be dysregulating. It’s not uncommon to also be experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression and a whole lot of fear. This is not a problem as long as it is manageable for you either because you are feeling stable enough, or are also getting therapy at the same time. If you are feeling though that your life is in a state of crisis, this will make it harder to get the most out of this program. I do not provide therapy in this program - it will be focused specifically on insomnia.
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The program is on a monthly basis, because every individual case is different. If your insomnia has been short-lived, you may notice shifts more quickly than if it has been going on for years.
Insomnia can be a rollercoaster, and the process tends not to be linear. While I cannot predict your recovery process, I find 2-4 months is often enough time to notice sustained change.
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Yes, this approach works for people who take medication as well. Some people reduce their medication or taper off their medication once they get over their fear of sleep. I don’t provide medical advice, but it’s not a problem if you want to sign up for the program while taking medication
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Sometimes we need different people on our support team for different reasons. A doctor can help you with medication and any health issues that are impacting your sleep, while a therapist may be supporting you with trauma, stress, or any psychological issues that impact you. This program is specifically designed for insomnia by addressing the root fear of not sleeping in a structured, trauma-informed way. It can be a beautiful compliment to other work you are doing on your healing. Once you are sleeping better, it will also be easier to work on the other pieces you need support with. Also, getting support for your health or trauma from another practitioner can help you get the most out of this program.
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While my program is trauma-informed, I will not work with you directly on the trauma.
Trauma therapy is beyond the scope of this coaching program, and if you are dealing with acute trauma symptoms you should be working with a therapist as well.
What you can expect from my trauma-informed approach is collaboratively working at the pace of your nervous system while providing psychoeducation and interventions that are empowering and de-shaming.