My Story

Listen to her tell a bit of her story:

“My name is Dr. Wendy Bruton, and I used to be a therapist.

For over a decade much of my identity was wrapped up in what I did. Has that ever happened to you? I was a counselor, professor, mentor, and strong advocate for the mental health field. But after a rough year professionally, filled with a lot of loss and sadness, I gave up my counseling license and went on a journey to find a “new me”.

This is when The Essentially Better Life was born.

I went through a hard year of healing, evaluation, and renewal. It was challenging and painful at times, but I came out of that evaluation year knowing my new identity… knowing who I am apart from my profession. I also came out knowing I still needed to focus on my life purpose. It was so helpful for me to figure out that my identity is not “a therapist”, but my identity is a person who is driven by a real desire to add value to people’s lives. No matter what I am doing in life, I want to help people know they are valued… valuable… and help them to move forward into a better life both personally and professionally. So, very organically, a business and life coaching practice was born.

One little thing that separates me from other Life Coaches:

There are many things that separate me from other life coaches, but one of them is that I use a lot of coaching interventions that are a little out of the ordinary. I have been trained to use many modalities including art, drama, and projective techniques that help people in their journey forward.

One tool I often incorporate into my practice is essential oils. No need to have oils already, I will supply them if needed. I even wrote a book about using essential oils for emotional wellness, The book is titled, “Essentially Better: essential oils for people with feelings”. I am also a certified Aroma Freedom Technique Practitioner and use essential oils, based on strong research, to help people move past things that are blocking them from moving forward… does that sound a little woo woo?

I am not a big believer in “woo-woo” but….

I am a researcher, scientist, lover of all things factual.​ I have a PhD for goodness sake! The truth is that when I first heard of essential oils I thought they were nice and all, but had no idea how powerful they actually were.

Four years ago my story with oils started. I bought a kit of oils for my office. At the time I was the director of a counseling center in Salem, OR, and I wanted it to smell nice and pretty. I didn’t believe that there could be any actual therapeutic benefit from them. As time went on I began to see how, time after time, essential oils were making an impact on people’s emotional state. They were letting go of past hurt. They were able to regulate their emotions in new skillful ways. The results became too much to deny, even for me. I realized that I needed to find out how they worked. I loved learning that there was science behind it… REAL SCIENCE! Essential oils were created to work in your body in a way that brings everything back to balance.

I need balance, How about you?

I realized at the time that I needed these oils in my life, not just professionally, but also personally. I had entered a time in my life where all my emotions were out of whack. And not just my emotions, but my whole body (stupid menopause). I started feeling like I was a bit out of control. I felt I couldn’t control my mood, my responses to friends and family, and I definitely felt unable to control my internal thermometer. I felt like I was losing myself and I needed to find a way to get back to me.

ENTER OILS!

One of my very good friends walked beside me and just said:
“YOU NEED THIS!”

And I believed her. I am so glad I did. Since I started using oils as part of my everyday routine, I feel much more balanced and in control.

This is why I use them with all of my clients!

What is going on in your life that needs to change?

Where do you need to move forward? Do you know who you are? Have you been stuck in an identity that doesn’t work for you anymore? We need to talk. I would love to help you learn to move forward from what you used to be into an essentially better life.

Let me be your friend…
“YOU NEED THIS!!”

~Wendy