Heather Shaughnessy-Cato | Self-Compassion Coach

Heather Shaughnessy-Cato
Self-Compassion Coach

Helping women who care for everyone learn to care for themselves.

You’re perceptive, thoughtful, caring, and competent. You know how to show up — for your work, your people, the things that matter to you. You’re attuned to others’ needs, often before they’ve named them themselves.

But others being well-tended and you being well-tended are not the same thing.

Maybe you recognize this: tending to everyone else until it becomes unsustainable. Meeting yourself with criticism rather than care. Feeling worn out in a way that ordinary self-care can’t quite touch. A quiet disconnection from what you actually need — and who you are when you’re not taking care of everyone else.

You may know what self-compassion is. You may have even recommended it to someone else. But feeling it for yourself — consistently, when it actually matters — is a different skill. One most of us were never taught.

That’s what this work is. Practical, evidence-based, and built for real life.

This work may be for you if:

• You’re capable and committed — and worn out
• You’re hard on yourself in ways you wouldn’t be with anyone else
• You feel disconnected from yourself — from what you need, what matters to you, what would actually help
• You’re navigating stress, transition, or a moment of meaningful change
• You know what self-compassion is but can’t quite feel it for yourself
• You’re ready to extend to yourself the same care you give to everyone else — not as an indulgence, but as a foundation

What changes:

You get clearer on what truly replenishes you — and what drains you. You learn to claim space for yourself with less guilt and more ease. You become more attuned to your own needs, not just everyone else’s. And you develop a steadier, kinder relationship with yourself that holds up even when life is hard.

This isn’t about feeling better in the moment. It’s about functioning differently over time.

I know my own version of this — the cost of tending to everyone else, and what it takes to finally turn that care inward. Self-compassion changed that for me. It’s not just what I teach — it’s what I practice and return to. That’s what makes this work both grounded and personal.

The coaching I offer gives you space to attune to yourself — with kindness and understanding — and to learn to turn the care you so generously offer to others, toward yourself too. It’s reflective, skill-building, forward-moving, and practical support for real life.

Client Reflections

“With your gentle and insightful guidance, I was able to shift some long-ingrained patterns of harsh self-judgment — and got so much more out of it than I could have possibly imagined.”

“I love how practical this is. I have space to reflect, and come away from each session with practical things to do.”

“You’ve ushered me from a frustrated to an optimistic mindset in such an enjoyable way.”

Work With Me

Coaching

Drop-In Stress Relief Guided Sessions

Workshops & Classes