Your mind is your most valuable asset and tool. Do take care of it.
“Some of my collagues have bodyguards but you are my mindguard” CEO years ago
At times, we all need to regain our balance. Even the strongest relationships can face challenges. In today’s demanding work environment, many stressors are beyond our direct control. Often, the most difficult situations are those where we feel powerless yet they still affect us. The good news is that resilience can be strengthened and tools learned. The better we learn to understand ourselves (and others) and the more we practice steering our thoughts and regulating our emotional responses to people and situations, the stronger our resilience will be. Emotional competence is vital for leading others, handling challenging situations smoothly, making wise choices also under pressure, and protecting own well-being and relationships.
My mission is to support, guide, and serve as an honest sounding board for individuals who wish to both succeed in their work and maintain their well-being. The metaphor of a “Sherpa” was first given to me by my students—nine boys and one girl—when I worked as a teacher in the late 1990s. My class consisted of at-risk teens, then labeled as “maladjusted.” In reality, they faced challenges such as dyslexia, ADHD, underdeveloped social and emotional skills, and a history of being let down by adults. One Friday, they wrote in the class diary: We choose the mountains we want to climb. Mari helps us pack the right gear and keeps us safe along the way. She gives us extra oxygen when needed and helps carry some of our ”stuff”. Her job is also to read the weather and know the best climbing routes.
We must have discussed Mount Everest and the risks climbers face each season. But their words captured the core of a teacher as well as a coach and a therapist: to help people navigate their personal and professional journeys with the right support, tools, and guidance to reach their own summits.
MindGuard Coaching
If you need professional support through some challenging period in your life affecting also your work or want support and tools to handle emotionally taxing work situation, MindGuard Coaching is for you. MindGuard Coaching combines coaching with brief therapy tools because your people skills and resilience as well as your risk factors have a psychological basis. We work on any topics you feel relevant so you can be successful in your work without burning yourself out or neglecting your relationships and health.
My clients are professionals, key personnel, teams, and leaders who seek truly effective coaching to help them navigate mentally stressful periods. Over the past 15+ years, I have worked with clients from diverse industries and roles across the corporate sector, municipalities, media, sports, organisations such as the UN and the European Commission, and others.
“I’ve worked with people like Mari for the past 15 years in helping businesses grow. After just 30 minutes with Mari I was blown away. She has such a wide area of expertise that she is able to help individuals and companies faster than anybody else… I’ve worked with therapists, business coaches, life coaches, performance coaches, impact coaches, you name it. And I am yet to meet somebody who actually understands how to impact and empower people better than Mari“. Business consultant, Silicon Valley
So why MindGuard Coaching?
In my work as both a coach and a psychotherapist, I have seen the gap that exists between these two fields. Coaching focuses on work-related issues and may help identify personal risk factors (such as excessive self-demand). However, in traditional coaching context and without the necessary expertise, addressing some of these individual riskfactors in a way that is truly safe, ethical, and effective is not possible. Very few people need actual psychotherapy but some of the tools when used correctly help strengthen self – awareness and skills in managing triggers and emotional responses, which are in the core of resilience building. MindGuard Coaching is dedicated to preserving health and well-being, and strengthening resilience during challenging times. Because I have training and extensive experience in both coaching and psychotherapy, we can navigate work-related topics and address anything else beneficial to your stress management, well-being and resilience.
“Thank you very much for our first meeting last week. It helped me a lot and I have already felt much better than I have in a long time!” A leader in a rapidly changing field
MindGuard Coaching’s theoretical framework does not sound as vivid as the Sherpa metaphor, but it is important: client-centeredness and dialogy, experiential socio-emotional learning and adventure pedagogy, systemic thinking, solution-focused coaching and cognitive analytical brief psychotherapy, evidence-based methods and innovations, social neurosciences and related fields. You can see my education at the bottom of this page.
“Mari has an exceptional ability to bridge evidence-based theories and scientific knowledge from social neurosciences and related fields to every-day situations making her training engaging and convincing. I can warmly recommend Mari as an impactful coach, trainer and speaker.” Leadership coach, Helsinki
I am a warm support and a conversational sounding board who, with your permission, will also challenge your thinking at times. We’ll analyze your situation to identify what you can influence quickly (and how) and what will need a bit more detective work. I will provide the support, guidance, and tools to help you untangle confusing or conflicting emotions and break free from unproductive thought loops, reaction patterns, and strengthen your own ability to solve challenges in the future. Through the process, you will for example:
- Deepen your self-understanding (and your understanding of others)
- Strengthen emotional regulation skills, learn to trace the source of your triggers and regulate your emotional responses better
- Clarify your motives, needs, healthy boundaries and goals
- Learn to analyze situations, identifying what you can and cannot influence, and how to tolerate what you can’t change
- Develop the ability to shift your perspective and determine your next steps
I promise that you will gain a deeper understanding of yourself and others, find solutions to your problems and learn to better tolerate what you cannot change. You will come out of the process with more clarity, strengthened resilience and a set of tools you’ve tested to work for you in your daily life. As we work through your chosen themes, situation, or problem, you will also learn how to process your experiences and reactions independently in the future.
How you can prepair for our first session?
To make the most of our time together, take a moment to reflect on the following questions:
- What is good, working well, valuable? What do you love and want to preserve in your work/life?
- What needs to change right now for you to…?
- What are you ready to do yourself? What do you think you need?
- How can I help? Who else can support you?
Fees and booking MindGuard Coaching
For coaching the fee is 300€/ 90 min + VAT. For teams and groups, please see the fixed price list at the bottom of the front page of www.easeltraining.fi
Brief Psychotherapy
If the TV is broken, repairing the toaster will not help. Once you are addressing the root cause you will start seeing results.
Cognitive Analytical Brief Psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and Solution Focused Familytherapy are evidence-based approachs. They are designed to help clients leverage their own strengths, understand their situations, and find effective solutions—both now and in the future. Research shows that many people benefit from relatively short therapy processes, typically between 6 and 20 sessions. However, while brief therapy is suitable for mild to moderate anxiety and depression, severe mood disorders, trauma, and other complex conditions often require longer treatment, in which case ask your psychiatrist to help determine the best therapeutic approach for you.
I have extensive experience working with stress and burnout, anxiety, depression, life crises, ADHD, relationship challenges, and family dynamics (also with blended families and expats)
How Brief Psychotherapy Can Help
This approach provides the support, guidance, and tools to help untangle confusing or conflicting emotions and break free from unproductive thought loops, reaction patterns, and strengthen clients’ own ability to solve challenges in the future. Through the process, you will:
- Deepen your self-understanding (and your understanding of others)
- Strengthen emotional regulation skills, learn to trace the source of your triggers and regulate your emotional responses better
- Clarify your motives, needs, healthy boundaries and goals
- Learn to analyze situations, identifying what you can and cannot influence, and how to tolerate what you can’t change
- Develop the ability to shift your perspective and determine your next steps
We will explore your past only as much as needed to understand how it shapes your current choises, needs, beliefs and reactions.
My Approach as a Psychotherapist
I am warm and supportive, transparent and respectfully honest. I ensure you always understand what we are doing and why. While I take responsibility for guiding the process, I also coach you to take charge of our work together, just as you are in charge of your life. My ultimate goal is to help you reach a place where you no longer need me and also have new skills and tools to take with you to your future.
Fees and booking psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is paid by e.g. your health insurance, employer or yourself. All psychotherapy sessions are invoiced 130€ / each 45 minutes. Individual sessions are 45 or 90 minutes, couples and family therapies are 90 minute/appointment. Appointments are video calls online at www.doxy.me/marilouhi Clients in Southern Finland are also welcome to come to Savikon Tila in Vihti (www.savikontila.fi)
Psychotherapy is VAT 0% for clients in Finnish social security. Clients outside Finland will have VAT added to their fee. You will receive the invoice via email payable within 7 days. Please, book from my calender at www.minduu.fi/fi/profiili/mari_louhi The booking can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before.
Start with one session
I recommend booking the first session online to assess your situation and see how you feel about working with me. The initial session gives us enough time to also work and not just “meet”. You will already come away with some tools, more clarity of your situation, and possible next steps forward.
What happens in our sessions?
I will ask you to tell me what you feel I need to know to be able to help you. I will share with you some psychoeducation about how the mind usually works to validate your experiences and reflect on your situation. Together we will set your initial goals for your process. Towards the end of the first meeting I will give you some tools and homework.
We book the next appointment at the end of the previous one so that we constantly adjust to your needs the length of process, frequency and duration of appointments. Often therapy clients have maybe 6 weekly sessions, then maybe once in two weeks and towards the end when they feel the need.
In the following sessions we will work on the topics you choose. I usually start by asking how you felt after our previous meeting, what stayed with you and what would you like to talk about. In the process you will also hone your skills in regulating your emotions and steering your thoughts. At times you might just need a safe space to griev or mentally rest. Other times we’ll “put on Sherlock Holmes hats” and go after clues to better understand your current situation, your emotional reactions, triggers, ways of thinking, beliefs, needs, boundaries, and the dynamics in your relationships. You’ll clarify what gives you sense of safety, energy, and direction, and what you might want to change.
My professional journey
I hope to help adults in all walks of life to strengthen resilience so important in today’s world and to have the emotional balance to show up consistently for their loved ones. We adults create the world for the children.
Since my Master’s in biochemistry of health and physiology, teacher/ special-needs-education and the formation of CASEL in 1994 by Dr. Daniel Goleman et al. I have been passioned about social neurosciences and experiential social emotional learning. Social neurosciences combine biosciences and psychology to explain e.g. the impact of safety vs. stress on parenting / teaching, child development, learning, emotion regulation and behavioural problems, relationships, motivation, empathy, and more.
This passion comes together in my life’s work, where I developed EASEL® — Experiential Social Emotional Learning and Therapy. This methodology was first created together with the at-risk teens I taught in the late 1990s. Since then, EASEL® has evolved with advancements in research, my own personal and professional development, and the contributions of all the 300+ trained EASEL Facilitators who have enriched and expanded the methodology, taking it into new professional fields.
“Mari has the heart, the skills and the tools to bring about positive change, regardless of people’s age, status, educational background, gender or culture, and even in the most difficult situations.” A close colleague
education
• Cognitive Analytic Brief psychotherapy (30 ECTS) 2024
• Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (30 ECTS) 2020 • Solution-Focused Family Psychotherapy (120ECTS) 2013
• Supervisor and Coach of individuals, groups and work communities (60ECTS) 2008
• Vocational teacher, middle school teacher (60 ECTS) 1999. Pedagogic studies in special education
• M.Sc. in clinical biochemistry of health and physiology 1991 Postgraduate studies and 6 abstracts & 4 scientific publications.
Also Eponaquest Instructor (2004 USA), EAGALA level1 (2006 UK), riding instructor (UK) and 25+ years of experience in animal assisted learning and therapy both with clients and training other professionals to include AAA into their own work.
