Interview with Monica the Medium – Exclusive

Monica Ten-Kate is a young medium using her gift of communicating with the other side to bring peace and healing to others. Monica is the star and center of Freeform’s appropriately titled Monica the Medium, which returns for a new season tonight, April 25.

We had the chance to chat with Monica about what viewers can expect from the new season, how she keeps her own emotions under control as she takes us through her process of doing a reading, and why it’s important to share her gift with the world.

Read on for our exclusive interview with Monica Ten-Kate, also known as Monica the Medium, below:

Can you talk a little about how and when you first realized you had these abilities?

I was always intuitive growing up but it wasn’t until high school that I started to feel and hear and sense things around me. At first, I thought I was crazy or I needed to go to a doctor and I had a brain tumor or something [laughs]. It really started with me being around certain friends and acquaintances. They would be telling a story about someone who died when they were young and I would hear or see the ending of the story before they finished telling it. I was like “Oh my God.” It kept happening and once it kept happening with strangers… when I got to a point when I would repeat what I was feeling or sensing, they were like “How’d you know that? No one knows that!” Over time, I realized this is Spirit. I couldn’t stop and it happened more and more and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Do you have to be face to face with someone to feel something?

For me, I really need to hear their voice. I have done readings over the phone. If I do anything virtual, I like to do Skype or FaceTime. I think it’s a better experience for the client to have that face to face with me. It’s usually when I hear a person’s voice that it’s strongest. It works both ways.

Why is it important to you to help others with your gift? What do you enjoy most about what you do?

I honestly love that transformation that I can not just see or hear as far as the feedback that comes from the client, but I can feel. The moment I start a session to where they are at the end. I can feel that shift and change of energy, this lightness and this huge weight that’s been lifted off of them because of the feeling and peace that it’s brought them. Really that’s why I do this first and foremost, for the clients. To give them that peace and comfort and allowing them to know their loved ones are around them. They don’t have to be wondering if there’s nothing after life on earth. There is an afterlife and you will be reunited with your loved ones.

I was watching the trailer last night. It does get pretty emotional. Do you find it difficult to control your own emotions during some of those more emotional meetings?

Definitely. I am very empathic. Being empathic is when you can feel and sense people’s emotions and pick them up as if they’re your own. Being empathic can be a double-edged sword. If you aren’t good about clearing and cleansing your energy at the end of the day and kind of release these things you’ve picked up from other people, it can really affect you. It can make you feel depressed or make you feel their emotions too much. It actually is helpful in a reading when you can still feel what they or their loved ones or Spirit has gone through or is going through currently. It can only help me bring through those messages for them. I can fully understand what they’re going through. But yeah, sometimes I feel it so strong that I start crying. I try as best I can not to get emotional because it’s harder to channel spirits but it definitely happens sometimes.

I feel like I get emotional just watching sometimes.

Exactly. Even watching back some of the readings while watching the show, I sometimes get emotional. So I definitely feel it.

The first season kind of focused on young adult life with being a medium. Has that gotten easier for you to balance the two out?

I don’t think it’ll ever be entirely easy, at least being in my 20s and everything. I’m always growing and learning and figuring out ways to try to find that better balance. It has gotten a little easier over time for sure.

Finally, what can we expect from the new season? How are these new episodes going to differ from the previous season?

In my opinion, this season is 1000 times better. I absolutely am so excited and happy. I can’t wait for people to watch because yeah, it’s still me and there’s still readings of course and that’s fantastic. But the new energy and the feeling I think people are going to get while watching this season is just so different. Because I am the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. It reflects in every area of my life and everything that I’m doing. In my opinion, the readings are better. I have these new roommates that are incredible and bring such a fresh energy to the show. There’s the backdrop of San Diego, which doesn’t hurt. Everything about it is very awesome. There’s a lot of new things that have been incorporated into this season. You see me kind of working with other mediums more and mentoring someone for the first time and explaining the process of what’s happening when I’m giving a reading, when I’m connecting with a spirit. What life is as a medium with, at the same time, the balance of being 22 and being a young college girl. I think people are gonna love it.

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Thank you so much to Monica Ten-Kate for taking the time to chat with us!

Be sure to keep up to date with Monica the Medium by following her on Twitter @MonicaTheMedium. Tune in to the new season of Monica the Medium tonight, April 25, at 10-11 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform.