Trusting a stranger with your story is hard.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been very passionate about helping others. Luckily, I learned that I could make this into a career I loved fairly early on in life. Having grown up in a household where mental health issues were common, I got to see firsthand how challenging and heartbreaking the impacts of mental illness can be. That being said, I also got to witness up close and personal how helpful therapy services can be for those struggling with mental illness. This is what initially inspired me to pursue a career in counseling.

Once I started my official master’s program in counseling, I was handed a challenging, yet beautiful gift – mandatory therapy. All therapists in training have to do it, after all how can we preach about the benefits of therapy if we have not experienced it ourselves? It was through my own therapy that I first realized that I too was struggling with depression and anxiety. Go figure – it ran in the family and I was genetically predisposed! The problem was that I had spent so much time caring for others, that I hadn’t taken the time to think about what I personally needed. However, therapy forced me to begin putting myself first. It’s like they say on airplanes, we need to put on our oxygen mask first, if we are ever going to be able to effectively help others put on theirs. My experiences in therapy allowed me to heal old childhood wounds, learn how to more effectively regulate my emotions, and reconnect with joy and meaning again. It was truly a blessing in disguise and, if I wasn’t fully bought into the whole therapy thing before this journey, I definitely was by the end of it! Therapy transformed my life and made me even more invested in helping others experience the wonders of therapy too! Now, as a therapist, I consider myself incredibly lucky to spend each and every day helping others live more genuine lives full of joy and meaning. I truly believe that nothing else could be this rewarding!