an introduction

hi.

Introducing myself via the internet can be vulnerable. Finding the words to express who I am, what I’ve experienced, and what I offer in this world can be daunting, exposing, and can activate some of my own protector parts that are trying to manage how others perceive me. What will they think? Will they be able to understand me? Will I be judged?

But…

My core self wants to be known. My longing is to be seen as my true self and to express my values today and how I have grown in all aspects of my life. Including my work.

Breathing myself bigger to share with you.
From this version of myself. At this age and this season of life.

I am a therapist by trade. A licensed mental health counselor (LMHC.) A certified life coach. I run my private practice called SC Counseling and I serve as Soul Care Director at ProvidenciaWPB and I am co-founder of a non-profit called Providencia Counseling Collective.

I often wonder if there is a truer category to describe myself.

I think it might be this…

I am an artist.

I see my work and my presence in this world as art.

Vincent Van Gogh once penned:

”I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

I am in the business of loving.

My version of this as a therapist looks like creating space to listen deeply to the humans that I have the privilege to sit with in therapy/coaching sessions.

I listen through the words clients share to the pain, wounds, hopes, dreams, blocks, and systems of their lives with the intention of excavating new life.

Seeing the vibrant colors of the human in front of me as art as well, even when the human in front of me can’t see themselves that way.

Through deep listening, psycho-education based in research, trauma informed practices, spiritual foundation, and a belief that we are all good inside, we are empowered to collaborate in sessions finding ways towards health and relief.

I am a clinician, so much of what I do is based in science and research but the act of listening is an art.
The act of creating a relationship and offering ideas, wisdom, curious questions, and modalities that will help guide and walk clients towards healing and freedom is an art. Any form of loving is an art. This is mine in this space.

My journey here began way before I went to graduate school to become a counselor.

It started in art schools.

Ballet studios. Church choirs. Show choirs. Community theatre’s. Acting classes. Musical theatre shows. Broadway shows. I had diverse exposure to the arts that formed me and inspired a career. I went to performing arts grade school and high school. Theatre gave me the gift of empathy and eyes to see beauty, struggle, and resilience in humanity. The stories I was exposed to in the theatre filled me with curiosity about being a human.

From a young age I was a very curious, spiritual, and social girl. I loved people, stories, new ideas, and avenues that may lead us individually and collectively to health, flourishing and freedom. I was raised in many spiritually Christian environments that also formed in me a spiritual center and love of community and experience with God.

Being a counselor is a second career for me that I began when I was 30 years old. I hit the big 3.0. and I felt something new was forming inside of me that needed to be birthed.

I received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Florida State University and I spent my adolescence and my entire 20’s working as a performer. I have also had the gift of performing in my 30’s since moving to Florida and the fusion of these crafts gives me such life.

Then, I told stories from stages all across the nation to those sitting in the audience.
Now, I listen to stories and help people make sense of them and turn towards themselves with curiosity and compassion.

The craft of telling stories through acting, singing, and dancing cultivated empathy and curiosity in me and it felt seamless to transition to work as a therapist.

Humans are FASCINATING and I am curious about how to be fully alive in this human life.

After being exposed to the work of Brene Brown something lit up inside of me. I found myself talking about authenticity, wholeheartedness, emotions, shame, and vulnerability all the time. In auditions, during shows, at my serving job between shows. I was finding deeper levels of depth within myself and relationships through this process. I started to take Brene’s invitation seriously to “Dare Greatly” and I started being brave with my truths and life.

Of course when we dare greatly and go deeper into ourselves we often find shadow spots and experience the pain that is inevitable by living bravely. I experienced some serious heartbreaks and disappointments and one day found myself in in front of my best friend with tears streaming down my face (as they had been for months) and she said the most loving words to me…

“ I think you should talk to a therapist.”

What a gift. I then found myself in a therapists office in NYC with tears leaping out of my eyes and words flowing out of my mouth the whole session. I needed to be known in the pain and confusion I was experiencing. I needed someone to listen to me and help me make sense of what was happening for me emotionally and help me look at my life with curious and compassionate eyes. I needed language for what was going on with me and skills to navigate.

This was 2014. It wasn’t until 2016 that I found the courage to move my life to Florida and begin again. I found myself in a brand new city, deconstructing , reconstructing, heartbroken yet hopeful of a new life and career.

I experience life as an enneagram 7 and this means I am an enthusiast. I get excited easily about ideas and experiences. This also means I traditionally resent and avoid pain and discomfort and will find ways to jump out of a negative feeling. So here she comes into a counseling masters program looking how to help people/and herself not be in pain.

I truly believe in the first half of my life I thought I could hack being a human. I could find the magic formula, ideas, practices, theology, and behavior to avoid being in pain and then I could share it with the world and we would all be happy and whole and never struggle.

Well…. as you know that’s an adorable and admirable ideal but it’s just not realistic.

I now know that pain and discomfort are a part of life.
I have come to see that the things we can learn to avoid and work our way out of is suffering, not pain.

The lens I look through with each client is a trauma-informed one. I am EMDR trained and I use modalities such as IFS, Narrative Therapy, PolyVagal Theory, and Compassionate Inquiry that orient the client to explore how their past wounds have led them to…

stay safe, avoid pain, and get their needs met

and then find new ways of being and showing up in this wild world.

Together we look at how our coping mechanisms are rooted in childhood (and usually trauma) and how to heal and become empowered to lead from love and not from fear, shame, or pain.

My hope is that the space I create, the ideas and wisdom I offer, the modalities and practices I use, would empower my clients and following to reduce the suffering in their life and embrace their human experience/emotions/ and lead them towards healthier relationships, bodies, careers, families, and spiritual lives.

I feel quite passionate and LOUD about removing the stigma around therapy. To put it plainly,

the stigma around therapy is toxic and is keeping people sick, disconnected, in shame and suffering.

The therapy space is something everyone deserves and even need at different times of life and it can save lives, families, and relationships. I also understand that it can be an expensive experience, which is why we created Providencia Counseling Collective.

Thank you for reading to this point. In closing, I am a therapist who sees a therapist and I hope to lead by example and continue to work to remove any barrier that holds people back from living fully in this life and receiving mental, emotional, and spiritual health care.

very truly,

SC