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Meet Evelyn Nuñez of Evelyn Nuñez Therapy in Cinco Ranch

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Evelyn Nuñez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Evelyn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I discovered that I wanted to work with people since I was a child. Having a relative who went through emotional difficulties and who succeeded with the help of a professional made me realize how important mental health is.

This was only a small glimpse of how much impact therapy can have on a person’s life.

As an adolescent, I noticed how easy it was for me to speak with others and how good it felt to help someone feel better.

After graduating college, life presented me with the opportunity to work as a mental health case manager with people who really needed support in the Corpus Christi area.

These people were left behind by their families and sadly enough I was part of their tiny group of support. This time was a huge experience for me because I was able to witness the different human behaviors and how these behaviors (e.g. someone seeing things or hearing things that we cannot; someone having grandiose ideas about themselves; someone almost dying of depression due to grief) were often misunderstood. While working with these individuals, I would often do more than just take them to the social security office and advocating for them. I would actually coach them to think positively along with other things. However, I was not able to legally provide therapy and therefore I decided to get a masters degree in Clinical Psychology and became a therapist after many required practice hours.

By the time I received my license, I had worked with many different populations including adolescents in a high security juvenile detention center, adolescents in immigration shelters, children who experienced abuse, adults who developed high levels of anxiety, geriatric populations with dementia, among others. As you can see, all these populations have been varying and some of the problems I have worked with have been more clinical than others. I wanted to help anybody in an outpatient setting since I witnessed the need for understanding regardless of the “gravity” of the issue.

Realizing that hospitalizations can be traumatic for many people and that most of us have needed kind ears and compassion at some point in our lives motivated me to open my own practice. My husband was a huge support for me and helped me believe in myself. It is not easy to start a practice after being accustomed to working for organizations. However, I love doing what I do and believe that it is my purpose in life to help as many people as I can. I know how important it is to be heard and guided. I also know that many individuals who have experienced high anxiety, depression, mood swings, grief, past abuse, etc. can feel like there is no solution to their problems. Therapy can do wonders when the person is ready and wants to work on their emotional health.

I enjoy every session and every day I work with people. There is no higher satisfaction to me than to see someone improving and living happier after receiving therapy from me. I have been blessed to witness individuals’ lives change tremendously because they have a different perception of themselves and of life.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Having a personal business is never easy because there are uncertainties even when you plan. We all want to know what will happen, but you cannot predict everything and this can cause doubt in yourself and your service. Having a private practice in mental health can be challenging for many reasons.

One of these reasons is the big stigma that is still associated with mental health. Some people state that they do not want to go see a therapist or a psychologist because “I am not crazy.” I actually dislike the word crazy when it is directed to somebody who is not emotionally stable. People who have chemical imbalances and see or hear things is like someone who suffers from diabetes with the difference being that the imbalance is coming from the brain as opposed to the pancreas.

Another reason why being a therapist and having your own business is challenging is because people do not prioritize their mental health and therefore they may come and go. This is difficult on their treatment and it makes it unpredictable as a business. I have to say, however, that I have never liked monotony, so this makes every day of my life different.

Lastly, I must say that the mental health field is usually doubted since people rely more on medication and cannot understand that emotions work a little differently. Symptoms of sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, etc. can be shut down somewhat with medication, however, this is only a band aid on a bigger problem that will be back when those medications are no longer in your system. I always tell my clients, “medications are band aids to big wounds that you are trying to avoid, therefore this wound that is not getting cleaned will get worse with time. I know that it may hurt at first, but the cleaning will make that wound heal forever.”

Evelyn Nuñez Therapy – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business is a mental health private practice, meaning I provide therapy.

I would say that my specialty is trauma since I have worked with so many people who have experienced tremendous trauma throughout my career.

Currently, due to the stressors of life and the way we all experience every day in almost automatic ways, anxiety is another “problem” that I have specialized in.

A factor that makes my practice different from some other similar businesses is that I speak Spanish as well as English and this usually invites people whose native language is Spanish to come see me. I do not have a preference; however, this makes my practice amazingly diverse and I love it. Learning from other cultures is one of my passions; I enjoy it when people share their believes and traditions with me.

I have asked some of my clients about their comfort in therapy and with some of their responses I would say that I am known for making every session a casual event where the person feels secure enough and is not feeling interrogated or judged. I try my best to make my clients understand that they are safe to express themselves no matter what the thought or feeling is.

I am proud of my service and flexibility. Providing a good service means to be responsive and to think in the best interest of your client, not necessarily yours. I work every day with my heart and I think that people around me, including my clients, notice this. I give my all in each session and this triggers improvement in my clients’ progress.

I think that every therapist is different in the mental health world. Each of us have different approaches and personalities, so each and every one of us has something different to offer. I would say that I have the ability to relate and work with any age group and I have seen this through the responses I have gotten from children all the way up to elderly clients. Another thing that sets me apart from others is that I truly love what I do and this is usually reflected in every session. Loving what you do, for the most part, translates into good service and a high quality of work.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success can have very different meanings. In my business, success can be measured in two ways – emotional fulfillment and growth of the practice.

Hearing a client tell me that they are able to manage their emotions by themselves or that their life has changed due to therapy makes me extremely happy. I feel like a proud mother when my clients become independent and leave treatment. This success is more of an emotional success for my business.

On the other hand, I also need to treat my practice as a business, so its growth is also a measure of success…

Having said this, I see it as an achievement every time a client refers me because this lets me know that I am providing a good service. An increase in the number of people I serve along with a higher number of sessions provided are also measures of success to me, it means that my practice is growing.

I have goals for my business and would love to see it grow even more.

Pricing:

  • Individual sessions $100
  • Couple’s sessions $120

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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