Today we’d like to introduce you to Kari Malone.
Hi Kari, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Since 2012, I was a stay-at-home mom of an infant and toddler. I had previously left the workforce in Corporate America to raise our kids. Around 2013, my younger brother Michael began struggling with severe anxiety. He knew I was home during the day and would call me from time to time for support. Things seemed to improve for him and looked more hopeful as he began to take steps to start his own athletic apparel company. Work stressors at his current employer began to grow in January of 2015, and he again reached out for support as he navigated next steps for himself and his family. We talked through various ideas he had and game-planned different scenarios. He knew he would have to leave the company due to pay cuts coming for all employees. I was thankful to hear he was getting out of there. He was the type of person with the Midas touch, and success followed him in every area of his life since he was a child. That may also be a part of the problem of what he was dealing with. Perceived failure. Two days later, I received a call from his wife, Jen, that he died by suicide. My world collapsed, and I’m pretty sure I physically did as well. After watching Jen navigate her own grief journey in therapy, I began my healing in counseling nine months after his death. The grief fog was too thick and heavy at that point, and my babies needed me every day. As I processed the pain of losing a sibling (which is something that never enters your mind in this stage of life), I was eventually able to breathe again. And my grief evolved. Fast forward to Hurricane Harvey two years later. My family chose to leave the area and head to my hometown of Longview to be with our family until we could get back to our home in Fulshear. When it seemed like the world stopped, curiosity set in after I saw a new counseling practice had popped up in my hometown run by an LPC. After extensive research in my area of town, I found a master’s program to apply to based in Katy. I processed this with my own therapist, and she asked me what I could lose. She was helping me give myself permission to follow that curiosity. I thought to myself, I’ll just apply, and whenever the door closes, I’ll just stop. But they kept opening, including graduating in the midst of the Covid-19. The pandemic only accelerated the need for more mental health providers worldwide. Upon graduating, I was fortunate to receive an offer from Jamie Williams (my grad school internship supervisor) to join her new private practice in Katy, Prosperity Counseling Services. My ability and capacity to walk through the darkness with my clients daily was forged in pain, loss, and healing of my own. Michael was the person who seemingly had it all together all the time. He appeared well-equipped to navigate an impending job loss due to circumstances completely out of his control. I think he masked his emotional pain and struggle too well. I believe negative self-beliefs and the perceived failure overwhelmed his mind, body, and soul. The silent struggle is the scariest type. Depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms do not present the same in any two individuals. It can be almost undetectable in those who feel they cannot show those parts of themselves outwardly. As much as our entire family supported him, I think the idea of walking into a therapy room to begin his own healing was perceived by himself as showing weakness. The stigma in men’s mental health still remains strong… too strong. “Make it work,” “Man up,” and “push it down” aren’t serving any of us. Those messages can also be implicit. In this second career as an LPC, I am finding another evolution of my own grief. It serves as a powerful motivator to get up each day and work in the trenches of mental healthcare. Walking with clients who experience suicidal thoughts and are survivors of suicide is a privilege, and it is work that honors Michael’s memory. I take a compassionate, warm, and direct approach by guiding clients past traditional talk therapy toward inner healing by utilizing evidence-based modalities, including EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS). As a trauma therapist trained in IFS-informed EMDR, I facilitate clients in reconnecting to fragmented parts of themselves and integrating their internal system of parts as a whole. EMDR also targets the physical symptoms of depression and anxiety in the body. When the root of the anxiety/depressive symptoms are whole-brain processed, it affects change in the body and creates more adaptive thinking. While our family misses Michael dearly, his impact lives on in each of us in a personal way. I know he is proud of us all.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not a smooth road… returning to graduate school as a mother of two young children required sacrificing time and energy that I would typically allocate to running the household. But I do think there was great value in them seeing me enact agency and control over my own life to redirect my personal path toward a profession that I am passionate about. I’ve also gotten to struggle alongside some pretty amazing people in graduate school and through my counseling career so far.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At Prosperity Counseling Services, our passion is helping others to live their most authentic life. We have a dedicated, diverse, professional, and compassionate team of 16 therapists. We specialize in trauma work and offer a variety of clinical interventions to meet each client’s individual needs, including EMDR, TF-CBT, Neurofeedback, and Psychoanalytic and Jungian Processing. We offer our clients a safe place to explore their thoughts and feelings and develop a more adaptive perspective on life. We currently have an office in Katy and will be expanding to an office in Fulshear very soon!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
My advice on starting out in counseling would be to tether yourself to other capable, growing professionals in the field from the very beginning and grab more along the way. It’s never too late to do the work it takes to become licensed. I had a variety of classmates in my cohort ranging in their early 20s to their late 60s. At 35 years old, I thought I would be the oldest student in the room and almost talked myself out of applying for admission.
Also, GO TO THERAPY! I’ve had many clients ask if I’ve been in therapy before. I think that is mostly because they want to know if their therapist is capable and vulnerable enough to be a client too. The best work you can do for your clients is your own healing.
Pricing:
- $150 per 50-minute session (Individual therapy/EMDR)
- $175 per 50-minute session (Couples therapy)
Contact Info:
- Website: prosperitycounseling.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prosperitycounseling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prosperitycounselingservices
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-malone-lpc-90a4942/
