Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Valdez.
Hi Kimberly, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a family where caring for others was essential – not just to our values – but to our identity. I don’t remember a time when one of my parents wasn’t trying to organize a service trip, help someone move, or talking to someone who needed a shoulder to lean on. As we grew up, my older siblings and I joined right alongside them. When I started college at the University of S.t Thomas, I knew I wanted to be a psychologist to help people work through the struggles they experience in their day to day life. I bought a guide to the best psychology graduate schools in the country and started making a plan to move to Chicago for a PsyD program. Just before my Senior Year, I had the opportunity to intern with Communities in Schools, Houston with their Partnership Coordinator who just so happened to be a Social Worker.
That summer changed my life. A year later I was enrolled at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work instead of moving across the country to start a PsyD in Psychology. I graduated from the GCSW in 2010 and have been working in the Greater Houston Community doing Clinical Social Work ever since.
I always associated social work with child protection and never knew the width and breadth of what professional Social Workers actually do. Whereas human behavior and psychology is at the core of social work, I discovered that it also examines how systems function and puts advocating for positive change at the personal, local, and global levels at the forefront. It is essential to me as a therapist and social worker to look at the whole person in the context of their environment. If someone is depressed, we must understand the contributing factors including: their biological make-up, how they grew up, the social pressures or privileges they have experienced, the political environment and how it has impacted the world around them, how they think about or talk to themselves, and how they function within their own family and community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While becoming a Social Worker was a wonderful and welcome twist in my story and my years in graduate school flew by, the training does not stop with a Master’s Degree. Not only do you have to complete 3000 Supervised hours for independent clinical licensure, but feeling knowledgeable and comfortable as a therapist takes time and practice. There is only so much you can learn about life and human behavior from textbooks. You have to live. You have to hear others’ stories. And you have to screw up from time to time. Having my own children, balancing work and life, burning out from being overworked by our broken healthcare system, then learning how to advocate for myself and rebuild, fighting with family members about the state of the world, making up with the people that really matter… these are all of the things that have made me into the therapist I am today.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
After 8 years in Community Mental Health and Medical Social Work, I took the leap into private practice.
I am a solo practitioner in Clear Lake working with people of all ages and stages. I most often work with people who are going through a stage of great transition in their lives – the death of a loved one; the loss of physical or mental ability after an accident or medical emergency; the stress of caregiving for a parent, partner, or young children; leaving a difficult relationship and starting over… the list goes on. I also help people process the trauma they have experienced and learn to fully live as their authentic selves.
I am trained in EMDR, Certified in Perinatal Mental Health, and a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor.
I have also served as an Adjunct Lecturer with Baylor University’s Graduate School of Social Work for the last 2.5 years teaching Master’s students clinical skills they need to work as therapists once they graduate.
I offer my clients experience, knowledge, empathy, and a safe place to process and grow through whatever hand life has dealt them.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I have had several amazing mentors over the years and the key points with each of them was asking directly for feedback, getting specific time carved out on their calendar, and allowing yourself to be really open and honest with what you need from them.
Pricing:
- Individual Psychotherapy $150/Hour
- Couples Therapy $150/Hour
- Individual Supervision $100/Hour
- Group Supervision $50/Hour
Contact Info:
- Email: info@kimberlyvaldezlcsw.com
- Website: www.kimberlyvaldezlcsw.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimberlyvaldezlcsw
Image Credits
Crystal Marsh
