Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea.
Hi Chelsea, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I think my spirit has always known it wanted to be a teacher, like my mother, or a therapist. I’m lucky to have found a place where I can interweave the two. Initially I worked in community health after graduate school, serving as a case manager, team leader for the crisis unit, and then clinical director. I helped individuals who were experiencing mental illness, ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia, receive access to local resources and provided therapeutic treatment. I then transitioned to residential care for teenage victims of sex trafficking and from there went into group practice.
I was anxious about opening open my own private practice due to good ole imposter syndrome but I do believe the universe was gradually preparing me along the way, through each job, equipping me with the knowledge and experience I would need to one day have my own practice. In time, and through the help of mentors, my intuition gave me that little nudge that said “you’re ready” and in 2021 I opened my own practice. I didn’t fully know what I was doing or what to expect, but it’s naturally unfolded into what it is supposed to be. I believe I am exactly where I am meant to be, helping people with trauma/PTSD, anxiety, dissociation, and chronic pain/illness reunite with their intuition, deepen their connections to themselves, and learn to love and trust themselves again.
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?
The process sounds simple on paper, but it had its hurdles along the way and I think one of those hurdles was myself. I struggled with imposter syndrome, not believing I was capable of running a business or smart enough to be a therapist. Behind a nice headshot was someone who was like “ I don’t know what I’m doing”. As a younger therapist, I would listen to podcasts, read books, listen to audiobooks, go to extra trainings, seek additional supervision etc. to further my development. While these things are good, I think it became excessive because I wasn’t trusting my intuition that I was enough and already had what I needed. The more I learned to release that fear, the more I found myself and my style of therapy. The more it felt like home.
Another tough obstacle was developing chronic illness and chronic pain over the last few years and learning how to restructure my life and my practice to support my shifting needs during that time. It’s tough because, as people with chronic illness know, each day can look so different and you don’t know what to expect. There is a lot of grief work that comes with chronic illness as you learn to accept the new “normal” and adjust your expectations for yourself. You’re only given so many spoons to work with. This is another reason why I love having functional nutrition as part of our practice, because it’s been part of my healing story, and, unfortunately, it’s all too common for our clients as well.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Transformational Healing Houston?
I started my private practice in 2021 around the time of the pandemic. Initially I wanted to primarily offer psychotherapy but as I grew in my journey from mindfulness teachings, I wanted the practice to encapsulate a broader range of healing, pulling from ideas of both eastern and western practices. This started out with me providing somatic healing through EMDR, Brainspotting, Ego State Work, and guided meditation. Then I brought on Jennifer to be another therapist and provide functional nutrition, as many of our clients with trauma backgrounds struggle with medical imbalances, and this was another mechanism for getting to the root of the cause. Around 2023, I began the process of becoming a Reiki Master which opened up more conversation on the mind-body connection and allowed for deep, intuitive, and soulful work. I also have such a passion for doing inner child/teen work where we go back and listen to the hurting parts of our self, validate their experiences, and learn to provide them with unconditional love. There is a lot of grief, forgiveness, healing and love in that work- really all the work. We also offer a women’s therapeutic book club, where we read psychoeducational books on mental health related topics and then process them together. I started this group 5 years ago during the pandemic when I noticed many of us were reading similar books and in need of connection, so why not put the two together. And here we are now, a group of like-minded women, striving towards similar goals, supporting each other through the ups and downs. This group absolutely fills my cup.
Collectively, this broad range of healing initiatives, ranging from EMDR, to Reiki, Functional Nutrition, and to book club, allows us to address the whole person, in a holistic way, that can be tailored to each individual’s needs. From brain, to gut and anything in-between, we can fully support our clients.
I’ve also been gifted with lovely colleagues like Jennifer, whom I mentioned, and Ariel, who joined in 2023, who are congruent in their approach. They are trained in somatic approaches like EMDR and Brainspotting, along with Reiki, and Functional Nutrition for Jennifer. We each have such unique gifts to offer and it’s been beautiful to watch them grow as we support our local community.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is following your intuition and staying grounded within yourself. I think of intuition as being an internal compass or an inner knowing that helps guide you throughout your journey. It serves as a reminder of your values and beliefs and holds you accountable out of love. Intuition is easy to follow when things are going smooth, but true success comes from following your intuition through the ups and downs, the thick and thin, and doing so without abandoning yourself. Like Tich Nhat Hanh says, “No mud, no lotus”. Being grounded in your intuition allows for the growth of true fulfillment and satisfaction that will outlast that of monetary items. Success is being able to look back at life when I am 80 years old and smile.
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