Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel McNeil.
Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For as long as I can remember, I have been a sensitive person and curious about people. My curiosity, paired with my childhood experiences with loneliness, anxiety, and trauma, led me to study psychology and sociology at the University of Central Missouri. I wanted to try to understand human behavior better. When I graduated, I realized I wanted to become a counselor to help people with mental and emotional health challenges and went to graduate school to obtain a master’s in counseling at UMSL. Shortly after I graduated, I moved to Texas. Since being in Texas, I’ve worked in many different mental health settings while becoming licensed as a professional counselor. I worked with many people struggling with their emotional and mental distress; however, working in behavioral health hospitals taught me the most about how imperative self-care is to health and wellbeing. I remember being stunned by realizing everyday people, like you and me, experienced so much overwhelm and hopelessness that suicide became the only option for them to find relief.
In talking with these survivors, I learned (amongst many other things) that a critical risk factor was forgoing taking care of their own needs for the sake of others, feeling no one cared, or not wanting to be a burden to others. Not taking care of self, trying to be everything for everybody and please others without taking the time to care for themselves leads to a breaking point. Even with myself, I’ve had moments of saying yes when I wanted to say no and allowing myself to be stretched thin to the end of breaking down. I learned that taking care of myself first was less about being selfish and more about helping myself have enough stamina to help others. We all have multiple responsibilities, and we often do not slow down long enough to think about how stress negatively affects us and the health problems (physical, mental, emotional, financial, etc.) that can develop when exposed to extended or chronic stress. I started both of my brands, Enlighten Aromas (@enlightenaroms) and Balanced and Enlightened Counseling (@bandecounseling), with the mission to help people take time to take better care of themselves.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it has not been a smooth road (lol). As I mentioned, I struggled emotionally through my teens and early adulthood because I did not want to seem “weak.” I spent a fair amount of time suffering in silence. It wasn’t until I went to get my master’s in counseling that I started to become aware of the unhelpful thinking patterns I engaged in almost daily that kept me stuck. Those beliefs alone kept me from reaching out when I needed it the most. After school, I continued seeking therapy to help me unlearn negative patterns and behaviors.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started Enlighten Aromas to encourage self-care while promoting emotional and mental wellness. Enlighten Aromas is a home fragrance brand that provides a practical solution to make self-care a priority. I offer premium soy blend candles and candle melts, fine mist room and linen sprays, gift sets, and more. Engaging in activities that stimulate and soothe the five senses helps to reduce stress, and the sense of smell is strongly connected to memory and mood. Powerful scents engage the receptors in the nose and can help keep the mind focused and refreshed. Each fragrance is infused with essential oils to promote relaxation and wellness. Apart from other brands, Enlighten Aromas focuses on self-care to help create an ambiance for comfort, relaxation, and peace of mind.
With Balanced and Enlighted Counseling, I provide individual counseling and stress management groups to high-achieving, ambitious adults living in Texas and Missouri who struggle with anxiety, depression, high stress, and low self-esteem. Many clients I work with experience worry, intrusive thoughts, overwhelm, stress, exhaustion, burnout, resentment, and more related to work, family, and other responsibilities. I help them process their stressors, develop healthy coping strategies, become more self-aware, regulate and manage emotions, establish boundaries, and increase healthy relationships with themselves and others. What sets me apart from other therapists is my personality. I am personable and help clients feel comfortable talking to me. I love to laugh. My style is collaborative, my clients are the experts of their lives, and my job is to help them build skills to navigate through the strongholds of their past and worries about their future to help them live a healthy, happy life in the present.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Houston has become my second home. I love that there is always something to do, from festivals to fairs, markets, and shopping. What I like least is the traffic.
Pricing:
- Candles $15-20
- Melts $3
- Room & Linen Sprays $12
- Individual Counseling $130
- Group Counseling $75
Contact Info:
- Email: rachel@enlightenaromas.com | letstalk@bandecounseling.com
- Website: www.enlightenaromas.com | www.bandecounseling.com
- Instagram: @enlightenaromas | @bandecounseling
- Facebook: facebook.com/enlighten-aromas | facebook.com/bandecounseling
Image Credits
Danielle Smith
Elaine Johnson
