Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Murphy.
Hi Heather, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My interest in psychology started in high school. I was always curious about people and took a psych 101 class. My teacher was a former stand up comedian and made psychology so much fun. I was hooked. I was also an editor on my high school newspaper. I loved interviewing people. I loved hearing their stories. Becoming a therapist seemed like the best way for me to really hear people’s stories and maybe help along the way.
I majored in psychology with a minor in theology at the University of St. Thomas. Afterward, I began a great job at The Menninger Clinic working directly with patients at the inpatient level in a multidisciplinary team approach. From there, it took me four years to earn my MA from the University of Houston Clear Lake (hello, working full-time!). After I did an internship as a Primary Therapist at the Houston Eating Disorders Center with Dr. Terry Fassihi, I continued working there as an LPC-A and was supervised by Rachel Eddins, LPC-S. I had such an incredible training experience with them and learned so much about what it means to be a great psychotherapist but also best practices for supporting others. From there, I joined Micki Grimland, LCSW, at Southwest Psychotherapy Associates.
Genetics and life experience created a curiosity about human behavior. School gave me the knowledge and a solid foundation to start as a therapist. Terry, Rachel, and the treatment team at the Houston Eating Disorders Center trained me well, clinically speaking. Micki and the group practice showed me how my training translated into an outpatient setting, but perhaps most importantly how to lead and inspire.
I went into private practice in 2017, which grew into The Feelings Healers (TFH) in 2020. By this time, people had been asking me for many years if I was going to become a supervisor, and I was finally able to receive my LPC-S license in 2020. Becoming a supervisor was a natural outgrowth of my vision in building my own practice. I wanted to provide an environment where organic, fruitful connections could develop among the therapists in our office and surrounding community. I became successful because of what I learned from others but also because being in a community of other professionals meant I constantly had an opportunity to flex my skills, whether it was working with a challenging client or providing consultation to another clinician.
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?
I grew up with a single mom in a trailer park and a dad in the military. I’ve had to earn and work for everything I have. Both of my parents are hardworking and I learned well from them. There were many obstacles to getting my degrees. It took me four years to finish my master’s because I had to work full-time the entire time. I was also doing this during the recession. Education is an expensive investment to make when the job prospects were bleak. I was laid off several times and that’s when the seed of being my own boss was planted. I couldn’t be laid off if I was working for myself.
Having my son in 2015 gave new meaning and purpose to my career. My sister and I missed out on a lot of things growing up because my mom had to work so much. I wanted to be more present for my son and provide him with more opportunities than I got. I had just branched out into my own private practice in 2017 when Hurricane Harvey happened. We had two feet of water in our 1-story home. My office building was closed for several months due to flooding and I’d only been in there for a month.
Hurricane Harvey taught me the value of community. My community showed up for me personally and professionally. A colleague let me use her office for free during those months. She also brought food to everyone when we were mucking out my house. We were able to clean out the inside of our house in just a couple of days due to all the help we got. People showed up to do miserable painstaking work, others brought food, drinks, and other supplies, friends and family watched my son and kept my pets so we could work, and there was always a shoulder to cry on when it got hard. Even though I was going through my own shit, I also provided free EMDR sessions and a support group to those impacted by Hurricane Harvey. This is when I realized how valuable community is and I wanted more of it in my career.
Most recently, it’s been the impact of the pandemic. I added the first therapist to my team and expanded into our office (and tripled my rent!) in January 2020, and, 2.5 months later, covid shut everything down. I had just started working on growing into a group practice centered around creating community. My gut had been telling me “build it and they will come.” I took that risk and now the world was shutting down. Nobody needed a brick-and-mortar office anymore. The office was very quiet.
We managed to get through the worst of the pandemic and I was able to pay the rent every month. I’ve spent the last 1.5 years taking care of my clients and getting ready for when the world opened back up. I created a logo, completely overhauled the website and slowly started building a presence on social media. I also became a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, which is what allows me to supervise new Licensed Professional Counselor Associates as they work towards their full licensure. I spent countless hours designing our office space and making it into the peaceful place that it is. It’s finally starting to pay off too. I’ve grown my team, people are using our space again, and we have several groups in motion. It has energy now and we’re getting into a flow. TFH hosted its first networking event a couple of weeks ago. It was an opportunity to meet the other mental health providers in our area and wind down from the week. We had about 15-20 people and it was nice to finally see some of the other helpers in our area. I hope to do these mixers once a season.
It’s hard owning your own business, being in a helping profession and having a personal life. I got married, finished my master’s with 102k in student loans, had a baby, went into my own business, lost a house to Harvey, moved several times, and got divorced during a pandemic. I have a small army of loved ones and professionals, including my own therapist, who have taken care of me through it all.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
TFH is a collective of mental health professionals. We currently have a team of seven psychotherapists and three affiliated therapists (therapists that have their own private practices within the TFH space). TFH therapists are culturally diverse – we have two therapists that speak Spanish, several POC providers, and one is a veteran as well. Our team provides individual, couples, family therapy and group therapy. We each have our issues and populations that we’re passionate about working with and we’re well-trained. We’ve recently added three different groups: Yoga for All (yoga for your mental health), Second Act (a process/psychoeducational group focused on dating and relationships), and Trauma Stewardship (a virtual group specifically for new helping professionals). We have several other groups in development too. Our team is trained in a wide variety of therapy modalities, including EMDR and ART, and work with people from all walks of life with a range of issues. We love what we do and we do it with passion. We pay attention to detail and creating safety and attunement with clients is paramount to the work we do.
I specialize in treating eating disorders, body image and trauma. I work with complex issues and continue to fine tune my skill set in order to provide the best outcomes for my clients. I focus on attachment while providing a safe environment for vulnerability and empathy. Mentorship is really important to me. It has been invaluable to my career and I want to pay it forward. I love working with new therapists.
A major component of TFH’s values is creating community. We regularly provide training sessions to other helping professionals, schools, and parents. We connect with other providers by doing things like mixers and providing CEUs. We have office spaces and a group room available for other professionals to use. I’ve been working on creating “residencies” where someone like a trauma-informed massage therapist or a reiki healer can see clients in our space one or two days per month. We are active on social media and try to use it as a resource for mental health.
Business mentorship is also a passion and the main way of creating connections among the therapists in our office. Therapists don’t receive much information as far as owning a practice, running a business and staying relevant. These are all services that I provide to my team. My hope is that they will feel so valued and taken care of that they will want to be a part of the team for the long haul. If not, they will have the tools (clinically and business wise) necessary to go into their own private practices.
TFH provides a lot of pro bono work too. Our team regularly speaks to groups of school counselors and parents about adolescent mental health, every therapist provides some reduced fee services, and many of our groups are provided at a significantly reduced cost. We are getting creative with how we meet our communities needs while also having a sustainable business model.
What I’m most proud of – As a brand, TFH is a living organism. It’s a collection of professionals and experience that has adapted and flexed into what it is today and it will continue to do so. TFH will grow as a practice and business to meet the needs of the community, clinicians and our clients, and we will always be tethered by our core values of advocacy, stewardship, and authenticity. We will continue to develop with the creative ideas that our team brings to the table. I’m willing to and everyone on my team is willing to figure it out as we go along. We will take calculated risks so that we can make the world a better place and practice authenticity skillfully as a business.
One of my newest adventures is adding interior designing services. I’ve designed several of my own offices through the years, including our current space, which is 2000+ sq ft with a waiting area/reception desk, five offices and a group room. People always ask who did our space and tell me I could get paid to do it. I used to laugh it off and say that decorating was my back up plan if this therapy thing doesn’t work out. Then one day I had a thought: why wait? I’ve really enjoyed creating our space and, as Coco Chanel said, “An interior is a projection of the soul.” I seek to speak to people’s souls through our spaces. So, now I’m working on rolling out interior designing services. This is what TFH does. It flows and it grows. It has an energy to it. It’s palpable.
Investing in as many small ways as I can has been totally worth it too. I had professional photography done of our space and headshots for our therapists. We use these a lot in our marketing and website and it really gives people a sense of who we are and what we’re about from the very first impression. Our image and values are our brand. People can trust our brand and trust is essential to the therapeutic process.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Mentoring and networking are two major reasons why I’ve done so well. Try to find mentors who are a good fit for you. Ones who you feel comfortable being vulnerable with and will also push you to grow and move outside of your comfort zone. Do their values align with yours? Ask around – I found all of my mentors by word of mouth. I’ve had three in my career so far: Rachel Eddins LPC-S, Dr. Terry Fassihi, and Micki Grimland LCSW. I wouldn’t be the therapist and businesswoman I am today without them.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@thefeelingshealers.com
- Website: www.thefeelingshealers.com
- Instagram: @thefeelingshealers
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFeelingsHealers/
Image Credits
Crystal Marsh Photography
Sleeping Owl Photography
