Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Broussard.
Hi Jared, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Ever since I was in high school, I knew I wanted to work in mental health. At the time, I did not know the path to get there, but I knew that was my destination. The reason for that being my journey was because I had experienced my own mental health difficulties since I was an early adolescent (much of which I still cope with and address to this day, as is common with this type of work), and because of my experiences I knew I wanted to do my best to help people feel any type of relief, recovery, and some type of calm and/or healing from their symptoms (Thankfully, I did not know at the time just how long the school, training, & certification process was to be a therapist. That might have discouraged a younger Jared away from a path that ultimately led to a career I have been truly passionate about for over a decade).
This led to me majoring in psychology, with a minor in sociology while I attended my undergraduate studies at Texas A&M. After wrapping up my undergraduate studies, I wasted no time and rolled right on into my Master’s program at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. While there I had the incredible fortune to find the type of therapy that would literally influence my work as a therapist in both individual and group therapy to this day. I lucked into the class where I learned about it because I took an elective class (Mindfulness Based Therapies) one summer with some friends, where I not only got to meet a man who became one of my mentors/compass points for the type of human being I still strive to be, but I also learned about Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (also referred to as ACT (the word, not the letters)). This therapeutic modality’s driving philosophy is to help clients establish, foster, and develop their psychological flexibility so they can better define & take meaningful steps towards their personal values, which in turn will ideally help them to create a fulfilling life for themselves.
After completing my Master’s program, I then began working as a therapist for the next 10+ years across a diverse assortment of treatment programs ranging across the treatment spectrum of care, all the way from the traditional weekly individual therapy everyone is most likely familiar with (without all the silly laying down on couches though) all the way to one of the leading inpatient psychiatric hospitals in the world. This diverse experience has allowed me the unique opportunity to get to work with clients from all manner of demographic & walks of life, it also gave me an incredible chance to get experience working with a vast array of an incredibly vast array of diagnoses, symptoms, & experiences.
While I definitely loved my work in my career at every stage, there are absolutely two chapters that have stood out as defining moments in my life’s work that have left a lasting impact on my work as a therapist. The first has been my work at a community integration program, where I got the incredible opportunity to support young adults who had left the inpatient hospital, but were still continuing their treatment. I worked with the multidisciplinary treatment team to provide not only individual, family, & group therapy to the community of approximately 25-30 clients, but the treatment team also worked with the clients to practice putting the therapy skills into practice in the real world as well. One way this was practiced primarily was in helping the clients find, obtain, and retain their “meaningful roles”, which was “anywhere that their abscense would be noted”. For a lot of these clients in this chapter of their life, this meant they were looking for either a job or trying their hand at being successful at college classes. Getting to support clients in being successful at these tasks (for some of these clients it would be the first time in after repeated failed attempts) made me realize just how amazing this work can truly be sometimes when it all goes to plan.
The second chapter is the chapter I am in currently today. For a number of years I had often seen a client or three outside of my full-time job when it worked with my schedule, but in March of 2024 I finally realized that I needed to make the jump into private practice. Which has led to me running my private practice, Thumos.Life Mindfulness & Psychotherapy full time. I have absolutely loved every second of it since. Having the opportunity to build a private practice that feels true to who I am at my core, and also lets me work with clients I truly love getting the chance to work with each moment.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I keep going back and forth on this question. It has honestly been a bit of both if that makes any sense? I’ll try to explain if it helps any:
Ways it has been smooth: My wife often describes me as someone that has a chaotic type of luck that results in “Jared Moments”. This chaotic luck has helped me sometimes by opening doors and opportunities in what some may consider nontraditional ways. These have often involved me being willing to speak up and be willing to cheer from the rooftops if allowed about the things I’m passionate about. Anyone that meets me (or steps into my office, or looks at my website, or talks to me for more than 13 seconds, etc.) will undoubtedly learn that I am unabashedly a huge nerd. I have been an absolute huge fan of all things Nerd (Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, Pro Wrestling, Lego, just to name a few) since my age was still in the single digits. I have no doubt that I will still love every. single. one. for my whole life, even if I’m fortunate enough for my age to have three digits.
Ways the road has had some struggles: Roughly around 2017, the Universe saw fit to deliver me some chronic health problems to contend with in the form of Ulcerative Colitis (UC). For those that don’t know, UC is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that primarily affects the large intestine, specifically the colon and rectum. It’s characterized by inflammation and ulceration (sores) in the lining of the colon and rectum, leading to various symptoms like abdominal pain, diarrhea (often bloody), and rectal bleeding. I was one of those lucky folks to get all the symptoms, on a frequent, almost daily basis. I honestly do not remember how many different medications I tried in my efforts to get my UC symptoms into remission. This ultimately led to me having three surgeries to have my large intestine removed, and portions of my small intestine repurposed to replace it (known as a J-Pouch procedure). All three of these surgeries took place in 2020. For those of you that might not recall, there was also a minor pandemic making a few headlines during that time, which made for a super fun time to have to be in the hospital for surgeries/recoveries, as well as unable to have any visitations from my wife and baby daughter after the surgeries. Additionally, the first and second surgeries both required me to have an ileostomy bag, and to make matters worse, for some unknown reason the second surgery resulted in me basically being bed ridden because of physical pain/fatigue/etc. until the doctor could do the third surgery. Fun times.
Like I mentioned previously, a bit of both when it comes to being a smooth and/or bumpy road. I imagine it is that way for most people though, because progress is rarely just a straight line in life in my experiences.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Like I mentioned previously, I am a therapist at my private practice, Thumos.Life Mindfulness & Psychotherapy. I’m sure this won’t be surprising, but I primarily provide individual therapy to clients in a virtual setting to people all over the great state of Texas.
Obviously, there are legions upon legions of therapists providing individual therapy. What I specialize in is the following: Working with young adults (especially ones I can be a bit sarcastic with when necessary), Male identifying clients, Neurodivergent clients (individuals who have Autism/ASD and/or ADHD), Community Integration/Active Support & Coaching.
But my absolute favorite therapy niche above all (and I cannot stress this part enough, the niche I have been told by a good number of fellow therapists that they did. not know they could call this a niche, and called me “an innovator” for doing this) is working with my fellow Nerd & Geek identifying clients. Not only does it let me fill my week up with people that are an absolute delight to talk to each therapy session, it also gives me so many therapy cheat codes for communicating lessons in therapy quickly, effectively, and most importantly having a better chance for the client to buy in to what I am trying to tell them (especially my male clients). An easy example of this that comes to mind that I used recently was using the legendary character Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings as a beautiful example of how strong men can (and absolutely should) establish, foster, and maintain friendships with other men in their lives, which historically is something men (myself included sadly) suck at for the most part.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
There is not a text box in the world big enough to list all of the people that have played a role in my success, both personally & professionally. Because of that, I am instead going to focus on the one person who has absolutely played the biggest role in helping me to become who I am today in almost, if not all domains of my life.
It might be the cheesy answer, but my wife & best friend has always been there in my corner for me. We have been together since November 15, 2006 (when we were both crazy young 18 year olds, which feels like an eternity ago). She has been there for every chapter of my life since then. Every hardship. Every big decision. All along the way we have been doing this as a team, and I absolutely can not imagine a better partner in crime for hijinks, escapades, and trips to every restaurant we want to try in Houston.
Pricing:
- 50 Minute Individual Therapy Session – $200
- 15 – 20 Minute Intake Call To See If We’re A Good Fit- Free
- Sliding Scale Available For Clients Who Need Support. Inquire If Intrigued For More Info
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thumos.life
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thumos.life
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thumos.Life/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-broussard/
- Twitter: https://x.com/thumos_life
Image Credits
All of the images were my own. The four pictures I uploaded were as follows:
1. Some of my non-traditional therapy tools of the trade (My MCU movie accurate Mjolnir metal hammer, gorgeous painting of the legendary luchador Santo, and my custom made Professional Wrestling metal Championship Title belt, complete with custom side plates that have my private practice logo)
2. One of my best friends on the planet, my dog Odin, having some well earned down time
3. Some hand lettering art work I made as a reminder for both my clients and myself for one of the most useful things we can always do when anxiety gets intense and we are starting to freak out. Take a deep breath, and try to slow down, even if it is just by the tiniest amount before you make a choice about what action to take next.
4. My classic way to end my less serious (of the two that I gave) at the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science World Con 25 in New Orleans last month during what they called the Follies (an Antic filled evening where the whole community has fun together). For my skit I got to let one of the originators of the therapy I mentioned previously (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)), Dr. Steven Hayes, know via a Professional Wrestling style promo (and of course I had the title belt with me for style points) that not only him, but the entire crowd in the hotel ballroom needed to recognize that I was now the ACBS Heavyweight Champion of the World. If the Universe & Fate is kind to me and I am able to get a workshop approved when applications open up for World Con 26 next year, then the World Champ will be defending his title again next year in Lyon, France.
5. And of course, my logo and contact information if you want to reach out to me to see if individual therapy might be helpful for you! Even if I’m not the right therapeutic “fit” for you, I’m more than happy to help get you a few referrals!
