Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Seitz.
Liz, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started graduate school in 1987 and my first internship was with Juvenile Probation. I loved working with the troubled teens but I remember the home visits could be quite intimidating as we were often unwanted guests. These visits also carried with them potential danger as the homes were often in areas that were known for a lot of drugs and violent crime. It was really sad to see the environments in which a lot of these kids were being raised. My second internship was with Family Service Center and it was a great clinical training ground for young therapists to work alongside seasoned clinicians. It’s at this facility that I was given my first caseload of clients and truly began to understand the importance of the client-therapist relationship. As an intern, I received wonderful clinical supervision and was able to do case consultations with the other therapists at team staffing. I later worked at two different psychiatric facilities and then as an associate with a highly regarded psychiatrist in town before starting my own private practice in 1992.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I would say that overall it has been a fairly smooth road, although there were certain aspects of private practice for which I was less prepared and one was the business aspect. When you’re working for someone else, they handle the billing and payments but when you are a sole practitioner, you have to learn how to think not just as a clinician but also as a businesswoman. Graduate school really did not prepare me for the latter so I really had to learn on the job. But after 25 years in private practice, I think I have the hang of it. Above all else, I am a clinician first.
Another challenging part of private practice that I hadn’t really anticipated was the isolation factor. When you’re a sole practitioner, you don’t really have coworkers with whom you interact on a regular basis so I’ve learned through the years how important it is to create those opportunities whenever possible. One reason I really look forward to continuing education conferences is to connect with other clinicians and colleagues.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a psychotherapist and licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice so I specialize in all types of relationship issues and absolutely love working with all kinds of couples on communication issues, sexual relationship issues, healing after affairs, etc. Additionally, I work a lot with men and women going through divorce as that can be a very stressful and emotionally painful time.
I also work a lot with parents helping them learn healthier ways to manage their kids’ misbehavior or teaching them how to co-parent effectively after divorce. I also work individually with men and women on depression, anxiety, stress management, relationship conflicts, family of origin issues, and unresolved childhood trauma. Through the years, I have worked with a lot of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Working with men and women who have experienced this kind of trauma and are perhaps talking about it for the first time is extremely gratifying and fulfilling as I can be witness to the tremendous healing that can take place when shame, guilt and fear are replaced with hope, self-acceptance and a reclaiming of one’s voice and personal sense of power. I am most proud of the fact that I am hopefully making a positive difference in many people’s lives and that I receive the majority of my referrals from my clients. I am not really sure how to answer what sets me apart from others since I think that is pretty subjective but I would like to think that my clients truly feel cared about, heard and understood in my presence.
One thing I do think is unique though is that I practice out of a house instead of an office building so that creates a very homey atmosphere and my clients really appreciate it.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc?
I think my personal definition of success is identifying the unique gifts that we have each been given and using them to shine our light out in the world, hopefully making a positive difference in other people’s lives and leaving the world better than how we found it. I also feel success should be measured by our relationships with others and I measure my personal success primarily by my relationship with my two children of whom I am immensely proud.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1807 Lexington Street Houston, Texas 77098
- Website: www.lizseitz.com
- Phone: 713-523-4477
- Email: Liz@lizseitz.com
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