We will shape it into a narrative you are proud of, a narrative of who you are, a story of your strength. Whether it is individual or couples, whether it is Covid life-rebuilding or processing, trauma, wellness, career or life challenges, shifts, workplace stress or dysfunction, counseling issues related to college, loss of home, health, or family, together, we will process it all.

Sometimes, we even can arrive at an unfathomable place of thanksgiving for it all.Īlways, I promise you, hand in hand, you and I can find the beauty, even when the pain feels unendurable.Īnd on the easier days, I am here to share in your relief, in your joy. Sometimes, in the best moments, we can make it better than it would have been, had it not all happened. In other words, as a clinical mental health counselor, I believe it is my honor to walk alongside you on your journey in a spirit of deep respect as you create your story.Īmidst the twists, the unpredictability, the pain, the anxiety, the trauma, the hopelessness, the grief, and the loss, you and I can together find the miracles, the goodness, the opportunities, the new relationships, and the hope.Īs it all converges, the infinite good and bad, we can make it work. I have mentored college-age young adults since I began work in my twenties as a newly minted university professor, and this past August I awoke one morning shocked to realize the day had arrived to take my own daughter to college my two other children soon will follow.Īlso at the heart of my counseling philosophy is the concept of Relational Cultural Theory, the idea that “ relational resilience involves movement toward mutually empowering, growth-fostering connections in the face of adverse conditions and traumatic experiences.” (Duffey, T., & Somody, C., 2011). He and I met early in college and just celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary we understand for better, for worse, and sometimes – impossible. My husband works on faculty at MD Anderson treating brain and spinal cancer.

I have lived with a debilitating illness myself since I was in high school.

As I navigated an extremely difficult, massive, complex five-year career transition, I began volunteering at MD Anderson working with patients-bedside on the leukemia floor and with post-surgical head and neck cancer patients. In the spring of 2020 as Covid befell, during the same months I was sunsetting my first vocation spent twenty years as an English professor and university administrator, I came upon a quote, “The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” – Frank Lloyd WrightĪs the world changed, this quote became my North Star, my goal, my faith and trust that with the help of others, it is possible for a person to build a life that one step at a time, becomes one’s own individual love story.

Grief by Shannon Stewart