We recently connected with Nicole Ponce and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

A recent risk I took was taking a leap of faith in opening a Holistic Wellness space in Sugar Land. I have owned my private therapy practice for almost seven years and always felt like I wanted to bring more to the local community than what I was offering. When I met my current business partner and friend, Meaghan, she shared a similar passion. Quickly, we realized that we had a calling to create more healing in our local community. Putting one foot in front of the other, we trusted where we were being guided and within a few months opened up Halcyon Holistic Healing Circle, a wellness space for counseling, coaching, yoga, QiGong, self-defense, and more! We are hoping to expand this space to include other areas of wellness, like massage therapy, acupuncture, and even Reiki! This has been a big risk from a comfortable and successful business to unchartered waters. So far, everything has fallen into place. We are excited to see how we continue to grow!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been a mental health therapist for a little over a decade and it has been a huge growth experience. I originally got into the field simply because I wanted to help others. I had seen how anxiety, addiction, and other mental health concerns can bring so much suffering and I wanted to help create a positive ripple effect any way that I could. As the years continued, I found a passion for understanding human development, the mind-body connection, and even the spiritual aspects of holistic health. The human mind and body are so complex, and I quickly realized the importance of understanding people, and the external world. through a holistic lens.

The amazing thing about being a therapist is that I learn just as much from working with people as I hope they do from me, The more we as therapist work with others, the more we can become open-minded to all aspects of the human condition. Being able to understand others with empathy, unconditional positive regard, and as individuals that are doing the best they can helps me to create a welcoming and nonjudgemental atmosphere in sessions. Once people can view themselves through this same lens and accept all parts of themselves, they can truly begin to heal.

Healing is my passion and, in addition to therapy, I also offer yoga services, spiritual coaching, supervision to fellow counselors, business consulting, and copywriting services for other people in the healing field.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I always imagined that I would work in some sort of corporate wellness and work my way up. I started working in community health and bounced around quite a bit but struggled to find where I truly belonged. I’m a pretty open and honest person, which I quickly discovered was not always accepted in corporations where going with the flow seemed more the expectation. As I continued to work my way into higher positions, I began to see many incongruencies and barriers to helping people. When the pandemic happened, these negative aspects amplified, and I decided to move into private practice full-time. This was a scary decision, but I’m so happy that things worked out the way they have. It has been a positive growth experience ever since, and I encourage everyone to listen to their gut, follow their passions, and trust that they will end up where they are supposed to be,.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

In counseling, yoga, and other healing arts the biggest thing that is helpful to success is doing your own work. It can be so easy to project your views, your wounds, and your energy onto others that continuing to explore yourself and grow is essential. I’ve had to work through fears, biased belief systems, relational triggers, and even existential crises. If I don’t constantly heal and assess myself, I don’t see how I could provide a safe space for others to heal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nicoleponcecounseling.com , www.theanxiousladybug.com , www.halcyonhhc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleponcecounseling and https://www.instagram.com/halcyonholistichealingcircle
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/nicoleponcecounseling
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicoleponcecounseling