We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chelsea Twiss. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chelsea below.

Chelsea, appreciate you joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

Working in the field of healthcare in this country is incredibly hard right now. The healthcare system is so fundamentally flawed and so many people are suffering and dying, simply because they cannot afford the care they need. As a healthcare provider, I have a very complicated relationship with this system. I accept a few types of insurance so that I can make care accessible to those who cannot afford out of pocket costs for healthcare, but I can also see how, even with insurance, most people still can’t afford the cost of treatment. It is criminal how insurance companies are operating in the United States. Costs of care keep rising and people continue to struggle to get access to treatment. I have experienced the burden of medical debt in my own life and constantly watch my clients struggle with similar concerns. The entire system feels dystopian and I often feel helpless to change it. As a provider, I am often in the dark about what insurance companies will cover in terms of care for my clients and there is a huge lack of transparency in terms of what people are actually paying for. The insurance companies make it nearly impossible to get a straight answer when I reach out with questions both as a patient and as a provider. This system needs to change. Transparency and justice in healthcare needs to happen, within my lifetime. We all need to work on advocating for this system to change.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Initially I wanted to go into the field of education, but I found my psychology courses more interesting in college, so I decided to stick with that field of study. I was never very career oriented in general, but at the time I was in a relationship where I was the primary breadwinner for a while, so I kept going to school in order to make sure the bills got paid. I am proud of myself for my perseverance and determination in getting my PhD. As a first generation college student, it’s never something that I saw for myself. I have since learned that the world that exists within the ivory tower of academia is much different from working and living in the real world. I have had to teach myself a lot as a business owner in private practice, and many of the things I’ve learned on the job were not aspects of the academic curriculum I received. Despite those challenges, I am very proud of the program I graduated from at New Mexico State University and believe they taught me many valuable principles and provided foundational understanding of the career that I am now developing. The emphasis on social justice within my doctoral program is an aspect of my education I am particularly proud of.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I graduated from my PhD program, I barely had enough money to pay rent at the end of each month. The stipend I received from my postdoctoral fellowship barely paid enough to cover my basic bills. I even had a supervisor at work suggest I file for bankruptcy when I shared with her about my financial struggles. I broke my collarbone one year after graduating with my PhD and because my insurance plan had a high deductible, I ended up adding $8,000 to my existing debt from school to pay for the cost of surgery since I couldn’t afford to take time off from work to heal. As a single person with medical debt who is shouldering the burden of debt from school alone, I am still getting myself out of a financial hole. Since graduating with my PhD in 2018, I have been a delivery driver on the side while maintaining a full time job, have had to utilize multiple debt forgiveness programs to cover my minimum monthly debt payments and have had to lean on social services like free food programs in order to afford food.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that the path in life we take often does not look the way we imagine it will. I have had to learn how to work and survive in systems that have no interest in my wellbeing. I have found it incredibly difficult to work in larger institutions or within organizations where I am not in complete control of my schedule and how my time and energy is allocated. I work in a field with an incredibly high burnout rate and have learned that when I work for larger institutions and organizations, my energetic capacity will almost always be greatly exceeded by the demands of that system which is motivated solely by profit and is not interested at all in what is best for me. I have had employers in job interviews ask me how I will prevent myself from getting burned out at work, as if the burden of that burnout rests on my shoulders and is not a result of working in an environment which perpetually places excessive demands on me. I have yet to work for a company that I believe genuinely cares more about my well-being than the bottom line. Being self-employed is the only way I can ensure that I do not feel my time and energy is taken advantage of. Working in healthcare in the US is similar to education in that, despite the immense of responsibility I carry and despite my education and despite the amount of energy my job takes, I will often be overworked and underpaid if I am not able to put boundaries in place and demand the pay and work schedule that my education and years of experience deserves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drchelseatwisscounseling.com
• Instagram: @drchelseatwisscounseling

Image Credits

These are all photos I’ve taken, including a photo of a painting I created and some self-portraits I took of myself recently.