We were lucky to catch up with Katelyn Stewart recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katelyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I spent a lot of time thinking of a name. I wanted it to be unique and I found most of my initial ideas were taken by other psychotherapy practices (something about growth, strength, hope, etc. or the clinic owners name.)

I landed on Stor(i), which is comprised of 2 parts:

Story: In my experience, storytelling is integral to therapy. Clients often come to therapy with a narrative—often unconscious—about their history, relationships, hardships, and themselves. Stories help us sort through our thoughts and feelings, better understand our behavior, connect with others, shape our identity, and find meaning and purpose in our experiences.

(i): The “i” represents “the self.” In my sessions with clients, I aim to create a space where you can quiet the external noise and tune into your true self, exploring who you are and what you truly desire.

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?

It might be a surprise that I have an undergrad in Theatre Production. I was heavily involved in my town’s community theatre growing up and was in love with watching a story come to life on stage, whether I was a character in the play, or watching from the booth as the stage manager.
By my fourth year of university, other students started to get serious about building connections for potential work after school, which coincided with my youngest brother getting very mentally unwell. This quickly spiraled into a very difficult time for my family as we struggled to understand the drastic changes in my brother’s mood which we would later learn was Schizoaffective disorder.
I had gotten a job designing closets during this time and started to get serious about my yoga practice, something I had done here and there since high school. My daily yoga practice was my safe place during this difficult time. I also found, the more research I did to understand my brothers diagnosis, the less fearful I was of it.
I went on to get my yoga and meditation teacher training and began teaching full-time. When Covid hit, and the studios I worked for started to close one by one, I began to research what it would take for me to become a psychotherapist. This was something I had wanted for a while but was scared to voice out of fear of failure. I started taking night classes to get into my masters, and eventually completed my masters online over the pandemic.
I got hired after graduation at the private practice where I had completed my internship and worked for almost 3 years. I learned so much during this time and completely fell in love with my job. As someone surrounded by entrepreneurs, I was eager to create something of my own.
Since I had started as a psychotherapist, I recognized how common it was for people to get stuck in their own narratives about who they are, who others are, and how the world works. This story had been reinforced throughout their lifetime and then they found themselves in therapy, feeling stuck. Stuck in low mood, anxious thoughts, low self-worth, challenging relationships, unhelpful coping strategies, etc.
It became a goal of mine to create a safe space where my clients could start to explore the stories they were telling themselves, how they developed and how they had the power to change them.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I just started my solo practice at the beginning of August, so I’m currently in the process of growing my clientele. What I have found in the short time that I have been on my own is the importance of building your community and word of mouth. Connecting with other therapists and clinic owners has been helpful for exchanging referrals, and most importantly having support in what can be an isolating career (especially as a virtual therapist). The other most successful strategy has been word of mouth from my clients. Because therapy is slowly becoming less stigmatized, it’s common for people to recommend their therapist to a friend, or family member if they really like them (taking conflict of interest into account, of course). So the most effective strategy in my mind is showing up for my clients every session, being reliable, and building an honest and strong therapeutic relationship.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve tried out a few career paths in my adulthood. It might look all over the place to some, but I’m able to reflect back and see the connection that led me to where I am now. I saw a quote the other day that said “It’s better to admit you walked through the wrong door, than to spend your life in the wrong room”. This is something I’ve never been afraid of and would recommend to everyone whether it’s your career, relationship, health, etc. It’s always better to say “you know what? I thought this would be for me, but it’s not and that’s ok. On to the next”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thestoripractice.com
• Instagram: @katelynatstori
• Linkedin: Katelyn Stewart – Stor(i)
• Other: [email protected] – email

Image Credits

Fook Communications