Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittney Scott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Brittney thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.

It was March 2020 and I was in my supervisors office when she finished reading an email and said, “go home.” I was confused and it showed on my face and she said again, “call all of your clients and go home, because of COVID, we are shutting down for 2 weeks.”
It was not just 2 weeks, its 4 years later and I still have not returned to an office setting full time. The 2020 pandemic flipped mental health services on its head. We were rushed to online services and teaching clients how to use telehealth, while we were also learning. We were now managing fear, isolation, and loneliness, on top of what whatever trauma the client was previously receiving services for. The mental health space has not been the same since.

Social media became a place people believed they were receiving mental health support from, through memes, quotes, and live video from therapist. People now speak in therapy terms and struggle to connect with those around them. Many therapist have no returned to offices and continue to use telehealth full time. It is convenient and supportive, but there is something special about sitting on the couch in your therapists office, and I hope one day we can get back to that.

Brittney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am licensed professional counselor ( a mental health therapist) and I worked primarily with adult women and their mothers. I help women heal their mother wound and reconnect their relationship with their mother or daughter after it has been broken or estranged. I received a masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and began working as a therapist 7 years ago. I learned from working with women and girls that the relationships we have with our mothers shapes and influences every relationship we have as adults.

I am so proud of the opportunity I get to reconnect broken mother daughter relationships. It is amazing to watch them heal that part of themselves with each other and go on to have a better relationship in the future. I am happy that so many women have trusted me with that part of their life.

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

As a therapist, i think success comes when clients feel like they are partnering with you on their healing. I have training and knowledge to guide them through the process of healing, but I am not an expert on their life. I cannot be the person that makes them feel judged or belittled by acting as if I know everything. They are the expert on their own life, I am knowledgeable about behavior and thought processes. This is a partnership and when clients feel that way, they tell other people about you.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I first started working in the field of mental health, I was given any and every client. If my caseload had an opening, it would get filled with anyone and any issue. This, I learned quickly, is a recipe for disaster. I cannot hold knowledge for every mental health issue and I am not the best person for a lot of people. I had to learn, that even in therapy, we have out limits and clients need us to be honest about that. Referring clients to the best people to help them increases trust between the public and therapists. I had to unlearn that idea that I could help anyone, that is flawed thinking. I am the best person for mother daughter relationships, I am not the best person for schizophrenia.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brittneymscott.com
• Instagram: @theBrittneyScott
• Other: Email: hello@brittneymscott.com
  Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reconnection-rescue-the-mother-daughter-relationship/id1763906282

Image Credits

Farah Cowley with Noble Heart Photography