We were lucky to catch up with Laurie Chapman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Laurie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I have been taking risks my entire life. As a product of GenX, I I enjoyed the exhilaration of daily risk taking in childhood due to minimal parental supervision or oversight. This allowed me to stay aligned with my true self, increased my confidence in myself, and taught me what it feels like to listen to my inner self as a child. I remained a risk-taker through my middle and high school years, although the risks were more aligned with those stages of development and taught me different painful lessons. Risk taking has helped me to excel as an All-American Distance runner and an Entrepreneur and both the childhood and adolescent risk-taking strategies helped to shape these parts of my life. At the current stage of my life, I view risk-taking as a necessary component of daily living. What I define as a “risk” is no longer riding my bike off a steep jump, pushing the third lap of a mile in a race where everyone else is holding back, or leaving a job to start my own business. It doesn’t require a surge of adrenaline to be effective or life altering. I take small risks daily to remain in what I call my “Ac-tive Truth” – the living process of being Myself. I do small things daily that are not aligned with my family’s desires or what friends or others may think I need to do simply because it is what I need to do to stay connected to myself and my purpose in life. I am essentially rewiring my brain through these actions and creating opportunities for change. I call these risks because others may not like these actions and may decide they do not like me as a result and I am willing to take that risk. I also tend to engage in “volcanic” risks – where every aspect of my life blows up and shifts at the same time – leaving a job, a husband, and a lifestyle for something new and exciting, for example…these are the most beneficial to my growth and have been the most exciting periods of my life.

Laurie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Caifornia who specializes in trauma, addiction, performance enhancement, business development and women’s issues. I work with some of the most complex and diverse human beings on their journey towards healing,. I use cutting edge approaches to that include solution-focused and strategic therapeutic interventions, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Brain Spotting, Internal Family Systems, PARTS work, and Hypno-Breath Work. I also help individuals with the preparation and integration components of a plant-based journey. I am well read and practiced in numerous spiritual practices that also ground the work that I do. What makes me different is that I am experienced and constantly seeking new knowledge and growth areas in this field.
Our society is in an incredible state of transformation – as a therapist it is my responsibility to stay abreast of this transformation and engage with others in a way that is aligned with the new changes we seek. People want to feel more, experience more, give more, and change more. So I constantly strive to work on my own growth process, deeply explore stuck points in my life and use modalities that incorporate all aspects of the mind/body/spirit triad towards change. I just know that we are all on a journey that never really ends and we have to accept this. I want to help individuals launch into their highest selves so they can continue to have an amazing life that will continue to shift and change and appropriately evolve. I got into this field because my own parents were stuck in a marriage that had been outgrown by one of the partners and resulted in a divorce while I was a Junior in College. While I had always wanted to help individuals throughout my life, this life change is what sealed the deal and led me to enroll in graduate school instead of staying in the sports marketing field.
So If you are stuck in your life, business, or sport due a to low confidence/worth, unhealed trauma, childhood issues, relationship difficulties, a chemical imbalance, or cognitive issues, and are using maladaptive coping mechanisms (e.g. alcohol/drugs, s*x, over-functioning/working, food manipulation, over thinking, etc.) and you are ready for change and want to do some creative and deep work, contact me.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My knowledge of what it takes to be a great leader comes from my professional experiences, training in the field, and networking with other leaders. I spent many years as a team captain, a non-profit leader, and the owner of a private therapy practice which all required that I manage and motivate people to be the best they can be. The strongest leaders are the ones that constantly strive to grow and evolve themselves. This growth mindset extends beyond them to the company and so whatever view you carry about yourself, will be reflected in how you develop and lead others.
There are several ways to get to know yourself as a leader in the same ways that there are ways to develop yourself as a person. The difference between personal development and leadership is applying your sense of self to others in a professional capacity. So I believe that to be a good managing agent, you should work with a Life Coach or a Therapist and participate in a leadership development group applicable to your profession. No Leader should lead alone because you can not develop yourself in a vacuum, you need constant feedback and support to be the best version of yourself – to strengthen your resiliency factors and work on your deficits. A good leader also has a solid set of tools for emotional regulation and has a great routine of self care that they engage in on a daily basis.
If you want to manage a team well, you better have a clear Mission and Vision for your organization and a detailed plan for how each team member can support this Mission and Vision. This should start with every employee understanding their job description and how they fit into the overall organizational structure of your business. When employees know what the goal of the organization is, the role they play in it and how they fit in with other members of the organization, they have clarity and can engage in their jobs with more ease and a sense of direction. Employees should be empowered to grow and learn and have opportunities available to them within and outside of the organization. They should be rewarded for their positive contributions and incentivized to succeed through tangible and non-tangible reinforcement strategies. Employees should also know up front what will happen if they are unable to succeed so that they are not surprised if they are asked to leave or have to engage in a development plan to get back on track.
Overall, it is critical to have healthy communication channels for employees to ask questions, both give and receive feedback and understand what is happening within the organization at all times. 360 communication is where it’s at from my perspective. This can be in the form of emails, texts, written documents, and regularly scheduled individual and team meetings using a variety of technological tools geared towards this end.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

In my market, the way to build a reputation is by successfully helping people to heal. People refer complex cases to me that include individuals who have experienced trauma, addiction, and major blocks in their lives. I have kept my work specialized and do not try to treat everyone or diffuse my work by trying to do it all – I stay in my niche area. I have developed a solid referral network of people who specialize in the same areas as myself and we support each other through referrals and healthy collaboration. This includes my connection to other skilled therapists, psychiatrists, medical doctors, and treatment centers. I have a clear understanding of my capabilities and will refer potential clients out to other providers when I know it is not a good fit. I stay on top of the cutting edge approaches to therapy in the areas of trauma and addiction and performance issues and engage in on-going trainings, consultations, and literature that will help me to grow and evolve. I work with my clients and respect who they are and how they came to be in my office. I am transparent and honest with who I am and what I can do when I network and always maintain open lines of communication with my colleagues and referral sources. This has allowed me to help people heal in a safe and supported way and this is what has led others to believe in me and support me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://in-sighttherapygroup.com
• Linkedin: Laurie Chapman Licesned Marriage nad Family Therapist

Image Credits

Eliza Sweet Photography