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

Alright, Rani thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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?

My path to becoming a therapist was one that started with taking a risk. I had gotten my undergraduate degree in journalism, and I had every intention of getting a job at a newspaper or magazine. As I worked on stories though, it felt like something was missing. I loved being present with people, knowing which questions to ask, and hearing their stories. In my education, I was taught that my role was purely to get the story – not to make sure my sources were cared for after I got the information I needed for my articles. This felt increasingly misaligned, and I knew I needed to make a change. As I was having this internal debate, I happened to ask my therapist at the time how she became a therapist. She explained the process of going to graduate school, obtaining hours for licensure, getting licensed, and starting a private practice. At one point, I said, “Huh…yeah, I think I want to do that!” And she gave me the highest compliment I could’ve gotten at the time, which was, “Rani, I think you would make a fantastic therapist.”

So, I decided to pursue social work and got my first social work job at a local nonprofit in Boston, where I was living at the time. A few years later, I decided to take another big risk: I moved to Portland, Oregon, sight unseen. As someone who had only ever lived on the East Coast, and who didn’t know anyone in Portland, the stakes were high. I won’t lie, my first two years in Portland were hard. I was trying to make new friends, working in a job where I was underpaid, and then navigating my first year of grad school. Even with these challenges, I remained steadfast in my vision for myself. I just knew in my bones that I wanted to be a therapist and that I wanted to eventually work for myself in my own private practice. I did everything I needed to realize my vision: I got my master’s degree, honed my clinical skills while working in community mental health and group practice, obtained my hours for licensure, passed my licensing exam, and started my private practice! On top of all this, I also met incredible people along the way who have become some of my dearest friends. I feel so grateful to have these meaningful, vulnerable, transformative connections with them.

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 serve sensitive millennial professionals who feel misunderstood and lonely – at work, with family, and with friends. As far as what the work looks like, I provide individual therapy sessions, but I also have an offer I’m launching soon that I’m particularly excited about! It’s called the True Self Blueprint, and it’s an accelerated experience for sensitive millennial professionals to move from loneliness and feeling misunderstood at work and in their relationships to feeling respected, taking control, and finding relief by being who they truly are. Folks are welcome to check out my website if they’re interested in working with me!

Of course, if you’re reading this, you can’t see my smile – but truly, I can’t help but smile when I think of all my clients. I feel incredibly lucky that I get to work with folks who are so kind-hearted, insightful, determined, and brave. The work we do requires commitment and consistency, and they are all willing to show up for themselves and their healing work.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I can genuinely say that if I had a re-do, I would still choose the path of being a therapist. I would still specialize in working with sensitive millennial professionals. I decided to take a few big risks in my mid-twenties that got me on this path, and I have such gratitude for the younger version of myself who got me to this point.

Earlier this year, I was having a conversation with someone who was telling me about her previous experiences with other therapists she had met. She shared that those interactions felt transactional and insincere. Then, completely unprompted by me, she said, “I really appreciate how I feel like you’re actually listening to me and showing up as a fellow human.” That moment has stuck with me, not just because of how kind that feedback was, but also because it speaks to the power of embodied presence with oneself and others. I think I’ve always had that skill, and through my education, work, and life experiences, I’ve been able to hone it. I would absolutely choose this path again if given the choice.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Gosh, there were a few lessons I had to unlearn! One big lesson that I had to unlearn was that, as a therapist, I had to be available to everyone, regardless of my own needs, boundaries, or clinical interests. Many of these lessons were ingrained in my grad school program, but they were also ingrained in the community mental health organizations that I worked at after grad school. Those messages were all packaged as, “This is what it takes to be a good therapist who’s really committed to the field and for the social work cause.” I internalized some of those messages and felt such guilt when I needed to take time off to visit family, or if I wanted to leave work on time (emphasis on the “on time”!) so I could have dinner with my partner or with my friends. Work slowly took over my life, and I reached a point where all I did was work, go home to sleep and eat, and then return to work.

I needed a massive shift, and my body responded in turn: I developed a chronic illness, and I was suddenly in a position where I simply couldn’t continue working at the pace I had been working at. I learned to slow down, advocate for what I needed, and listen – really listen – to what my body was telling me it needed. I’m actually grateful to be a therapist who lives with a chronic illness. Through it, I have deepened my somatic awareness, which in turn has allowed me to help others build their own somatic awareness and transform their relationships.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therapywithrani.com
• Instagram: @therapywithrani

Image Credits

All photos done by B Okabe