We were lucky to catch up with Stacey Bessard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stacey , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

It was after a pretty heated discussion with family members that I decided to take the biggest risk of my life. Well the second biggest risk of my life. I had never moved without my family, but I wanted to experience something different and felt that I needed to do it now. I had been working at an Acute Psychiatric Hospital for about a little over 4 years and it was draining to say the least. It was my first job out of grad school and the only job at the time that I felt I could do. I felt stuck there, just like I did in so many others in my life at the time. At this juncture, in my career I had begun to make the moves to leave the organization as a whole.

I signed a lease, informed my job that I wanted to step down from full-time to part-time, and had the grand idea that I was going to be a business owner. All I had was a dream and a pen. Fast forwarding the story, I ended up having a pretty upsetting argument with my family that led to what I felt was my saving grace. On my way to work, I received a message from an old co-worker, who asked if knew of anyone who may be interested in a Clinical Director position. I thought, why yes!

Next thing I know, I was planning a trip to Ohio, a place I knew nothing about. I left there with a signed lease to my first apartment and an offer letter to a position I believed to be my saving grace. Talk about risk!

There I was in Ohio, and I was still unfulfilled in my position. Only this time, I made more money. I took a risk to buy first home and still felt alone. I don’t regret my decisions, actually I believe the all the risk I took led me to the place that I am now. I needed to take a risk on me and FINALLY do what was needed for me.

I decided to open my practice and actually put myself out there and tell folks “I am open to take new clients.” Like who did I think I was?!? For a year, I worked evenings at my 9-5 and crashed on the weekends. For a year, I decided to take the risk and finally see me, which was a message I encouraged all of my clients to do. Business was going pretty good, but not so much at the beginning because I didn’t know what I was doing. I actually wanted to give up, needless to say, I didn’t.

I took the risk to set a date to quit my job and that was hard because I had a lot of people discouraging me from doing so. I just needed to take the risk and honestly, God gave me the peace to take the risk, I prayed and prayed and knew God was telling me it was going to be okay. Here’s the thing with taking risk, there is no guarantee that success will be waiting for you at the other end. There is not even a guarantee that there won’t be some down times where you question your decision. I just knew where ever God was taking me, it had to be worth the risk. I was going to be okay. I may have some battle wounds, ,but I was going to be okay. The risk, was trusting not in myself only, but the one that I believed in me first–that was God!.

Stacey , 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 a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing working with women in who are wanting to date from a healthier place in their life. I encourage women “to live a full life before becoming a wife.” I also work with a pre-marital and seasoned couples in working out their own relational traumas that continues to appear in their relationship.

However, before I became Stacey the therapist. I was Stacey the youngest child to two Haitian immigrants who instilled in me the value of hard work and continued relationship with God first. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida where I attended all of my schoolings.

How I come to the industry of mental health and more specifically counseling was because of my passion for relationships. I have no idea why, but relationships fascinated me and honestly it made me think about the relationship we have with God, who is the originator of all relationships. The lack of or the strength of one’s relationship with God became a way for me to help navigate with a client in the counseling room. While I may not explicitly talk about God unless the client brings it up, it definitely helps me with sitting with them.

So anyone who comes to me will know I’m the relationship person. Everything we do in life is in relationship to something else. This was generally the founding piece to why I began doing the things that I do.

Currently, I have a boutique virtual counseling practice, which is in the works to expand for 2023. I see clients in Ohio, Georiga and Fl and coach clients nationwide on getting to know who they are as it pertain to dating My goal in everything I do is to help heal relationships.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It came to a point where I had to decide what I was going to do with my house. I had only been in my home for about 1 year and although i felt alone, it was my own space. It was something I worked for. It wasn’t something I wanted. However, I needed to make a decision.

This time it was different, I had taken the risk to leave my job and that meant I wasn’t making the same amount of money. I was making less–considerably. I had to make the decision to sell my home and that was hard! I knew where I was going required for me to let go of what could have been added stress. This was the theme of this season of my life. I had to learn to let go in order to prepare myself for what I was about to receive. Yet, no one told me how long it would be before my break through. I was entering a season where I had to produce for a audience that seemed to not be listening. Do you know how frustrating that could be? To have a message that seemed to be going on deaf ears. Yet, I knew there was more to my story. I needed to keep going even it was for one person. I had to confront my own fears head on to no longer taint and delay the message I had for my awaited audience.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

There are 2 things that I think is helpful and can be helpful in succeeding in this field. These 2 things are time management and self-care. I am learning you don’t have to accept do everything to be successful and you don’t need to be extra booked on your calendar to feel successful. Success is measured differently by each person. Find what works for you and once you do, create time to make it better. Managing your time may look a little weird INITIALLY that’s because you are just trying to find your grounding. Trust the process. It may even come with some loss relationships and overbooking because this all new territory. This season is not meant for everyone and that it quite okay. Trust me! When you find your ground regain your time.

And then there is self-care. Take care of you. That means drink your water, sleep at a decent time, brush your teeth, wash your hair. Do all the things that are necessary for you to show as the best version of yourself. But, give yourself grace when you’re not so good. Give yourself permission to just be present in that too. I’ve learned that is just as much as self-care as all the other stuff.

Contact Info:

• Website: colormetherapyllc.com
• Instagram: @chroniclesofasinglewoman