Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stefanie Palmer and Mari Hoaglund. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stef and Mari, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the best advice you’ve ever given to a client? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

As psychotherapists, we are often teaching clients very specific skills using very specific tools. One of which, is the art of writing things down. Often times, people make attempts to challenge their negative thoughts patterns in their head and it is just not feasible. Your anxiety/depression (or any other mental health disorder) will attempt to grab onto those thoughts and convince you they are true. When you write it down, you are better able to make the connections needed to have a more balanced thought versus the negative thought that was all consuming,

Another thing we are often reminding clients of, is remembering what is within their control. So many times, people are bombarded by what is outside of their control. When this happens, they are convinced nothing is within their control, this simply not true. We pride ourselves on building our clients up by validating their strengths and working with them to build mastery in skills needed to live a more fulfilled life.

With our podcast, we created an entire series dedicated to cognitive errors and how to challenge them. The feedback we received from listeners was astounding. They have been able to challenge their own shame related to motherhood, their careers and even their intimate relationships. They expressed feeling empowered and more in control of their thoughts than they had ever felt before.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

During the rise of COVID, we were both working from home and despite being frontline workers in the mental health field, there was some ambiguity of what the future held for us. We both new we had a ton to offer the world and both of us were avid podcast listeners as part of our own self care, so we thought “fuck it, let’s start our own!” We purchased all of the equipment needed, researched platforms and began recording. On February 13, 2021, we launched our first episode and we are now well over 100 episodes in and there is no end in sight. We offer insight into our own mental health journeys as well as client experiences (with keeping information private and not sharing intimate details) as well as providing our knowledge and expertise to the masses. This podcast is a true testament to vulnerability for both of us as we share intimate details about our own struggles and how we have worked through and continue to work through them every day. We are most proud of our dedication to this podcast, we show up every single week no matter what. Between working as entrepreneurs as well as both of us being single mothers, carving out the time to record can be difficult, but our dedication triumphs and we always show up regardless. As far as what sets us apart from others, both of us feel that we show up as our most authentic self each and every episode. While the podcast is about mental health from the perspective of two psychotherapists, we show up as human beings to break the stigma of mental health practitioners “having it all together.” We share struggles that we have faced or continue to face on a daily basis as well as how we cope. By showing up in vulnerability, we are giving current clients and or potential clients the “permission slip” they need to do so as well.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

In 2014, we both worked at the same psychiatric facility and during a lunch hour mandatory training, Mari was brand new and excited to meet everyone. As she walked into the room, she noticed Stef sitting at one of the tables and was immediately intimidated by her presence and knew she had been a seasoned employee in the field. Over the next couple of weeks we began talking more as we had been working on the same clinical team. After a weekly staff meeting together, Stef asked Mari to go to Target over their lunch hour and Mari agreed, In that moment as they pulled into Target, Mari had a vulnerable moment and share with Stef how overwhelmed she was in the position and with the job itself.After that day they became inseparable and have grown in business and their careers together.

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

Over the course of our 9 year friendship, we have both had to pivot in many aspects of life. Career wise, we both made the decision to pivot from a salary based/stable career with consistent money, to a private practice. Both of us made the decision to leave the salary based position for a better work life balance and overall self-care. When switching from a salary based career to a client/insurance based career, there is a ton of uncertainty and ambiguity. We went from getting paid the same amount every two weeks to getting paid a variable amount once a month. After several years in private practice for an agency, we both decided to branch out and start our own separate private practices to be completely independent practitioners. By leaning into the uncertainty and trusting ourselves, we have seen monumental growth in our self-care and abilities to be in control of our lives and businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.iamredefiningme.com (Stef’s business)
• Instagram: @rewritingherstorypodcast. @theespookytherapist (Stef). @bea_xo11(mari)
• Facebook: Bea the Change, LLC (Mari’s Business)
• Youtube: rewriting herstory podcast
• Other: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rewritingherstory/subscribe

Image Credits
Stefanie Palmer