We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiara Hudson, LCSW/LISW a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tiara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
I am incredibly thankful to have been raised (and honestly still being parented) by my mother and father, April and Bruce Powell. I think the most impactful part of their parenting style is that they let me make my own decisions. They trusted my judgement. They never pressured me into or against anything. They supported all of my endeavors. They encouraged me to aim high, and I always did. I knew if something went wrong, I could always fall back on them. They would always have my back. It’s much easier to take risks and try for the impossible when you know you have a solid support system to lean on. I don’t take that for granted. It is truly a privilege to have parents like mine. They nurtured my and my sister’s curiosity by taking us to museums and historical sites. They got us into nature with hiking, biking, swimming, and playing at the beach. They did so much to make us great humans, and I love them so much for being wonderful people.
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?
Hi! My name is Tiara Hudson. I am the founder and owner of Golden Life Therapy and Wellness Services, LLC. My business cracks the urgent problem facing busy working adults: access to psychotherapy services during evenings and weekends. I am woman owned, minority led business that creates safe spaces to explore mental health and wellness issues during hours convenient to the working adult. I have over 12 years of expert experience and knowledge in mental health and social services. I have had the privilege of providing social support and psychotherapy to active-duty service members of the United States Army, United States Veterans of the Armed Forces, adults experiencing severe mental illness in state mental hospitals, and working with incarcerated individuals in a state prison. I have a wealth of diverse clinical experiences that I use as tools to support each client’s progress in their own individualized journey. I am licensed to independently practice psychotherapy as a clinical social worker in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Georgia.
I am passionate about mental wellness because I have been a client of such services myself. I will never forget one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I was out to lunch with two friends. We had just ordered the appetizers. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, about five people were looking down at me. I was on the concrete, surrounded by shattered glass, and my entire body was aching. I was told I had a seizure. That seizure was a result of pushing aside my mental and physical health because I was prioritizing my job. It was in that moment, I knew something had to change. I began my own journey to find a therapist. Even as a therapist, I knew I needed the support. The problem I faced time and time again, was that no one offered hours in the evening or on the weekends for sessions in my area. I still remember how exhausted I felt calling therapist, after therapist, only to find out their hours wouldn’t accommodate my needs. I felt defeated. I finally found the help I needed. Once, I healed myself, I knew I needed to help create a solution. My private practice offers therapy for the working adult at hours that will accommodate their busy schedule.
This entire journey to become a therapist started back in 2012. I was working in Florida for the Guardian ad Litem Program which advocates for children that were in the Dependency Court system due to being abused, abandoned, or neglected by their parents. I frequently came into contact with children that had been harmed so severely that it affected them emotionally and mentally. I saw time and time again, how their intense work with therapists would completely change how they interacted with the world. One particular child’s transformation really stuck with me. She went from presenting as withdrawn, fearful, and sorrowful to bright, spirited, and hopeful. I knew I wanted to contribute to making such an impact myself. A few months later, I applied to only one graduate school all the way in Northeast Tennessee. I was accepted to East Tennessee State University with a full tuition scholarship and began my journey to becoming a therapist in 2013.
It’s been a decade that I’ve been on this journey as a therapist, and I’m most proud of being able to take chances even when I’m afraid. I am so proud of that. It takes so much energy, time, and intentionality to do something even when everything in you says, “this can go horribly wrong.” It is hard work to actively fight against the self-talk that craves safety and security so that you can push forward to take that risk. I’ve done so many things in my life while being absolutely petrified. When people used to ask me my greatest fear, I used to say, “failure.” Now my biggest fear is living a life limited by fear. I’ve learned to accept fear as information. Perhaps fear is helping me be more prepared or helping me be more alert, or helping me be more focused, but most certainly fear can’t keep me from doing something I want to do, and I’m really proud of that.
That work, the emotional and mental work to challenge intrusive thoughts like fear, is only one of the ways in which I work with my clients. I like to explore their childhood and find out what we can learn about who they are from how they have lived their lives so far. I also enjoy exploring the mind body connection. So often we get disconnected from our bodies. Right now, do a quick body scan. Unclench your jaw, relax your shoulders, stretch out your legs, wiggle your toes, and calm your core. I’m sure you didn’t even realize those parts of your body were tight. We do it all the time. We ignore our bodies because our minds are busy. I work with my clients to pay attention to themselves more frequently than not. I also work on practical ways to introduce peace into their lives. It looks different for every person, but that’s the journey. Every person I see is treated individually based on how they show up in the space.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Honey! Whew! That is a big ole question right there! Immediately, I think of my long and harrowed history with perfectionism. I had to unlearn that one before perfectionism put me in the grave. Perfectionism had utility in my life. It made me a high achiever. It made me dependable. It made me focused. It also made me anxious. The anxiety would keep me up at night or make me procrastinate because if I couldn’t do it well, I didn’t want to do it at all. It made me worry all the time. It made me exhausted. I had to face my perfectionism head on when my first marriage ended. I had to deal with my own narrative about what a “good life” is supposed to look like for me. I had to manage my feelings of shame regarding my marriage ending. I had to correct my thinking regarding having poor judgement of partners. I had to get real with myself that perfection was impossible, and I have to strive for something in the middle. It isn’t all or nothing. It isn’t good or bad. There is this middle path. I had to work diligently with my therapist to process that life transition of divorce. Doing that healing was probably one of the best decisions of my life. Breaking out of the shackles of perfectionism was so freeing. It allowed me to enter into situations more fully. It allowed me to be vulnerable. Now don’t get me wrong, I do fall back into those moments sometimes, but now I’m aware, and I can make a choice to lean in or step back.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Look, all of us alive right now share a journey of resilience having survived the global pandemic of COVID-19. 2020 was supposed to be my year! I had just moved to Northwest Arkansas from Georgia to start my career with the Veteran Affairs hospital in March. I didn’t know anyone in the area, but being an Army brat, I was used to getting to know new people and skilled at building community so I wasn’t worried about that. A week after I got here, the World Health Organization made their announcement that COVID-19 was now a pandemic. The following weekend, Arkansas entered a soft/pseudo shut down. The way in which I used to make friends in adulthood would be to meet people at a concert or the gym. I would chat with a stranger in the super market, but none of that was safe in 2020. I knew I couldn’t survive without companionship so I hopped on Meetup and Eventbrite looking for friends. I even tried the friendship side of Bumble. Nothing worked. I hopped on Tinder to see if maybe I could get some dates. At least, I’d have some social interaction outside of my coworkers. It worked; not only did I find a companion, I found a life partner. I eventually married Gabe Hudson, my husband. We eloped at the courthouse with the same two friends that were with me when I had the seizure that changed my life. We bought a house, and have been thriving together ever since. I think for all of the tragedy that came from the pandemic, I will be forever grateful to have met Gabe because of it. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goldenlifetherapyandwellness.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/goldenlifetherapy
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/goldenlifetherapy
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tiarachudson
- Other: Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/golden-life-therapy-and-wellness-services-llc-rogers-ar/1079304 Therapy for Black Girls https://providers.therapyforblackgirls.com/listing/golden-life-therapy-and-wellness-services-llc-2/
Image Credits
Gabe Hudson