We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alicia-Ann Samuel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alicia-Ann, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Raising children can be challenging as a parent, but maintaining the overall family is even more of a task. The mistakes my parents made during the journey of building and supporting the family and allowing my siblings and me to see that process is what come to mind when I think about what my parents did right. From the differences in child-rearing, living with in-laws for 20+ years, and living apart for 13+ years so that financial stability stays intact, there were/are many highlights within my parent’s journey of maintaining the family that comes to mind that shows despite the challenge they are committed to each other and the overall family. That commitment and persistence in working through the challenges and being honest about those challenges molded me into the resilient individual I am today.

I became a mental health counselor because of the mental health challenges I saw within my own family and friend group. I wanted to become, what I now see as a missing tool that my parents could have also utilized to help navigate through their challenges in addition to their utilization of social support. My parent’s mistakes and successes as parents and being able to experience their parenthood process helps make me a relatable mental health counselor to the community I serve. I am forever grateful for my parents and their journey to maintaining our family.

Alicia-Ann, 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?

Therapeutically Beautiful LLC is a private mental health community practice located in sunny South Florida is a practice passionate about helping those we serve, “find the beauty amidst their chaos”. Providing high-quality yet affordable and accessible mental health services to all ages with a special focus on prevention and early intervention for the 0 to 5 population and general prevention for parents, young adults, and adults who seek to take back control of their mental health. Therapeutically Beautiful LLC also offer mental health training and wellness products and merchandise to help individuals maintain their mental health outside of the therapeutic session.

Legally formed in 2019, the story of Therapeutically Beautiful LLC began in 2013 when founder, Alicia-Ann Samuel, LMHC, NCC IMH-E®, created a Pinterest board to save therapeutic resources and inspiration. She named her Pinterest board Therapeutically Beautiful as she felt that mental health and the therapeutic journey can be beautiful. Fast forward to 2019, Alicia-Ann made a decision to align her career path with her values by leaving the community agency work and starting her own practice that would focus on prevention mental health services, as she believes that prevention is the key to long-term mental wellness.

Since then, Therapeutically Beautiful LLC has grown and continues to grow into a thriving community practice that is making a positive impact on the lives of individuals and families across Florida.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I have asked myself this question a few times before and the answer is always no. No matter when I start, I think I would certainly end up back on the path of choosing to be a mental health counselor. Growing up, I envisioned that I would be some sort of teacher and/or a field that makes a significant impact on the lives of those I encounter. As a mental health counselor, I get to accomplish both of those goals within the therapeutic journey I help guide my clients on. If I did have to make a change, it would be working sooner within my current specialties of infant mental health and prevention mental health.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Growing up, it was common to hear the statement “use your common sense”. However, it was not until an undergraduate psychology online course that a peer challenged my discussion post response with a response that displayed that they had lack common sense as they did not understand my response. It was during that post that I began to learn that common sense was not so common and that such a statement is a prime example of a faulty thinking process that is unfortunately taught and passed down from generation to generation. I quickly learned that common sense was not common as things that I was taught to be common did not apply to every household even if the household was quite similar to mine. Over time, I became more mindful of how uncommon many practices and beliefs were and thus began realizing the importance of unlearning this childhood taught lesson if I wanted to be an effective counselor. To effectively hold space for my clients, I had to remove the notion that everyone should know the things I deemed common. Since doing so, I myself have increased my awareness about the plethora of uncommon practices that exist and thus I can remain non-judgemental towards the individuals I serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.therapeuticallybeautiful.com
• Instagram: @therapeuticallybeautiful
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/therapeuticallybeautiful
• Other: https://therapeuticallybeautiful.thinkific.com/courses/7daychallenge

Image Credits
Vivian Vo Photography