We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Barb Hill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Barb below.

Alright, Barb thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

This defining moment actually happened in 2014 while I was in grad school. At the time, I had a growing feeling that some big changes were coming in my life but I didn’t have a clear picture of what that would look like or mean for me. In the summer of my second year, I was sitting in the airport and was suddenly reminded of an anti-human trafficking organization I had heard about months prior. I googled the organization and noticed they were offering internship opportunities in California, which just so happened to coincide with an internship I needed to complete that coming fall. I spontaneously applied and a week later was offered the internship. A month later I was driving across the country from Maryland to California with a few suitcases and my two best friends. This leap of faith to uproot my life as I knew it and move across the country completely changed the trajectory of my life and career. This move to California led to a move to Chicago to finish my studies and then to Nashville where I established my group practice and have lived for the last five years. This experience was an exercise in trusting myself and taking bold steps outside my comfort zone. And now I cannot imagine my life any other way.

Barb, 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?

My name is Barb Hill and I work as a licensed mental health therapist with a specialty in trauma. I established my practice, Holding Space Counseling in 2019 and it has since grown into a group practice where I oversee and supervise other therapists in their work with clients. This year, November 8th to be exact, I also released my first book, Seasons of Waiting: An Invitation to Hope, with Tyndale House Publishing. It is a devotional that blends the worlds of faith and mental health around the topic of waiting.

As a trauma therapist, I am interested in getting to the root of things whether it’s an experience, belief, or story we rehearse to ourselves. I’m also passionate about the intersections of faith and mental health and how these areas of our lives can work in tandem and harmony with each other as we move towards wholeness in all areas of our lives. My recent book ties together all of these aspects of our lives, and I hope will be a trusted companion for the reader as they navigate the twists and turns of their lives.

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

As a business owner and a therapist who is deeply relational, I have needed to learn how to balance these two important aspects of my job and personality. Whether it’s been in my work or personal life, I have often felt a tug-of-war between my head and heart, and trying to get them to work in sync with each other has been challenging. My head is values and future-oriented, whereas my heart tends to be fear and past-oriented. I’ve been learning the importance of my head and heart collaborating and communicating with each other rather than dominating the other to achieve its objectives. The lesson has been to approach business and my personal life from an integrated place–one that honors and includes the wisdom and value of my head and heart.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes. I often say that I’ve lived so many different lives before working as a therapist. So, when I finally landed in this role as a therapist, I immediately felt the confidence and joy of doing exactly what I was always meant to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.holdingspacecounseling.org
• Instagram: barbs_hill
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbhilllpc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-hill-1a422356/

Image Credits
Jayde Iye and Katie Sura