We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carla Calderas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carla, appreciate you joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?
I still remember the kindness from Dr. Bruce Taylor and Ms. Lynn Watson. I was in High School when I met Ms. Watson, she was my first English teacher in a regular English class, before her, I was in English as a second language (ESL) classes. I remember still struggling with vocabulary and pronunciation at that time but Ms. Watson never made me feel inferior, on the contrary, she always made feel welcomed and like I belonged. She was a great teacher who truly cared about her students and not just teaching them academics but also assigning us projects that made us reflect and increase our self-awareness. She showed me kindness by the way she looked at me when I presented in front of the class, how she encouraged me reading fiction books and asking me for book recommendations, she was kind when she noticed me and when I changed my hair color during the school year, and she showed me kindness by gifting me a scarf when we found out that I was going to go to North Carolina for college. I will be forever grateful for the kindness Ms. Watson shared with me. In college, I met Dr. Taylor in my education classes. He was open minded in hearing the ideas his students shared. He made me feel respected, capable, and hopeful to make a change in students’s life. I can definitely say, he makes me feel hopeful that there are good people out there. Once I graduated and came back to Texas, I applied to graduate school and was in need of a recommendation letter. I reached out to Dr. Taylor and he immediately said, “yes I will have it ready for you today”. Dr. Taylor has a magical demeanor that makes you feel you have his care, kindness, and undivided attention when you talk with him. He emailed me that same day and wrote me a wonderful recommendation letter. I shared with him how grateful I was for it and for his promptness and asked him if there was anything I could do for him, to what he shared: “just pass it on, help someone”. I still think about his words and I do my best to help others as I go through life.
I am blessed to have encountered these 2 wonderful teachers. I still feel their kindness and it encourages me to be kind to others.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello, my name is Carla Calderas and I like to think of myself as a healer. This is because my goal is to heal myself and help others heal. This goals has led me to a career in education, where I helped students, their family, and our community. I made it a priority to not only teach academics but to incorporate life skills, compassion, and nuggets of wisdom to help my students in their future. After that I wanted to be able to go deeper emotionally and help others heal from childhood trauma so I went to graduate school for a Master Degree in Professional Counseling. I was a school counselor but I wanted to do more so I decided to get relevant clinical experience. I then worked at a psychiatric hospital offering Partial Hospitalization Programs and Intensive Outpatient Programs. I still remember the patients I worked with, most of them senior citizen, low income, and living in care homes. I worked hard to provide a safe space for them and make connections with them to help them find peace and hope even when that seemed impossible in their situation. At this hospital I provided group therapy, psychoeducation, and few individual therapy sessions. I discovered that my passion at the time was working with people 0ne-on-one. I then began to apply for job in private practice and got a job at a counseling practice that worked with kids, teens, and families. I enjoyed my work there and seeing the progress the clients were making, learning about their struggles and giving them tools to find strengths in them, and helping parent improve the relationship with their kids. As I was learning more about myself and the counseling field, I worked hard to have my own private practice. I now have Calderas Counseling, which feels like a culmination of all the skills, tools, and knowledge I have acquired throughout the years as a students, teacher, and therapist. My priority is to have a mental health counseling practice that is welcoming and where therapists feel happy, use the skills they discuss with clients, and continue their growth as a human and therapist. Calderas Counseling’s values are balance, respect, and love. We aim to have a balanced life. We respect ourselves and the people around us. We love ourselves and show kindness and compassion to others. We work with you to empower you and give you the tools to be your best self. We believe that when we look inward, practice self-care, and work together it becomes easier to express our true self. Our philosophy may influence our counseling sessions in the following ways:
During therapy sessions, we can create a plan to find balance in your life: work-life balance, setting boundaries, and looking at balance in five different areas (emotional, physical, social, spiritual, and professional).
In therapy sessions, we can explore self-esteem, assertive communication, and other areas of self-respect.
In therapy sessions, we can explore self-love by using mindfulness and self-compassion.
Our missions is to provide quality mental health therapy services for a world where we help each other and are at peace with ourselves. We specialize in working with teens, couples, individuals struggling with depressions, and individuals struggling with anxiety.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
I would not change a thing because everything that I have been through has led me to where I am today. I think it is hard to see that when we are struggling or experiencing growing pains or guilt about what we did or didn’t do. At the end of the day, we make decision and when we do we are making the best decision we can make with the information and knowledge we have at that point in time. I feel proud of what I have accomplished and I am grateful for the learning experiences I have had along the way.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
The most important thing to help you succeed is to believe in yourself. This is true for everything and in any field because believing in yourself will help you keep going when you hear other’s disbelief in your abilities. Believing in yourself will give you the strength to keep going when you encounter challenges. Believing in yourself will bring you peace in knowing that it is just a matter of time but in the end you will be successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.calderascounseling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calderascounseling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calderascounseling/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/calderas-counseling/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaldCounseling
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRiuh_8pHbd8u_nuMdQlpfQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/calderas-counseling-spring
- Other: https://www.calderascounseling.com/post/team-member-spotlight-carla