We were lucky to catch up with Carolyn Smith Moorman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Carolyn, appreciate you joining us today. 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)
My most constant piece of advice as a therapist/counselor is, “STAY IN YOUR OWN LANE!” If a client is a parent, and I hear them putting their “helicopter” in motion, I look at them and ask, “Are you staying in your own lane with how you handled this?” If I have a wife who wants her husband to change, we discuss how “STAYING IN YOUR OWN LANE” would better serve them in getting the results they desire. If I hear a friend thinking another friend needs to change or is trying too hard to control a situation, I will wonder aloud, “I wonder what might happen if you STAY IN YOUR OWN LANE.” This is a difficult piece of advice for most of us to “stomach” as we often feel that someone’s life or situation would go along smoother, if only they’d follow this person’s well-intent/well-meaning input. The truth of the matter is all of us are traveling down our own roads in life, and if we all just refrain from getting too far into someone else’s “lane” and instead cheer them on and love them through the tough times, most of us would be better figuring out our life’s dilemma’s by trusting our own path.
Carolyn, 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?
I’ve been a LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR since 2010 when I became an intern therapist at a large mental health hospital for 3 years in Dallas. Then, in 2013, I was fully licensed, and I could see clients as a business owner. I work with individual adults and couples in my practice. I was once a 5th and 6th grade math teacher, and an elementary school counselor, and so, I decided I’d concentrate in private practice with adults only. I would address the needs of the children in those families by addressing their adult family member. When I see a client, I try and work with them in all the areas where they “wear a hat.” For example, if a person is a parent, or in a family, or in a dating relationship, or if they are in a marriage, I try and work with them individually as well as how this affects them in the relationships they are involved in while seeking counseling.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I came from a highly trauma-filled family of origin. Learning and studying and focusing my therapy practice more about family of origin traumas and how this affects us throughout our lives has given me a chance to take my own “trauma” and turn it into a way of paying forward by helping others get through these difficult and painful processes.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
I would have chosen to be a therapist sooner in life. Because I’m driven to be the “best version of myself as possible,” this meant receiving my own therapy and reading countless books and attending so many trainings. While doing this work, I began to “unpack” my own “baggage” so that it doesn’t get into the way of helping others “unpack their baggage” while in a therapy session.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://anchor.fm/carolyn-smith5
- Instagram: @cmsm0040
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-moorman-5588423a/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/carolyn-smith-moorman-dallas-tx/220589?preview=1&return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmember.psychologytoday.com%2Fus%2Fhome&_ga=2.184721961.128577020.1653344173-1350742249.1610484509 My PSYCHOLOGY TODAY page I used my podcast address as my WEBPAGE because there wasn’t a place for this. I have created a mental health podcast that I would love to be linked to my info.
Image Credits
These images were taken by my husband, Jacques Vroom, Jr. The photo with NEVER BETTER on the hat was taken by me. It’s what I use as my icon for my mental health podcast called THERAPEUTIC COUNSELING.