Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Colleen O’Brien. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Colleen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?

There are heartwarming stories constantly, which among the many reasons, is the most compelling one that brings me to this work. My work involves being invited in to the most intimate and vulnerable spaces in a person’s self, soul, psyche, or whatever you choose to name it. This is quite an honor and a privilege as well as most importantly, a great responsibility which is not taken lightly. This “job” requires that I am square, not just with my client but with myself in my own life as well as in our sessions. The specialty I find myself in makes this all so much more crucial, in that most of my clients, in fact all of my clients have experienced trauma at some time in their lives and I am asking them to open those wounds back up and trust this process of uncovering, working through, bit by gruesome bit, and reprocessing in the hopes of healing and letting go of difficult memories and experiences. That was a really long sentence. Sorry! What about the heartwarming part, you ask! That part comes, when my clients feel safe enough to show up, to share, to dig and dive and feel, the most uncomfortable of feelings. They are brave and terrified and they show up anyway and that warms my heart. That is human resilience and love and empowerment and magical and all of the wonderful and oftentimes difficult parts of being a human. When people come to me and ask me to witness their showing up for themselves and their families and all of the parts of their lives that benefit, my heart warms. And I feel hope and see light and love in this world that can at sometimes feel dark and loveless. I am so grateful and blessed to be trusted and gifted in this way.

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?

I am a licensed marriage and family therapist in California. I work specifically in trauma and trauma related conditions. I work with traditional talk therapy, Ketamine assisted Psychotherapy, and EMDR as well as many other therapy modalities depending on the needs and desires of my client. I have always had a love for psychology, for people, and for relationships. I am deeply inspired and engaged by intimate interacting and deep sharing and connection. I am also a bit of a brain science nerd and love the intersection of these two interests. Sitting with people and helping them move through difficulties brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner and enjoy learning new ways of seeing, changing, and experiencing that I can share with my clients. I truly believe in our innate knowing of what we need and who we are. I love watching my clients find their way and experience the pride and joy of self discovery and transformation. I am most proud of my humility. Of my awareness of my powerlessness and in that, my agency as a helper. A friend and colleague reminded me that “there is nothing to do”. I strive to remember…

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

That I am NOT meant to fix problems for people…
I think that I have a large part of me that is a problem solver . There is a time and place for that. I do that regularly as appropriate. I also know that therapy is not about problem solving. Therapy is about sooooo many things. It is about change, patterns, resilience, tolerance, discomfort, surrender, honesty with oneself, the list goes on. I have to remind myself regularly as I sit with someone and I want to fix it all for them. I want to problem solve. We have all heard the story about the man we teach to fish v. the man we give the fish… Teach my clients to fish and I am doing more for them. Let them build their confidence that they are capable. Set them up to be set free. This is challenging when you are a problem solver like me…

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Trust the universe, work hard, market myself to the degree that I feel comfortable, study, learn, show up, be present, live the model, be real, be vulnerable, be willing to fail, keep trying, tell people what I do, share your story, take risks, ask for help, do good work, say yes, be humble don’t take things personally, go to therapy, tune in to myself, trust myself and what I need.
You can also join list serves, organizations, and groups that specialize in your field. Meet colleagues, ask them how they do it, find someone who has what you want and do whatever they say!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.colleenobrienlmft.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-o-brien-ma-lmft-apcc-acc-2208527/
• Other: Colleen O’Brien Marriage & Family Therapy
  Santa Monica & Ventura & Ojai

Image Credits

jennifer brenneman intrinsic designs