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

Crystal, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

The best advice I ever gave to a client was to shift her focus from trying to get her mother and father to love and validate her; instead, work on loving and validating herself. I worked with her on identifying the emotional voids that her parents’ behavior caused. Because of these voids, she was a people pleaser, struggled with setting boundaries, and often mistrusted herself. As she processed the trauma caused by these emotional voids, the people-pleasing ceased, she learned how to set boundaries with friends, coworkers, and her parents, and she gained confidence in her decision-making. She found her voice and advocated for herself, and let people know how their behavior impacted her. Because of these changes, her parents’ gained insight into their behavior and apologized for their role in creating her emotional voids. She and her parents are actively working on building a healthy relationship.

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?

Crystal Currie is a licensed trauma mental health therapist, facilitator of online programs focused on healing childhood trauma, author, and podcaster. Her passion and expertise in healing childhood trauma were birthed from gut-wrenching personal experiences and professional knowledge.

Crystal helps clients emotionally survive in dysfunctional families and stop behaviors such as people pleasing, rescuing others, and minimizing themselves, By helping clients find their voice, trust their decision-making, and set boundaries, her clients live a life filled with authenticity, purpose, and freedom.

Crystal has contributed to The HuffPost, Roland Martin Daily Show, Womens Magazine, Thrive Global and many more.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being honest about my personal story, helping people remove the blame and shame that they have internalized and providing safe spaces for people to heal without judgement.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My parents were 13 and 14 years old when I was born. They were not together and genuinely did the best they could, but due to us growing up together, some of my emotional and physical needs went unmet. As an adult, I began to recognize how unhealthy my thought patterns and behaviors were. I began to learn the extent of childhood trauma that I experienced. When I got the courage to go to therapy for the first time, my therapist was a no-show. I felt so ashamed and embarrassed. I got the courage to try therapy again a year later and that is where my healing journey officially began. When outsiders discovered my reason for seeking therapy, I was shamed for doing so. I was told that. “you only have one mother and one father, “they did the best they could,” and “you are being dishonorable.” I made the decision to choose myself and heal anyway. I also vowed to create safe spaces for people who had childhood trauma. As a result of having the courage to heal, the services I offer have been extremely successful. I facilitated Healing the Inner Child Retreats, online programs for healing childhood trauma, published a forgiveness workbook, created a podcast called Achilles HEAL, made many speaking appearances, contributed to national publications, and have a successful and healthy family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.myturntoheal.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalrcurrie/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crystalcurrieofficial/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-currie-lcmhc-tf-cbt-a4b58b53/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnnlenY4F5zARNetPwcSC6g

Image Credits