Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Rosie Garcia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dr. Rosie, 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)
Before I became a therapist, I struggled at one point to accept my anxiety and learn to sit with it. I once wanted my anxiety just to go away, not understanding that anxiety is an emotion that is just as important as all the other emotions. I remember trying all different anxiety techniques, not understanding the purpose of those techniques was not to eliminate anxiety but to reduce it. Therefore, the best two-part advice I have ever given to clients was the ROSE method and learning to befriend their anxiety. The first step of the ROSE Method is to “recognize and accept” the anxiety. I encouraged them to sit with their anxious feelings for five minutes instead of rushing to cope or avoid them. Most anxious people are quick to jump to do a coping strategy to feel better and not learn to build tolerance to their anxiety or other strong emotions, which is essential. Anxiety is not a bad thing, and it is crucial to learn to embrace it. In the next step, “Own it,” I guide them to explore what their anxiety is communicating. I encourage them to ask, “What is my anxiety trying to tell me? Am I neglecting self-care? Taking on too much? Ignoring boundaries?” This step helped them start treating anxiety as a signal rather than a threat. The third step, “Self-Soothe,” involves grounding techniques, breathwork, and self-compassionate inner dialogue to regulate the nervous system. The last step is to “Expect it to return.” Anxiety is cyclical, and the goal is not to get rid of it but to learn from each experience and build resilience. When I introduced this concept, clients were thrilled to have a step-by-step guide on how to learn to build a tolerance to their anxiety and still be able to do some coping strategies without the purpose of getting rid of the anxiety. They would practice it for a few weeks, then return to the session, sharing that the ROSE method was helpful because it was easy to remember, and they learned to sit in their emotions. They would gradually increase the time spent sitting with their emotions more and more each week. They also discovered that anxiety is not a bad thing and is a necessary emotion that is just trying to protect them. They also learned to befriend their anxiety by shifting their mindset from seeing anxiety as an enemy to viewing it as an overprotective friend. This two-part advice was life-changing for them, and I continue to share it with other clients. Anxiety likes to thrive on resistance, but when we approach it with understanding and self-compassion, it loses its grip.
Dr. Rosie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Simply Living Counseling. I help anxious women who seem to have it all together on the outside but constantly feel overwhelmed, tired, and stuck in their heads on the inside. Through my telehealth private practice, I help clients break free from the cycles of anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, imposter syndrome, and stress so they can feel more at ease, confident, and present in their daily lives. I offer therapy to clients in Florida, New York, and across 42 states through the PSYPACT program. I am also working on providing online mini-courses and digital products on overthinking, anxiety hustle, breaking free from over-productivity, and decision fatigue. My journey into the psychology field started when I was 13 years old. My parents’ divorce came as a complete shock to me, and I started experiencing anxiety in ways I did not understand at the time—stomachaches, needing to leave the classroom, and not wanting to go to school, which was unusual for me because I loved school. My parents grew concerned and decided to take me to a psychologist, one of the most wonderful, caring people I had ever met. She helped me process my emotions, cope with my anxiety, and navigate my relationship with my parents in a way that made me feel seen, heard, and understood. My own therapy experience changed my life. It showed me firsthand what therapy could do, and I knew I wanted to be that person for others. I have always been the friend everyone turned to, and I loved helping people feel better. I also had a deep passion for arts and science—at one point, I wanted to be a teacher, actress, or marine biologist. Psychology became the perfect combination of my interests: studying the human mind with the creativity and connection I loved. I always knew that I wanted to open my private practice since graduate school because I wanted to help other anxious women and specialize in anxiety and stress. After working in a toxic work environment, I felt the drive to open my private practice in 2019, where I could focus on empowering women dealing with anxiety, relationship issues, life transitions, and self-esteem struggles.
I stand out from other therapists because my personal experience with anxiety, major life transitions, and health issues gives me a level of empathy and insight to understand better the challenges that my clients are going through. I also practice what I preach when prioritizing self-care and setting boundaries. I make time each day for things I love, like going for walks, reading fiction books, watching reality shows like Love is Blind, and using my go-to D.A.R.E. and Calm apps. I am also a lifelong learner, always picking up new tools and techniques to better support my clients, whether it’s through books, podcasts, or continuing education. I also have a passion for normalizing mental health like physical health and teach my clients that therapy is self-care and maintenance and not to wait until they have a crisis to seek support. I teach them that mental health is like going to the gym. You do not work out once and expect lifelong physical health. The same goes for your mental health. I am also the same genuine and caring person in everyday life as in the therapy room. I am warm, engaging, funny, down-to-earth, and supportive, helping my clients feel seen and understood. I want you to leave therapy feeling different from where you started. I will be your biggest cheerleader, always in their corner and cheering them behind the scenes. If you are looking for support or more information, visit my website at simplylivingcounseling.com and book a free 15-minute consultation.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
A few years ago, during my second year in a toxic work environment that constantly expected high productivity, I started to develop odd symptoms: eye twitching, brain fog, and ringing of the ear. I would tell myself it was just stress and that I needed to do more self-care. I would also go to the doctor, and they would just tell me my symptoms were probably related to anxiety, even though I knew it was not my anxiety. I strongly felt that something more was going on with my body. Little did I know that I was being invalidated and not taken seriously because I was a woman with anxiety. A few years later, I was diagnosed with hearing loss in both of my ears, but none of the doctors encouraged me to look for why this happened. My symptoms continued to progress, and I started to develop gastrointestinal symptoms. I went to the doctor seeking an answer, and I was often invalidated and told it was probably related to stress or acid reflux, but my symptoms continued to worsen to the point that I ended up in the ER twice. I would return to the gastro doctor’s office, and I would advocate for tests to be run to figure out what was going on with me because I could feel something was wrong. I knew I had inflammation in my chest and stomach. Eventually, they finally found something. I was diagnosed with gastroparesis, but they could not explain why I had this disorder, so I was referred to a Rheumatologist who diagnosed me with an additional two autoimmune disorders that caused the hearing loss and gastroparesis. This journey taught me to advocate for myself when many doctors invalidated my symptoms. It taught me to listen to my body, and it also taught me resiliency. I was experiencing all of these symptoms while working at a toxic job that demanded me to see more clients and did not care for my well-being. Then, I decided to leave that toxic job to open my private practice while balancing two autoimmune disorders, gastroparesis and hearing loss. It certainly was not easy because I had good days and bad days with my physical symptoms. At first, I struggled to accept all of my new diagnoses. A lot of days, I would feel off, which would leave me feeling drained. I learned to listen to my body and understand that not every day will be a productive day. I learned to embrace mindfulness in my resiliency journey, to accept the off-days, and to accept that there will be days my body aches or overheats from my autoimmune diseases. I also learned to rest without guilt in between sessions. This experience has truly helped me understand my clients even more and to help them to advocate for themselves.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
We live in a culture that praises hustle, busyness, and over-productivity. From my upbringing, school, and work, I kept receiving the message: do more, be more, achieve more. I became caught up in that mindset and had to unlearn the belief that my worth was tied to productivity. The first time I learned this message was from my mother. Growing up, I watched my mother struggle to rest. If she was not at work, she was always busy doing things around the house, constantly finding something to do when she could have been resting. This led me to believe that resting was not productive and that I had to keep busy to be successful. Work reinforced this message by constantly emphasizing monthly productivity numbers. Meeting the minimum percentage was not enough; we were expected to exceed expectations by taking on more clients, juggling multiple projects, and delivering at 110%. It did not take long for this mindset and pressure to creep into my personal life in ways I did not initially notice. I felt like I had to check many tasks off my to-do list to call it a “productive” day. Resting felt wrong, and I would feel guilty for choosing to rest over productivity. I remember being productive with my breaks between clients by scheduling four 15-minute different self-care activities during my one-hour break. It took me a while to realize that I was turning self-care into another form of over-productivity. I constantly felt the need to do many things around the house and use my break times efficiently. I could not even read for myself. I would choose psychology or self-help books to help my clients. This mindset was draining me, making me anxious, and I would feel guilty when I chose to rest instead of being productive. It was not until my therapist pointed out that my hobbies and self-care time were becoming productive that I realized I needed to change. My therapist encouraged me to find nonproductive activities. This journey was a struggle for me at first, but eventually, I learned to read for fun and now enjoy various genres of books, including fantasy, romance, and psychological thrillers. I started playing again, giving myself permission to do things that serve no purpose other than joy, like playing my Bop it! Toy game. I began to embrace stillness and rest. My anxiety reduced, my creativity returned, and I felt more energized during sessions with clients. It is still a work in progress because sometimes I fall back to a productivity mindset here and there because of societal pressure to always be productive. But this is why I am so passionate about teaching my clients that productivity does not define their worth and that getting rest is productive and essential.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://simplylivingcounseling.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/drrosiegarcia or instagram.com/simplylivingcounseling
- Facebook: Facebook.com/psychologistrosie or Facebook.com/simplylivingcounseling
Image Credits
Photography by Amalie Orrange @brandedbosslady
Logo by Kristin Richards @InFlowDesignCo