We recently connected with Erica Paschel and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Erica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the best advice you ever gave to a client? How did they benefit / what was the result? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

Note: I’ll use the pronoun “they”, referencing the client to mean plural. My suggestion was shared with several clients and prospective clients as they had similar contexts. Any parentheses used are to create an emphasis are related to terminology used by anonymous clients or clinical terms.

Most clients in the beginning of their therapeutic journey share what their goals are and some unresolved socioemotional wounds that they are truly struggling to overcome. The best advice I’ve given a client(s) was “it doesn’t work unless you do, water your roots”. Simply meaning that the healing work does not just take place in a therapy session; rather hard work, practice, and effort needs to be implemented by the client(s) outside of therapy too. That is where the real true work lives and it creates an authentic space to put one’s newly learned skills to test! No one else is accountable for the healing desired, but the person who wants to become healed.

For further context, I had a client attending therapy weekly, then they abruptly became inconsistent with attendance and “their work”. To them they were “feeling better” after like 4 to 6 sessions, which for them meant “they were all better and healed”. Their proactiveness with their newly learned coping strategies among triggers and trauma work relapsed back to their original reactive poor coping strategies out of trauma responses. This led to sporadic calls and emails only when “the house is on fire”. This means that the client(s) only called during mental health crises and only when things appeared to get “really bad”.

Certainly enough, they tearfully announced they were having hard times, and tried to figure it out on their own, and had engaged in self-sabotage behaviors. They shared they felt stagnant outside of therapy at the time and admitted to not frequently reflecting or processing over their therapeutic homework outside of therapy. The only time they reflected and processed was in therapy. Authentically, I healthily confronted them reminding them about the purpose of our therapeutic dynamic. I shared with them how important it is for me to meet them exactly where they are at. In their true authentic space with no mask(s). This taught us that the therapeutic dynamic can shift and the significance to reevaluate periodically with my client(s) and collaboratively reflect over their needs, progress, challenges, accountabilities, and more.

My client(s) benefited when they began to “choose themselves” every day with the understanding that consistent engagement and practice with therapeutic homework brings results. Over time they showed growth, progress, and reparenting techniques to nurture some very painful wounds. They grew into accepting where they were in their healing journey and knowing that it is okay to move at their own pace. There’s no rush! My client(s) began to set healthy assertive boundaries across their relationships and transformed their beliefs into a heathier perspective regarding their self-image, self-worth, communication, and finance. They created, connected, and expanded their support system over time. Their fear of failure transformed into excitement, because at least “failing” was evidence that they were making effort and practicing! As I Iike to say, proper preparation makes progress!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Erica Paschel aka Hazel, and I am an amazing multidimensional human being from St. Louis, Missouri! I absolutely love learning new things, dancing and attempting to keep up with new Tik Tok dances, studying, attending community events, camping, spending time with my family and friends, traveling the world, and more! I have a youthful spirit and love to be adventurous. I get excited to see people having a good time and thriving in their goals. As far as education, I graduated from Ball State University in 2017, as a Summa Cum Laude, with a BS in Psychological Science and a double minor in human development and interpersonal relations. I graduated from Georgia State University in 2019, as a Summa Cum Laude, with a MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

I took a leap of faith in leaving corporate and becoming a full-time entrepreneur in 2019, birthing I Am Rooted LLC. It is my Black-owned community-based practice where we thrive and strive to educate, empower, unite, embrace, and advocate for youth and families of color. We are inclusive to different ethnicities and genders. We are for the culture and three of our main services reflect that! We offer nontraditional therapeutic services and workshops, provide professional choreography and dance fitness classes, and consultation and referrals to the community, creatives, and businesses. Our nontraditional therapeutic services reflect the integration of culture, creative expressive outlets, and somatic-focused work. We provide in person or virtual sessions. We are providing virtual therapy only until March 2023. We work with music artists, dance teams, diverse communities, brand labels, and organizations where we creatively direct choreographies based on their vision. We also teach dance fitness and other related classes to kids and young adults. Our consultation and referral system allows us to connect with our clients, the public, and businesses to relevant resources and our additional services based on their needs.

I am so proud of myself for not giving up on me and continuing to water my own roots. Because, I have invested into my own mental health and engaged in my personal healing work it made me more susceptible to embracing my purpose. My purpose is to connect with communities and bring people together in a creatively divine way wherever God chooses to use me. I can happily say the same for my team! Something that I think does not get talked enough about is the importance of an entrepreneur’s wellbeing. Like if you are not in the best mental state, gradually your business will reflect that. When you are choosing yourself to become a better you, your business will reflect that. Of course, I am aware that my business and I are separate entities who found each other. My business is a part of me and my creation. It is so important to balance your personal and professional life of your business, so that any successes and or failures does not blur the line between two worlds. One of the key things that I want my growing Rooted Fam to know about me is that I am multidimensional and so is my brand. The sky is the limit! What helps keeps I Am Rooted a steady clientele based is how we contribute our services, authenticity, values, competence, and rapport with communities.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Creating and revaluating our specific system(s) with my team to see what is working and what areas need more growth has been the most effective strategy. We also have a similar process with our clientele in receiving feedback from their self-evaluations. This helps us to understand how to effectively maintain our clientele satisfactory and reduced turnover rate. For any business owner, it is important to have a system in place and to understand it. From our system(s), we can know our targeted population/audience, how to meet our client and community’s needs, to create relevant and relatable content, to engage in meaningful proper trainings, to attend specific networking events, to have effective marketing, and more. Without a strategy, it’s like having targets but no aim…like a dream but no work…scattered ideas but no connection…I think ya’ll get the point!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Putting myself out there and connecting with others to build meaningful relationships has improved my entrepreneurial thinking, management, and educational journey! I recommend continuing career-related trainings and consistently learning to implement something new to stay on top of your game. Definitely, networking and being selectively intentional with choosing who to collaborate with inside or outside of my industry has been helpful. Not everyone who have similar interests are compatible partners to collab with and vice versa. That’s okay! Also, attending the Revolt Summit 2022 was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet other incredible entrepreneurs and attend powerful educational seminars. I have attended and networked at different types of business expos and vended in different locations. I’ll repeat what another business owner told me, “We all know the information and things we need to do for the most part when we come to these seminars…the true test is execution”! So, stay educated and execute your plan!

A few readings, seminars, and trainings I endured over the past year….

Re-read The Body Keeps the Score
Partners in Play: An Adlerian Approach to Play Therapy
Healing The Addicted Brain
Inner Relationship Focusing
AND MORE…

Watched Financial Literacy YouTube Videos
Created a Vision Board(s)
Achieved Somatic Attachment Therapy Certificate
Trauma-informed with youth and adults trainings and certificates
Achieved Narrative Exposure Therapy Training and Certificate
Attended Dance trainings and summit groups
Scheduled Meetings with my Bank for Financial Literacy and mentorship referrals
Attended REVOLT Summit 2022
Networked at The Mayor’s Event
Attended Business Expos (different types)
Attended and Spoke at several Health and Wellness Retreats
AND MORE…

Contact Info:

• Instagram: iamrooted_
• Facebook: iamrooted_
• Linkedin: Erica Paschel
• Youtube: I Am Rooted LLC
• Other: We are also located in the following directories: Therapy for Black Girls and Open Path. Schedule Your 30-minute consultation with us today! Email: iamrootedoffice@gmail.com Phone: 470-465-0170 IG: iamrooted_

Image Credits
Evan Leonard (Slimm Jenkins), Erica Paschel, LGJ Photography