We recently connected with Halle Thomas and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Halle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.

When COVID cases surged in the United States, and lockdowns were put in place, I had to make an overnight decision to shutter my office and move to telehealth. For some context, I attended a 3-year master’s program and graduated in June of 2019. We never discussed online therapy at any point in those 3 years of my program.

Prior to COVID, a lot of therapists didn’t view online therapy as a valid, effective option. Some even went as far as to say that online therapy was unethical. That’s obviously changed over the years and I’m grateful to my peers and colleagues in the field who’ve shown that online therapy is just as effective. Plus, online therapy increases accessibility, which is a major priority in my own practice.

Halle, 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?

Of course!

I’m a queer, biracial African-American, chronically ill, disabled individual. I provide Brainspotting and Internal Family Systems Therapy (aka Parts Work). I also include spiritual work in my practice for clients who want that to be part of their care. Tarot is one of my favorite practices to incorporate with clients who are fellow practitioners.

Many of my family members have been helping professionals and it brings me so much joy to continue that legacy. I decided to pursue a master’s degree in marriage, couple, and family therapy after taking a course on counseling during my final year of college.

My motivation to become a therapist had two parts: 1) I want to become a therapist so I could help people sort through the stories of their own lives, and 2) I wanted to provide people with the opportunity to have a therapist who has overlap in their own lived experiences.

As a biracial African-American person, I didn’t get access to a biracial therapist for my own therapy until I was in my early 20s. It opened my eyes to how much previous therapists had missed when it came to centering how much cultural context affected the issues I was facing at the time.

My practice has always centered the experiences of people who exist under the BIPOC umbrella, and who are queer, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and disabled. I feel proud to have created a practice where other BIPOC folks come to me and feel relieved that they don’t need to explain their stressors to me. They can simply be supported and receive care.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

As a therapist, staying curious is the most helpful thing. Curiosity is what allows you to stay interested in your work and engaged with your clients from a place of compassion. When therapists start making assumptions about their clients, without questioning those assumptions further, that’s when we can see mistakes and harm happen between therapists and their clients.

I believe that when we enter this line of work, we’re making a commitment to see people as the dynamic, and ever-changing beings that they are. That also means we have a responsibility to protect our ability to remain curious.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Much of my work is informed by the gender studies classes I was able to take during my undergraduate studies. One title that I revisit to this day is This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherríe Moraga and Cloria Anzaldúa.

Within that anthology are essays on the experiences of being told you’re not enough based on your racial background, gender, and sexual orientation, class politics, and visions for a better future. While it’s not a book on business, it is a book that has influenced my dedication to showing up exactly as I am, knowing that it will act as a beacon to the right people.

Contact Info:

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