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

Kara , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Going all in me.

While becoming a therapist has been a life long dream and something that I know I was meant to do (in the least religious way possible,) it was a really long road to get here. I remember writing school papers with my son sitting on my lap. I remember juggling who would get paid first, timing it out, so nothing got shut off. Navigating my own trauma therapy (that I graduated from earlier this year!). Getting into massive amounts of student loan debt…

After taking an incredibly toxic job back in Kansas City after being on the road for 6.5 years in an adjacent field upon graduating with my counseling degree, it got to the point where I needed to make a decision that was flat out scary. The thought of moving full time to private practice (I had been part time, evening and weekends when not at my day job) stirred up a lot of past money struggle fear. I’m also an artist and a writer – my brain isn’t necessary “wired” for running a business (the thought of therapy being a business is also really ew). Then one day, after realizing that nothing was going to shift where I was and the only thing I could really rely on was me, I jumped.

I needed eight more clients to be in a place where I’d be able to support my son and I – and not just any eight clients, eight that I was good fit for. That relationship is so important if therapy is going to be helpful. I was also a little nervous about being a therapist in Missouri and highlighting the intersections that I deeply believe also impact our mental wellness – white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy – but I had decided if I’m doing this, I’m bringing my 100% most authentic self to this work. Anything else is a disservice to the folx I sit with. I took a week off work and used some of my stimulus check money to place a google ad. They told me not to expect anything for a month, but by the end of the week I had eight new clients that were a perfect fit.

I’ve never left a job this way in my whole entire life, but this one? I emailed the powers that be and asked how I should return my laptop, I wasn’t coming back.

It was the scariest and BEST decision I have ever made.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a trauma therapist, soon to be certified in Somatic and Attachment focused EMDR. EMDR saved me. I got trained in it immediately so that I could support others that have experienced trauma. My passion for helping in healing myself and literally, the world, is deep. I knew this was my path from a pretty young age. People have always been really comfortable sharing things with me – even strangers in the produce section of the grocery store while I was still in High School. People have always shared things with me that you probably wouldn’t usually, with a stranger. I’ve always been fascinated by the human mind, how our experiences shape and grow us. I am a poet – a few weeks ago, I finished writing a book that I vowed I would write in 1999. It is currently with an editor and I’m hoping to publish. Even if I don’t, though. I did it. I wrote it. I got it out of my head. And that’s also enough. I am a painter. My recent work was born from my putting a favorite song on repeat until the painting is finished, then a lyric that strikes me becomes the title. I’ve been involved in community organizing work around racial and social justice for the last 20 years. For the last four years, I was the volunteer Local Group Lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Earlier this year, I stepped into volunteer Deputy Chapter Lead role, focused on community partnerships and outreach. I fight each day to end preventable gun violence in America.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

AUTHENTICITY. I know that word is thrown around a lot, but it’s so vital. Doing your own work, we all have work to do. I was a little worried having had been in my own trauma therapy would lead to people not wanting to work with me. I’ve found the opposite is true. My clients embrace and appreciate that. I know what it’s like to be on the other side of this. That struggle, that fear that floodgate could open that can’t be closed. Humility. While I have a passion from psychology and healing, at the end of the day, I am a human first, too. And we are all just walking each other home. Hierarchies really bother me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

That if you just work hard enough, you can accomplish anything. Some of the hardest working folk I know grind and are still struggling. The American Dream is a lie. My organizing work has taught me otherwise. That’s a really privileged thing to believe. A helluva lot more nuance needs to be in this conversation, and I wish we were having it far more than we are. Internalizing this causes so much suffering.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bestyouevolution.com
• Instagram: best.you.evolution
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestyouevolution/

Image Credits
Alex Rhodes