We recently connected with Kelisa Volson and have shared our conversation below.

Kelisa, appreciate you joining 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.

If I had to choose one thing…and there have been so many over the course of my life…I’d share one of the biggest risks was when I moved to Georgia back in 2009. I had already decided to make a career move regardless of my relationship status after getting my full license as a counselor that August. When my now husband and I decided to make our relationship more permanent/get married, I decided there were better opportunities for me in Atlanta, GA than him moving back to Louisiana. I quit my job (with no job certainty) packed up my stuff where I’d been living for almost 5 years and started a new journey. It has been one of the greatest risks and best decisions I’ve made in my life. I know I wouldn’t have had to opportunities and ability to thrive as I had if I hadn’t done so.

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?

I feel like I was “called” to be a counselor. I was a good listener early in my life and paid attention to details with everything and everyone especially giving my friends advice. I honestly tried to avoid being a counselor because my aunt was in the field when I was growing up and I wanted to do anything opposite of what she did lol! I couldn’t run from it any longer so by sophomore year of high school, I got serious about what I wanted to do and how I would achieve that. So I went to college and finished a quarter early and went immediately back into graduate school at the same university to get my Master’s in Counseling. It took alot of discipline and focus and I knew in spite of the challenges I’d encountered I would make it through because this was my destiny. I completed my Master’s degree on a Friday and started my first job in counseling that Monday morning and haven’t looked back.

I’ve been a counselor for over 16 years now and have done work in almost every aspect of counseling imaginable with different age ranges, backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, etc. I opened my private practice in 2016 and currently provide primarily telemental health services centered around anxiety, depression, anger management, self esteem issues, narcissistic abuse recovery and autism for the states of Georgia, Louisiana, Florida and Texas. I thrive on helping people and have a heart for others to learn to help themselves while being a conduit for them to do so. My style is not so formal as a counselor and my goal is to be relatable and provide a rapport so much so that the process of therapy is “easy”. Not everyone is receptive to this type of style as some require for structure and formality but overall, I’ve seen excellent results from my clients over the years.

I also have provided education and workshops on mental health and wellness topics over the years both locally and internationally even through articles and through my own podcast (The Kel Shares Podcast) during the pandemic to help people gauge how to manage during those times.

I’m a huge bargain shopper since I can remember and love a good sale! I love sharing finds and do so through my Instagram page and Facebook Kel Shares page along with travel, food, fitness, photography and motivational content.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I moved to Atlanta I didn’t have a job nor any prospects. I couldn’t even officially see clients in Georgia as I had to get my license from Louisiana transferred to Georgia to be considered for better jobs. After searching and working for a few dead end jobs doing community mental health where I was driving to clients home, I landed a job working at a PHP (partial hospitalization program) downtown Atlanta. This was a couple weeks after I got married back home in Arkansas and came back to Atlanta. I felt this was the first sign of finally gaining some stability since moving to Atlanta 6 months prior. I worked there for a few years before it changed it’s programming and they laid off many of their clinical staff (including me). I was on unemployment and worked for a psychological clinic part time where I helped with testing/assessments primarily screening clients who were seeking Social Security Disability benefits. That was one of the best times of my life as I learned so much more about psychological disorders and how they translate through assessments with testing instruments. That is where I learned about Autism Spectrum Disorders and was able to identify some of the symptoms with my own son during the time I worked there which enabled him to get help early.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before the pandemic began, I was servicing as many as three different clinics at one time including my private practice where I saw clients. When the pandemic started in March 2020, my main clinic shared it would be closed for a couple weeks and then the city where my private practice shut down all businesses providing any services for a while as well. I was seeing quite a number of children as clients at my private practice who didn’t want to do virtual counseling so many I lost as a result of the business closure. Since I’d gotten laid off in 2013, it was important of me to not depend on one source of income anymore so when everything physically shut down during the pandemic, I’d already been doing some telemental health services sporadically so when the pivot/transition had to happen, I was already prepared and all I had to do was open up my schedule to see clients online full time. I haven’t looked back since then!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @risingheightscounseling/@kelshares
• Facebook: Rising Heights Counseling Center/Kel Shares