We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelly Houseman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories 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)

Stop caring about what other people think and never live your life for someone else’s approval. Life is short and if we are trapped in the cycle of outside approval you can never win. You don’t want to look back at the end of your life with regret for not doing (or doing) something. Do the thing, make the mistakes, live the life you want. People will judge and that’s. fine but at least they can judge you while you are happy living the life you actually want to be.

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

I work with clients to get what is stuck in their head into tangible ways to move forward and live a healthier life. Therapy is having someone actually listen to all the thoughts in your head that overwhelm you and make sense of them together. There is nothing that I would judge or haven’t heard before so I love being an unconditionally supportive part of someone’s life journey.

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

As a therapist I had to unlearn the notion of needing to be the one to “fix” everything for my clients. At first I assumed I had to be the one to solve all the problems and then I realized I am help on a journey but ultimately the client is the one with the power to make choices and move their life forward in a different direction. I am a guide on the path and walk next to them but they chose the destination.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I knew I wanted to become a therapist since 16 and since then I have never wavered. This doesn’t feel like a “job” to me, rather a privilege and if anything I would love to go back to school for a doctorate someday if I ever regain my memory and sleep better (thanks kids!)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kellyhousemancounseling.com
• Instagram: @KellyHouseman

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