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

Kelly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

Being in a therapeutic field, there are many heartwarming stories to look back on. It’s one of the most fulfilling things about my career. I typically work with people in a long term capacity, which means I get to see them and support them through many phases of life. I’ve seen kids go off to their dream college, after working through performance based anxiety since their elementary school years, full of excitement and ease. I’ve seen women conceive babies after years of infertility, I’ve seen people restore marriages in miraculous ways. I’ve witnessed people land their dream job, find the courage to start dating and fall in love. The amount of heartwarming moments I get to be a part of is my biggest motivator for being the best I can be in this field, because I’ve seen the change that can happen over and over.

Kelly, 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?

I entered into this field because I felt I had a natural ability to sit with people during hard or uncomfortable moments. To this day, I still believe that to be one of my biggest strengths as a therapist and coach. I think this sets me apart from others in the industry, there is no topic that is off limits. I allow my clients to ask about my own life, how I might handle things. I poke and prod to help people get to a new place of understanding themselves. When you’re in my office it’s a two way street, and interactive conversation that allows clients to feel loved, supported, and continually encouraged to keep moving toward their goals in sustainable ways. I love what I do in a way that I feel like few other professionals do. Every time I see someone moving toward their goals, or reaching them, it renews this ability to see the world through kinder, more optimistic eyes and creates such motivation to continue helping and guiding in the best way possible.

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

The world of therapy is so multifaceted; we need to be highly trained and educated, because people hand us their heart and soul every hour, and we need to know how to hold it. And, more importantly, I think, we need a sense of humanness that allows for the messiest of conversations to take place with safety and security. I often tell my clients to treat the first session like a first date, they need to be evaluating the relational fit just as much as the therapist. As a therapist, you need to create a space where people feel like they can talk about things that have really difficult feelings attached to them. We need to be communicating, always, that we want our clients to succeed, to have the life and relationships they desire, which allows us to possibly uncover some hard truths and patterns and work toward creating healthier cycles.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Oh gosh, this one is easy to answer! I had to unlearn the idea that therapists will not be successful in private practice. The narrative that private practice is not sustainable starts in grad school. We learned that any therapist that has a private practice also has an agency job to pay the bills, you have to work early mornings, late nights, and weekends because thats the only time clients will schedule within a private practice, and lastly, clients will never pay a private practice rate. I have found all of these to be myths! I started my practice in 2020, after having been overwhelmed with the above myths since grad school. When I started my practice we were in the middle of a pandemic and I had just had my first child. The idea of working multiple jobs was a hard ‘no’ as was the idea of working late nights and weekends as I had done at every other mental health job I had previously. So, I made a choice to do it differently. I scheduled normal working hours and have flexed between working 3 and 4 days per week. I have always had a full caseload and have never taken insurance. I learned that the right people will fit into your practice, if you create work to fit into your life, rather than life to fit into your work.

Contact Info:

• Website: kellysinningcounseling.com
• Instagram: @kelly.the.momcoach
• Other: fulfillandflourishcoaching.com

Image Credits
Shaye Briannah Photography