We were lucky to catch up with Kim Honeycutt recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kim , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
At the age of 24, I woke up in the primary medical detox unit at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although I had certainly awakened in much worse places during my active alcoholic days, I knew I wanted to be anywhere but there. I left against medical advice (AMA). One week later, I came to, and once again, someone had placed me at Mercy’s detoxification facilities. But this time, I stayed, and my life completely changed. Four years later, armed with a graduate degree, I started my first post-graduate job at that very detox unit!”
Kim , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
“After working at Mercy Detox and being a co-developer of Mercy Horizons Outpatient program, I started my own private practice in 2000. But before I tell you why being a Psychotherapist is the greatest job in the world, let me explain the irony of me, of all people, starting Mercy’s outpatient program. The intensive outpatient program I helped co-create had been an inpatient center called Charlotte Treatment Center. I was a patient there when I was 17. After two weeks, the psychiatric professionals responsible for me told me I was too mentally ill to remain in their care. This team of highly educated mental health specialists explained that I needed a higher level of care than a 28-day inpatient facility. A decade or so later, I had the privilege of designing a substance addiction program that thrives to this day. I don’t think my formal education prepared me for program design, and it definitely didn’t prepare me to be a psychotherapist. I learned as I walked alongside my patients. One of the most valuable elements of being a good therapist is providing safety in connection for patients. I learned that my role was to be a ‘good enough parent’ for my patients as they explored the development of their ingrained internal relationship template established by their parents/caretakers. Addiction, trauma, narcissistic post-survival, neuroscience, and spirituality became my expertise. I was able to umbrella all of my specialties under the term transpersonal psychology. Transpersonal psychology teaches people how to go beyond the mask of personality and walk in authentic wholeness. Being a Psychotherapist went beyond the walls of my office. It expanded to public speaking, being a teaching pastor, facilitating workshops, starting a mental health ministry called icuTalks, coordinating 5k races to promote mental health, officiating weddings, rage room activities, my book But Your Mother Loves You being published, and hosting my podcast, Flip Your Lid. I am most proud of the many times in my career when I have been the first person someone wants to reach out to when something significant happens to them. Being a safe person is one of the most precious gifts one can offer to others. And of course, getting to be a Tedx Charlotte speaker was pretty freaking cool as well!”
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was never the little girl who dreamed of growing up and getting married or even thought of having children. As a grown woman, I was more than content to be sober and focus on my career. Then I met her—Larissa. Everything changed! I knew I wanted to marry her, and I thought I understood the level of discrimination that would come our way. Sadly, I was wrong about that! The concept of Christians feeling entitled, justified, and arrogantly contemptuous, shifting from supporting us to believing they had to ‘pray for us,’ freely sharing their disdain, and some disowning us, was something I under predicted. My wife left her Christian place of employment after 16 years, and I was pushed out of my church, where I had been a leader and speaker for 16 years. For us, that meant many things, but it did not and will never mean ceasing to be who we are. We are Christ followers. We are strong women. We are family-oriented. We are churchgoers. We are thrivers.
Today, we attend a truly loving church called Watershed, where I am part of the teaching team. The journey isn’t one of healing without resilience. And, praise God, we are resilient!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I have consistently met my clients where they were. Initially, this involved allowing clients to pay what they could. While it may not have been the most strategic business move, it afforded me the space to learn additional modalities in a fair manner. As time progressed and my natural curiosity for transpersonal psychology grew, I found myself able to meet clients not just financially but also in terms of therapy style. I have a plethora of modalities (symbolically) sitting beside me, allowing me to offer a single modality or a mixture to each patient/client, providing them with a choice that resonates. Many individuals enter therapy having lost choice somewhere, so intentionally offering choice to my clients guides them toward agency of Self. Choice is vital and will always be. Reinforcing choice in as many ways as I can with my clients reintroduces Self to their attachment wounds and begins to fill trauma-induced voids.
The second element is that I am myself. Within each modality, I incorporate ‘kimisms’—my humor, relevant portions of my story, and my unique perspective. In the early stages of my career, I refrained from expressing certain things, assuming that if I thought it, they did too. I had to humble myself and realize that my point of view is unique, and who am I to minimize what I bring to the table? This realization is a significant part of my journey toward becoming whole and walking beside others as they do the same. As mentioned earlier, being a psychotherapist is the greatest job in the world!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kimhoneycutt.com www.icuTalks.com www.butyourmotherlovesyou.com
- Instagram: @kbhoneycutt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.honeycutt.18
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-honeycutt-92b37271/
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/But-Your-Mother-Loves-You/dp/1642791911/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZU14ILBZO9ML&keywords=but+your+mother+loves+you&qid=1703080561&sprefix=but+your+mother+loves%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1