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

Hi Lilly, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

One of the biggest lessons I learned early on in my career was to trust my gut. We are just taught in graduate school to follow theories and procedures (all important things) and to be all buttoned-up and boundaried. But one of the most powerful moments I had as a social worker was when I used the knowledge inside my body, to help discover the truth for someone else. The first time I was able to do this, it changed a 6-year old’s life.

My first job out of graduate school was as an intake caseworker at social services. My job was to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. I received a report that a 6-year old girl’s (I will call her Leah) biological father was a registered sexual offender, and that he was possibly visiting Leah, which was a violation of his probation and concerning for her safety. I went to the school to visit Leah and interview her, per protocol. She was sitting on the bed in the nurse’s office, swinging her legs. She drew me a picture of her and her friend at school. I asked her all of the standard questions – Who does she live with? Who cares for her? Does anyone make her feel scared? She answered typically, without indication of concern. She denied that she saw her dad, or that anyone hurt her physically, emotionally, or sexually. I stayed with her more than usual and felt a tugging at my gut; I felt like something was off. I kept pulling questions out, trying not to be leading in my questioning (something that was drilled into our heads). I started to give up and moved forward with the standard closure in questioning. I asked her about body safety and was about to provide psychoeducation. She told me that her mom “talks to her about it, when she tells Leah to tell mom’s boyfriend not to touch her there again.”

From there, Leah told me that mom’s boyfriend would sexually abuse her nightly in the bathtub. I was floored, although it was the feeling that you get when you are surprised in your head, but knew something was wrong all along. I continued my investigation and planned for Leah’s safety – went to the family’s home, called the police to report the abuse and moved Leah to her grandparents home. Three weeks later the Detective called me telling me that mom’s boyfriend walked into the police station and confessed that he had been sexually abusing Leah nightly; A confession from a perpetrator is something that rarely happens, and something that I have never seen again in my career.

I will never forget the lesson I learned that day. As a therapist and business owner, sometimes I feel something is off, or there is more truth to the story on the surface, and I am right. Sometimes people aren’t ready to say their truth out loud, so I need to keep it inside until they are ready. And sometimes people are also ready to say it out loud and make a change.

Lilly, 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?

I have my License in Clinical Social Work (LCSW) in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado. I received my Level I and Level II training in EMDR in 2018, am EMDR Certified and a Consultant-in-Training. I am an avid learner in the fields of neuroscience, trauma and attachment.

I fell in love with EMDR therapy after experiencing the benefits through my own personal therapy journey. EMDR helped me let go of the past and feel better internally. This made me want to help my clients in a deeper and more sustained way. Since receiving training and consultation in EMDR, my work as a therapist has become much more fulfilling and meaningful to me. It feels that I can get clients past just “managing” symptoms, and help them actually feel less anxious and depressed in their bodies. EMDR is hard work for me and for my clients, because we are actually changing reactions in their nervous systems!

What sets me apart from others in my field is that I bring my whole authentic self into the therapy room and into my work in group practice. When trauma happens, people are often always on alert. I believe that my clients bodies and nervous systems are reading me as a human – wondering if they can trust me, picking up all of my cues. While there is so much potential for clients to not trust me, there is power in our relationship and in helping them feel safe in the therapy room. Many times people have never felt safe, cared for, deserving, heard or seen. Being able to help people experience these feelings is one of the most powerful things I can do as a therapist.

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

I believe therapists cannot take their clients further, or deeper than they have gone themselves. It is scary and hard to go to places and spaces that may bring up personal feelings for us as the therapist. Therefore, many times I see that therapists limit their client’s healing when they feel uncomfortable with the material.

Therefore, I believe that personal growth and development is an incredibly important investment as a therapist. This includes insight such as understanding attachment style, as we develop a close attachment to our clients. What we have felt in previous relationships, comes out in the therapy room. We need to be aware of this, and put our own internal reactions aside, which is easier said than done, as so much of this process happens unconsciously.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe that my true care and compassion for my clients has helped me succeed. I bring knowledge, training and ongoing education to my work. I am truly a human in the therapy room, while making the session entirely about my client. There is so much healing in being able to bring my true self into the therapy space – something that I was not taught to do in graduate school.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.forwardhealingtherapy.com
• Instagram: @forward.healing.therapy
  
• Facebook: Forward Healing Therapy

Image Credits

Christine and Justin, Natural Intuition Photography