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

Hi Lindsey, 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.

My defining moment happened just after I walked across the graduation stage. With the ink still drying on my Master’s Degree, I was excited to begin a career as a Mental Health Counselor. I didn’t expect that mere weeks into helping others with their mental health, I would face my own battle with crippling anxiety, depression, and exhaustion. My nervous system was shot, and as a result of being stuck in fight or flight for weeks, I had a constant headache and stomach problems. I have struggled with my mental health in the past, like most people, but never to this extent. I remember thinking “I am going to have to quit. There’s no way I can help others if I can’t overcome this.” I was calling my family members constantly to be talked off the ledge, and I have them to thank along with my own therapist and community for the support during a very dark time. I turned the corner when I realized that maybe I can be a better counselor by growing in empathy, and I could learn some new ways to help clients with anxiety and depression by trying them on myself. I started listening to tons of podcasts, and took a deep dive into breath-work, prayer, new kinds of exercise, and changing my self-talk dramatically. I also created a sustainable rhythm for my life that involves more alone time and rest. I also leaned heavily into my faith in God, and prayed my way through the nights I couldn’t sleep. My clients have benefitted significantly from what I learned during this time, and it is a season that will define the rest of my career and my life. A quote that defined this time is from James Stephens: “Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will” and he is absolutely correct.

Lindsey, 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 have always been fascinated by human behavior. I love people, and desire to help others live their life to the full, not hindered by things like fear, shame, and sadness. My passion for mental health started growing throughout my undergrad, when I learned about psychology at UC San Diego. I competed for the NCAA swim team in college, so I found myself interested in sports psychology, and began desiring to help athletes with their mental wellness. Ultimately the mental health crisis during COVID-19 inspired me to return to graduate school, which I began in 2020 at Colorado Christian University. What sets me apart from other counselors is my personality for sure, I don’t have the stereotypical counselor vibe in any way besides being a good listener. I attract clients who are very driven, intelligent, and who believe they can heal and that life will get better. I take a holistic approach to wellness, and emphasize a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach in my practice. I lean into CBT, Mindfulness, and Existential approaches along with the former. I often ask clients about things like sleep, hydration, nutrition, exercise, social life, and spiritual wellness if faith is part of their life. I work with adults and adolescents primarily, with aspirations to specialize with collegiate athletes someday. I am also fascinated by nervous system recovery, and have enjoyed teaching clients skills to help balance the vagus nerve and get their body out of fight-or-flight mode.

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

I have had to unlearn comparison, and if I am honest, it is always going to be a process of un-learning. Growing up as an athlete, and a very competitive one, comparison has come with the territory. I grew up when social media was just taking off, and as everyone knows, the majority of folks don’t post their worst moments. Years in school also feed the comparison problem, with grades, college acceptances, social hierarchies, and so on. And then it continues with who is getting what job out of college, who is getting married, and how nice is the place they live or the vacations they take. And it seems to continue with parenting; I know far too many mothers who are amazing but don’t see it because they are comparing themselves to an instagram-perfect mom who somehow has 6-pack abs a month after giving birth. I would venture to say that most people struggle with comparison on some level, but I never thought I could actually unlearn this social and culturally-conditioned behavior. I realized a couple things; first off that comparison is largely based on assumption, and assumption is almost always incorrect. I also noticed that the more time I spent on social media, the less I felt confident in my life, so I deleted the apps from my phone and now rarely check. I also realized that we can even compare our current life to life in the past, and long for what was, or teleport into the future, and worry about what will be. Sounds like a recipe for depression and anxiety. Learning how to be present, embracing my identity as a child of God, cultivating healthy relationships, and being mindful of what I consume with my eyes and ears are a few ways I have worked towards unlearning this problematic behavior.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Experience, mentorship, and grit. Experience is necessary because textbooks and practice-counseling with classmates will only take you so far. That’s why grad school includes internship, but working full-time takes a new kind of stamina that you just can’t learn in school. Mentorship is crucial, and aside from the required clinical supervision for the first two years after graduation, I recommend networking and building relationships with other professionals. This goes for any field, not just mine! Networking is important in every job, and I personally can’t learn enough from others who are farther along than me. Grit is also vital, because there will be days you want to give up. It helps to love what you are doing, and if you are certain about that, it is a lot easier to stay in it on the hard days. I feel similarly about counseling that I did about swimming; I might not always crush the workout (or session), I might get injured (or battle my own mental health issues), and I might feel lonely at times being part of an individual sport (counseling can be isolating) but I love mental health (almost) as much as I love the water.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.highersightscounseling.com/lindsey-miller
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsey_c_miller/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-miller-820056126/