We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matt Drumm a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
The biggest thing my parents did right was to teach me the overarching lesson; Never Give Up. They didn’t mind if I failed at something as long as I didn’t quit at it. What I learned is that my desire to achieve a goal has to exceed the desire to stay inside my comfort zone. This lesson from my parents has had a positive impact on my entire life, from education, military service, a career in law enforcement and now as a counselor in our community. Each one of these was challenging in different ways, but the message instilled went a long ways toward my success no matter the circumstance. A memory that comes to mind is my dad working construction at the time, he fell and broke both legs. We had just moved into a house, my mom was a RN working at John Peter Smith Hospital in the ER on night shift. It was tough for a while! My mom worked very hard at her job and at home, my dad applied himself diligently to recovering physically and they didn’t give up. We stayed in the house, the family stayed together and life moved forward! What I began learning at that young age was that life will get hard at times, focus on the goals, be grateful, and never accept defeat from yourself.
Matt, 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 am a Licensed Professional Counselor. My undergraduate degree is in Psychology and my graduate degree is in Applied Counseling. My primary focus in counseling is helping my clients with overcoming trauma. In 2010 I was given a career ending diagnosis of PTSD, my choices were to be forced into medical disability or to retire. For me, the right choice was to retire. I retired honorably from the Irving Police Department in December and was enrolled back in college full time in January. This was a massive life transition for me and I struggled…..a lot. However, my new goal was to become a counselor and help other people in our community recover from traumatic events in their lives, grow and move forward with a positive life experience. Many of my clients are first responders, military veterans or somebody who has experienced traumatic events such as child abuse, sexual assault, and other devastating events. What sets me apart perhaps is that I’ve lived through traumatic events myself in my law enforcement career and as a survivor of child abuse. I also understand the cultures of the military and the police…this includes the good and the bad parts of each. I would like everybody reading this to realize that you can get healing from life events, there are many extremely talented therapists in the DFW area, find one that you can connect with, work with them and trust them with your experiences, be open minded and you can make remarkable changes in your life.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When somebody chooses to invest the time, money for education and dedication to the licensing process there are many great things that come with that decision. One thing that does not come with it is a pass to our personal struggles. It’s easy to become distracted helping others and sometimes we forget to keep ourselves mentally and physically healthy. It’s vitally important to do this for our clients, our family & loved ones and for ourselves. After working in the counseling field for about 3 years, I began to be bothered again by my own traumatic history. As a result, my relationships were suffering as well as my service to my clientele. A close friend was able to bring this to light and recommend a course of action, I went through a program called Save A Warrior. Through this I was able to heal more, learn new skills and strategies for addressing trauma which I used to bounce back even stronger and share with others professionally.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
For two years I operated a small non-profit counseling organization. It was a struggle as any new business is, and there were many lessons to learn. What I had underestimated was the large amount of time needed to establish connections with donors, maintain those relationships and raise funds through grants etc… I was able to bring in enough funds to keep the doors open, but not enough to pay myself anything. Obviously this is not sustainable. A hard decision had to be made to seek a job with a private practice. The error was in my underestimation of a key component to a non-profit organization. The upside is I found a private practice with values and ideas of work culture that match my own! I work for Taylor Counseling Group and with them I am able to reach and help many more people than previously possible. Make mistakes….learn…pivot when necessary….don’t quit!
Contact Info:
- Website: taylorcounselinggroup.com