Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Renee Villanueva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Renee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

When I started going to community college, I didn’t think I was smart enough to make it into a University. I was studious and made good grades but I thought a University was out of my reach. I talked about a University being my next stop after community college but I didn’t actually believe I would get in. I too scared to take the SAT’s in high school, when I started ACC I started in remedial math, I took my first online class and failed and I had to pay some of my tuition out of pocket which meant I couldn’t be in school full time so I could work full time to pay bills and tuition. I juggled multiple jobs to make ends meet and ultimately the only way to take classes full time and work one full time was to waitress. So I waitressed to have a flexible schedule, make fast cash and take classes full time. I had a friend that I waitressed with who had been accepted into Texas State University and she was living in the college apartments near campus. She asked me to consider moving into the her apartment as one of her roommates. At the time, I worked my way up as a floor manager in my waitress job and made enough to live on my own. If I went to Texas State that meant I have to move to another city, find another job where I could pay my bills and pay tuition. First, I would have to get accepted. So I thought, why not, I’ll apply. I applied a semester early to see if I could get in. To my surprise, I was accepted. This was scary, I had no idea how I was going to make ends meet while attending full time at a University. My parents were happy and excited but also scared because they weren’t sure how I was going to make ends meet either and didn’t want to see me struggle. I made a plan to sell all my belongings in my apartment, I saved as much money as I could, I visited my friend, soon to be roommate, who was already living there so I could find my way around and look for potential jobs. I had one semester to prepare and plan. After that semester, I took what I had after selling all my belongings, took a risk not knowing all the answers and moved in my friend to attend Texas State University. At first it was hard because I couldn’t find a job right away so I continued working two jobs in Austin while attending classes in San Marcos until I could find a job. Eventually I did find a job on campus and continued to work on the weekends in Round Rock so I could make ends meet. Sometimes I had skip class to waitress if I wasn’t going to make rent or I would sell one of my belongings such as a TV to make money. I would also have to drive to Round Rock during the week to waitress at night and attend classes during the day. I remember feeling so tired during my classes from working the night before, and at times, wanted to give up but I didn’t have another plan so I didn’t think quitting was an option. I was a non-traditional student who worked my way through college and received my bachelor’s degree when I was 26 years old and went on to the advanced master’s program and graduated with my master’s degree one year later at 27 years old. I took a risk to leave my old life behind and stepped into an arena that I thought was once out of my reach. Still till this day, I feel it was the best risk/decision that I made; I’ve made life long best friends, I’ve grown into my career giving back to others and when I’m ever feeling stuck in life, I look back to that risky moment I stepped into blind folded and remind myself that I did it then and can do it now.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started going to college for business management but I had no idea what I wanted to own my own business in. That quickly changed after I took my first psychology class. In the psychology class, I learned so much about myself and my family that I wanted to learn about people and their behaviors. Things about my own family started to make sense, I started to understand my own behavior in relation to my mental health and I understood I wanted to change things about my mental health for the future family I would have one day. By learning more about myself and my family, I believe I have been called to this field through my own personal journey. I have worked in the social work for over 10 years with various groups. I started off working with at risk youth providing programs and case management, I’ve worked in non-profits serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, non-profit serving children and their family with IDD services, offering therapy for maternal & paternal mental health, group practices offering therapy to individuals, couples and adolescents and found my niche working with individuals around anxiety, depression and life transitions. I specialize in working with men and women heal from childhood and intergenerational trauma by breaking toxic cycles; specifically with breakup recovery, relationships, inner child healing, and mind-body connection. I work in collaboration with clients and offer modalities in therapy around my trainings in trauma-informed yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), mindfulness techniques, Gottman theory, and somatic work. Our work often includes inner child work, setting boundaries, limiting thinking & behavior patterns, attachment theory, healthy relationships, emotional regulation, grounding techniques, self-care & self-compassion. I am most proud of finding my niche and learning different modalities that have all been based on my experience, knowledge and clients request.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Knowing my ideal client! After being in the field for so long, I started to learn that there were topics, issues and challenges I wanted to focus on and that was all based on the clients I was seeing. I started to narrow these topics down I was interested in based on the my ideal client. When I narrowed down and found my niche, I was able to laser focus on specific trainings, research and pretty much fixing the same problems over and over again for clients which helped me improve as a professional in a specific area. By learning what my clients needed help with and focusing on what I was interested in help me get trainings and narrow down my niche that now attracts the clientele that I enjoy working with.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Be yourself, authentic and not get too caught up in the red tape, lack of expertise and imposter syndrome. The first thing therapists focus on when getting a new client is creating a safe space for clients and building rapport/connection. A lot of therapists have great trainings, knowledge and experience but at the core of all of this is who we are as a person. Working within the realm of our limitations and scope of practice, when we can be our authentic selves as a professional, we can offer our clients so much more.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.herthenticspace.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneevillanueva_/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-villanueva-5502901a/

Image Credits
Colorful shirt & maroon outfit: FemForce Photoshoots Blue outift: Timmothie Gbunblee with Adventures and weddings