Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Robyn Broadus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Robyn , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
My journey, which began with a speaking opportunity to my college campus, organically evolved through further life and world experiences. This led to a blog, a social media presence, a private practice, and a passion for sharing wellness and trauma healing resources with others. Let me share:
<b>Speaking:</b> My first speaking opportunity, to an audience of 800 at Westmont College in May 2013, arose from a medical shock trauma I experienced the previous year (more on this later). Since then, I’ve spoken at group practices, schools, and churches.
<b>Blog:</b> I initially started my blog in August 2013, as a way to stay connected with family and friends as I worked in the UK. Since then, this site has naturally evolved alongside other life experiences, including getting married, having children, becoming a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and personal healing.
<b>Instagram</b>: I launched my public Instagram as a way to inspire and refresh others; interestingly, I did this just before the national coronavirus shutdown.
<b>Private Practice:</b> While on maternity leave with my second child in 2021, I realized I would need to build up my caseload, whether as an LMFT in my own private practice or within someone else’s group practice or company. I really needed flexibility in my job. I also really wanted to be able to pursue my passions of speaking and writing on the side; and I thought that being my own boss in private practice had the possibility of giving me that opportunity.
So I took the big leap and opened my own practice. Reflecting back on it, I’m surprised that I took the risk to start it as I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it work. But because my husband was so supportive (he kept encouraging me to “take the next step”), and because the potential benefits seemed to more than outweigh any cons, I decided to pursue it. I remember thinking, “I don’t really have much to lose and I have so much to potentially gain.”
And I did it! And I’m so grateful and glad I took the risk.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hello there. I’m Robyn. I’m a wife and mom, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, blogger, and speaker. I also have this miraculous trauma healing story and am in awe, still, to not only have survived but also to have recovered fully (albeit imperfectly) years later. I feel like I was given my life back to embody joy and be a living reminder that seemingly hopeless circumstances are not necessarily hopeless.
Therefore, the purpose of my private practice and public presence is to encourage, strengthen, inspire, and refresh the hearts of all people, but especially people experiencing or feeling trapped by literal or emotional pain.
To this end, I provide:
– inspirational content on my blog and social media, about my personal trauma healing journey, wellness tips, identity truths (of all people!), and faith.
– therapy sessions (in-person in Arcadia as well as telehealth to clients living in California). I primarily work individually ( teens and adults) with issues related to trauma, perfectionism, neurodiversity and/or chronic pain. Depending on each unique client’s needs and strengths, I integrate the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Restoration Therapy, and/or parts work.
– wellness coaching throughout the US based on the Community Resiliency Model (CRM).
– speaking services on various topics including trauma healing, trauma resilience, mindfulness, self-care, glimmer moments, and present-day miracles.
It feels redemptive that I fell into my vocation because of a near-fatal car accident. Yes, that event started an arduous trauma recovery journey. But without personally experiencing overwhelm to my nervous system and deep pain, I likely wouldn’t have had the desire to become a trauma therapist. And without this miraculous and encouraging story, I likely wouldn’t have had the speaking opportunities I’ve been given.
To be totally transparent, my primary income still comes from my private practice and not from speaking or writing (yet). However, I’m starting to get more opportunities to be paid to speak. And I hope and believe more opportunities are on the horizon.
I deeply desire my potential clients and followers to know that it is within the realm of possibility for emotional healing to happen. That it is within the realm of possibility to be strengthened by noticing (or remembering) light in our midst, even though it’s alongside pain. And that it is within the realm of possibility for hope and joy and love and abundance to sprout up even in the most treacherous and threatening of times.
We all have different strengths, weaknesses, and unique qualities. And by courageously being my authentic self, I deeply hope others will be encouraged on their own journeys.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Yes! Would love to share. This is actually the reason why I’ve gone into what I’ve gone into. :) Two weeks before what would have been my last year in college, I was in a severe rollover car accident— where I suffered an extreme traumatic brain injury, torn carotid artery, punctured lung, and damage to a cranial nerve, among other more minor injuries. I was placed on a bed of ice and into a medically-induced coma for two weeks, spent a month in the ICU, and subsequently transferred to another hospital for an additional month. Doctors had informed my family that I had a 3% chance of living. It was an arduous five-year physical recovery journey and an eight-year emotional recovery journey. However, I am still alive! And I am well!
In that first year of recovery, I relearned how to hold myself up, how to walk, talk, twist a door knob and think critically, among other things. The physical discomfort and cognitive challenges were so overwhelming that I felt like I had no other choice than to cling tightly to hope and the possibility of changing circumstances.
I study resilience now as a therapist and am formally trained in the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) and the Community Resiliency Model (CRM). And though I didn’t know any of the researched factors that contribute to resilience, emotional healing, or well-being while I was in recovery, I can reflect now that many of the elements that lead to a person or community being resilient were evident in my recovery. For example, I had amazing social support. I was open to hope. I clung to perseverance. I reached for my resources—the people, places, things, and memories that sustained and strengthened me– such as morning tea with my sister and mom, and the memory of walking on my own again (without a wheelchair, walker, or gait belt). I clung to my faith. I noticed glimmers. I was strengthened by noticing good and light, even though it was alongside deep pain. I tried to take care of myself. Due to the severe TBI, I was temporarily unable to consider others’ perspectives. While challenging, I now recognize this as a gift, as it allowed me to focus on my healing (and not on people-pleasing or how it affected other people).
Reflecting back on the early days of recovery, I am surprised by how much I handled. I can’t believe everything I went through, especially given the fact that I had no knowledge that I would one day be healed and fully recovered (albeit imperfectly). I firmly believe it was my amazing community, deep faith, perseverance, and openness to goodness and hope that brought me through.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I know—both personally and professionally—that rest is foundational to our well-being and vitality. In my recovery from TBI, there was a season that I needed to sleep, nap, or rest for about 18 hours a day. While that is no longer the case, my body still needs a lot of rest to thrive and to be my best self.
Despite knowing this intimately, our culture’s emphasis on efficiency and productivity sometimes tempts me to choose a path that is <i>less</i> restful (anyone else relate?). However, it’s actually in times of rest that my brain has the ability to wander and make connections. It’s in moments of rest–while generously taking care of myself– that I experience spurts of inspiration, creativity, clarity, and guidance. In fact, during a recent moment of refreshment, while flipping through an old journal, I stumbled upon some words that exactly encapsulate what I’m hoping to achieve through my blog and social media presence. I hadn’t remembered I wrote these down (four years ago!), but they were there all along: I just had to stop and receive.
I’m on a journey of unlearning the lesson that resting is not valuable. Rest is, in fact, invaluable if I’m hoping for well-being in life and the possibility of sustained creativity and inspiration.
Contact Info:
- Website: robynbroadus.com
- Instagram: @robynbroadus
Image Credits
Noelle Johnson Photography Ashton Lane Photography Chris & Jenn Photography