Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rochelle Cornwall. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Rochelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I took two big risks in my professional career. I’m still grateful for both and the opportunities for work/life balance they continue to provide me. I’m not rich, and I do have a lot of taxes to pay, but it’s been so worth taking the leap.
I don’t have a mind for tedious details– business mindset? Forget about it. I could barely remember to take the metaphorical chicken out of the freezer to defrost, much less manage a business with such a high level of responsibility and attention to detail. State requirements, taxes, and so much documentation: that would be a lot of my shoulders in addition to the intensity of my already intense day job with the local community mental health hospital. I was doing home visits, loving and supporting my clients and learning the rural underpinnings of severe and persistent mental illness. I was making okay money– never enough to pay *all* of the bills, but hey, who can? I was being underpaid and overworked, so I took my LCSW exam finally, and passed after studying daily for several months., just like in Nevada.
But this was different– I was licensed here in my home state now as an experienced professional with 8 years post-graduate experience. The world opened up for me. My job didn’t think so, though– the raise they had offered me upon licensure actually didn’t exist. They offered me a home visit supervisory job in another county, spanning 3 rural counties, with another department I didn’t know. The raise was negligible. I spoke with my supervisor about how dissatisfying it was to know those were my options. She didn’t have an answer– she loved working with me and wanted me to stay where I was anyways. I needed more for myself.
The idea of being a therapist was always the goal, but within an agency. Someone else’s agency, with their name on the front door. As a woman of color, a first generation American and college graduate, I had no idea what the steps would even be to connect with insurance panels and get started with such a stressful undertaking.. I started working private practice in the evenings with a PsyD who actually had a name very similar to me at the time lol. It was nice, I worked in her office and she allowed other therapists to use it in the evenings, a great business model. 60/40 split. My first foray in private practice was so healing, so therapeutic. I was getting paid weekly. One of my clients came in extremely sick within the first few weeks; seeing a young college girl in such a state felt jarring. I quickly got sick as well. At that time it had no name– but that night was the harbinger of what was to come.
My marriage therapist at the time encouraged me to go into private practice. She told me she could make even $100,000 if she wanted to, but she chose to only take 3 or 4 clients daily. I was shocked. I passed my exam in August, became licensed in September without pay increase at work, started working private practice at an agency I happened to see on my drive home, and started seeing how a one woman show could really be possible. Then my therapist encouraged me to take my own leap and I did, finally– it was December 2019 , right before the pandemic. I had been so fearful about insurance billing that I didn’t realize I could just accept cash pay and zelle. I did, and it worked fine. My boss allowed me take my one client with me, and I did. I would build from there and use Simple Practice and PsychologyToday like she did, and it worked well. My evenings, 2 hours nightly, did begin to fill and become regular. I had been so scared. This was not a scary thing, this is what I was born to do, and had been doing for years, just in a different capacity. This was for me, and I was so proud. An anxious ADHD therapist was making it work, with the help of my partner at the time who registered the LLC and started the social media and website. Those things were scary to me too, but they were not impossible tasks.
By 2020, I had left the community mental health job and started renting a space in the same office buiilding as my first private practice job– turns out a friend of mine there had a tax business by day and let me use the office at night, free of charge out of love. I had to force her to accept $100/monthly. By March, the whole world had shut down. I had started at a children’s therapy place, and they were getting ready to close down, too, despite their efforts. Their resistance was actually causing what felt like a super-spreader event in the small town. My family was scared. I lived with my elderly mother in law, and they didn’t want me to get her sick. I took the risk of taking my business online via telehealth. I just knew then, that if COVID hadn’t killed by business by now, in my cute little office after hours, then telehealth and the stay-home mandates surely would. I was wrong. I worked for the children’s therapy place via telehealth, as well as another agency, and my own during COVID. I was so grateful to not have to work in close proximity to others but still help so many. I enjoyed telehealth and still work solely online to this day. What if I had said no to the opportunity when it arose?
The two biggest risks in my life turned out to be the creators of my own two favorite career and lifestyle changes. My life isn’t perfect, and neither is my insurance biller, Grow Therapy, but they get it done and on time. I’ve been with them for quite some time and will continue, even as I work and supplement with other specialized agencies, like those that provide psychedelic-assisted therapies or yoga therapy or kink therapy. I will take more risks, like adding workshops or building retreats, but those will come in time. To some therapists, these may feel like normal tasks, but to someone with intense anxiety it can feel like 10 mountains and take as many years to make a change or a small move. My advice to the Nervous Nellie’s and Negative Nancies? Do research on what works, and then find or pay someone to help. Obstacles don’t have to stay in the way, and dreams don’t have tp be denied. You can start today on any goal you have for tomorrow with a little help, a little research, and some enthusiastic self compassion. We have what it takes to make our dreams happen.
Rochelle, 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?
Rochelle is also a queer therapist of Caribbean descent who understands the importance of honoring your unique culture and intersectional experiences. She believes in the power of feminist therapy and recognizes how our environment shapes us, and how we can create radical, positive change in our own lives, families, and communities. In sessions, she gently guides you through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, helping you unravel the roots of cognitive dissonance and empowering you to make choices that lead to authentic connection with self and others. She also uses Motivational Interviewing, a supportive approach that allows you to appreciate the progress you make over time, building on successful patterns that cultivate joy, resilience, and a deep sense of self-worth, while releasing anxiety, sadness, trauma, negative self-talk, and unhealthy habits that may have been used to cope with stresses of daily life.
Rochelle’s therapy style is encouraging, empowering, and truly open-minded, establishing a space where you can explore your needs, your feelings, and what truly creates happiness in your life. With gentle humor, genuine empathy, and enthusiasm, Rochelle makes the therapeutic experience a positive and nurturing journey of self-discovery.
As an alumna of the Florida State University Graduate Social Work Program, Rochelle continues to seek ways to make an impact on her various communities through empathic counseling and demonstrating acceptance for all persons with respect to their age, race, gender, gender expression/presentation, religion, sexuality, economic status, and ability. She enjoys teaching empathy, resilience, and emotional intelligence via telehealth therapy, community outreach, mental health and wellness presentations and groups, individual and family counseling sessions, and providing comprehensive sexual health education and relationship counseling.
Over the past decade. Rochelle has been tapped for LGBTQ educational seminars, self-care and meditation trainings, youth workshops, and minority wellness events. She has written curricula on the topics of life skills and wellness while working as a counselor at PACE Center for Girls. Their Spirited Girls curriculum is used statewide and used daily to help heal girls who have experienced traumas and need to find a sense of emotional balance and safety. Rochelle has also produced writing material for The Affirmative Couch, a sex-positive resource for other therapists around the country.
As an alumna of the Florida State University Graduate Social Work Program, Rochelle continues to seek connections that will give value and increase my knowledge base for my clients and their benefit. Rochelle is interested in networking and reaching out to share mental health education via community groups/circles, social media, podcasting, or video blogging to inform the community about the importance of mental wellness, social justice, and the power of using their collective voice. She’s happy to share my knowledge of mental health and healthy coping with clients, up-and-coming social workers, healers and helping professionals, students of all ages, as well as communities.
By 2026, Rochelle plans to become professionally trained in therapeutic yoga in the future. Please visit her website RJC Wellness, promoting Real Judgment-Free Counseling and Wellness in therapy at www.RJCWellness.com. Rochelle is also listed on TherapyDen, PsychologyToday, Therapy for Black Girls, and Grow Therapy, Inclusive Therapy Group, Alma, and Headway.
Rochelle is a proud cat mom, plant mom, daughter, sister, lover, and 1st generation American of Jamaican descent,
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
I absolutely would– there is nothing like what I am doing; it fulfills me.
IT work would be the only thing I could conceive trying– it would probably lead me back to AI and using it to save the world.
Therapy helps me feel like my dream of world peace for all is happening, just in really small increments, all over the world. I’m glad to contribute to the softening of the world in my own small way.
The other cool thing is that Social Work can allow me to do all my other interests. Authentic elf expression is bake into the ideals of the profession. I can sing, dance, write, and create poetry here, and I have! There is room for drum circles and public speaking, protesting and marching, and supporting sex workers here. I can include emotional therapy animals and help people from every single walk of life. I am doing all of these things now, starting at my first internship.
I am in the right place <3
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Being empathic and socially conscious is important. I have no understanding of the minds of conservative therapists that work against the best interests of their clients. I am glad that I understand struggle and have tasted peace– knowing both of these things, with understanding of immigrant families, particularly from the Caribbean, has been really helpful. Clients like to know they are felt and understood from page one, step one. It puts them at ease. Being a genuine safe space is so healing for those that come in contact with it. Clients often cry on the first day due to the emotional release and relief they feel from being finally seen, heard, validated and understood.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.RJCWellness.com
- Instagram: RJC.Wellness
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rjcwellness/
- Other: https://www.zocdoc.com/professional/rochelle-jamille-powell-lcsw-328096
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/rochelle-cornwall-miami-fl/915575
https://growtherapy.com/provider/4xekgw8amvr5/rochelle-cornwall
Image Credits
self