We were lucky to catch up with Sarynelly Rojas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sarynelly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
Each and every one of my client’s story warms my heart. Getting to know them, where they come from, the struggles they have overcome, and their resilience during their own healing journey is always inspiring. Each one of my clients has an amazing story to tell and to have them trust me with it fills my heart with joy.
What is even more heartwarming to me is to see my clients succeed and to be a part and a witness to their healing. When clients tell me that they are thankful for what I have done for them or when they tell me that I have helped them overcome some of the biggest obstacles they have faced is definitely on the list of the best heartwarming stories I have heard. It makes me so happy to know that I was in some way, someone that helped them get through their difficulties.
There is no better feeling as a therapist than to see your clients successfully meet their therapeutic goals. Some clients come back years later to tell me how well they are doing and how much therapy helped them. Some of my clients are now adults with families of their own and to know they are doing well is a reminder that I must be doing something right. It is definitely the highlight of my career!
Sarynelly, 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?
Since I was in high school, I knew that I wanted to focus my career path on helping others. While in college, I began my pursuit of what would become the career of my dreams. In 2003, I graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. After getting married and moving to Georgia in 2007, I continued to further my studies in psychology as I knew that I ultimately wanted to specialize in clinical work and dedicate my career to helping individuals one on one. In 2009, I completed my Master’s degree in Clinical Counseling Psychology from Brenau University and in 2011, I became a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Georgia.
After working for some years at a non-profit organization, specializing in the treatment of children and adolescents who were victims of sexual abuse, I decided that I wanted to focus my career path in continuing to help this population. It was later on that I was given the opportunity to work in a group practice and given an inside look into the world of private practice.
During this time, a wonderful mentor and friend of mine inspired me and encouraged me to take the leap into the unknown and open up my private practice and in 2018, I opened up A Healing Heart, LLC in Loganville, Georgia.
A Healing Heart, LLC is a solo private practice where I continue to focus on working with children, adolescents, and families affected by trauma. My work experience and expertise focus on child and adolescent psychotherapy. During COVID, I noticed a great increase in children and teenagers dealing with anxiety, depression, stress, suicidal thoughts, etc., and a lot of the focus of A Healing Heart, LLC currently is also assisting clients who are dealing with the struggles that have become more prevalent after the pandemic. I specialize in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and primarily work with children, adolescents, and adults by providing counseling, advocacy, and psychoeducation. My ultimate goal is to restore trust and hope to children, adolescents, and families who have been affected by mental health difficulties. I am also bilingual in both Spanish and English and one of my greatest accomplishments has been to have the opportunity to help the Hispanic community here in Georgia.
There is no greater joy than to see children and adolescents meet their treatment goals and transition out of therapy feeling more confident and able to face the challenges life sometimes brings. Being able to be a part of their healing journey is definitely the constant reminder of why I do what I do!
Have you ever had to pivot?
I had my son in 2008 and my daughter in 2012. I was essentially starting my career when I had my children. I’ve always wanted to be a mom and I’ve always known that I wanted to be present and a part of their development as much as I could. Balancing my career and being a mom has always been a challenge because I’ve never wanted to miss any of it. I love what I do professionally and I love being a mom, and in the early stages of my career and when my children were little, I definitely struggled emotionally wanting to be there for all of it. I was lucky enough to have the support of my amazing husband and the opportunity to put my mom role in the forefront and be there for my children when they were younger. As they grew up, I knew I wanted to further my career and focus more on my other love- my profession and being a psychotherapist.
After doing a lot of research, I felt comfortable enough in taking the leap and confronting my fears and doubts about opening up a private practice. I had a wonderful friend and mentor who encouraged me and motivated me to challenge myself and I will forever be thankful to her for that. Overcoming my fears of the unknown and deciding to open up a private practice has definitely been the best decision I have made. It has allowed me to balance the two things I love the most- being a mom and being a psychotherapist. Being able to create my own schedule and be my own boss has definitely given me the opportunity to be there for my family when needed and also help those who are in need of mental health services.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I strive to always have empathy and ethics be at the forefront of what holds A Healing Heart, LLC together. Remaining empathetic and ethical when working with clients and families is definitely at the essence of what I think is a great strategy to keep my business going. I think it is important to be authentic and fully present in my sessions and to always let the client know that they matter and that my office is a safe place for them. It is my greatest intention to be the support that these children and families need during difficult times.
Being a mom I think has also been very helpful. My children are now 16 and 13 years old and having them in my life has also given me a different perspective of what it is to be a child/teen growing up in the world today. I think my clients many times feel comfortable and understood knowing that I can also normalize and validate their feelings from a different point of view. I also strive to always be culturally sensitive and to get to know my client’s background, values, and beliefs to be able to serve them better. Another strategy has been being true to myself, my strengths and my shortcomings has also helped me in being able to grow my practice and are also main pillars of what creates the foundation to A Healing Heart, LLC.
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