We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tamara Statz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tamara, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My Dad was a farmer and my Mom was a nurse. From them I learned about work ethic, consistency (err… perfectionism??), and the value of caring for others. I saw my Dad running his own business, along with all the highs and lows of that experience. But I was able to observe his skills of creative problem-solving and hard work. I know it wasn’t stress-free. Being a farmer, your entire livelihood is affected by the weather. The ever-changing, relatively unpredictable weather. You can lose everything with a flood or a drought. The stakes are so high as a business owner, let alone as a farmer. I also saw his satisfaction when we had a good yield. He was able to be so personally proud of his hard work, which was inspiring. My Mom was a nurse in a hospital and worked 12-hour rotating shifts for much of my young childhood. She was dedicated to caring for others, at times at the expense of her own wellbeing. She’s still paying for it today, turning 70 soon. She has varicose veins in her legs, and ailing knees. Especially in a hospital setting, the work of nurses involves a lot of walking and standing, which takes its toll. At the same time, I don’t think she’d change a thing. I saw her dedication to the folks she took care of, but at the same time learned that I need to set limits so that it doesn’t come to harm me in the end.
Another significant influence my Mom had on me was in facilitating my love for working with older adults. In her role as a nurse at a homecare agency, she took care of older adults in their homes (single family home, assisted living, nursing home, etc.). When I was in high school I needed volunteer hours for National Honor Society and my Mom had an idea to get me connected with the local assisted living. I started calling bingo and pretty much instantly fell in love with spending time with the older women there. They were so sassy and self-assured. They were straightforward and honest. It was incredible, for my 14 year old self! I also was a companion for a woman in her late 80s, I would visit her in her apartment. So ultimately my passion for working with older adults dates back nearly 25 years! I am forever and ever grateful for my Mom having the idea and sharing with me her love of working with older adults.
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 am a passionate advocate for older adults and their families. In my work as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, I see adult individuals, couples, families, and groups who are facing chronic or terminal illness, death and dying, grief and loss, dementia, caregiving, and more. My work focuses on maintaining quality of life in the face of health challenges, wellbeing while caregiving, and support throughout grief and loss. I also hold a Fellow in Thanatology from the Association for Death Education and Counseling, which signifies the highest expertise in Death, Dying, and Bereavement.
I founded Vibrant Living Senior Services, LLC in 2013 to address the unmet mental health needs of older adults, their families, and caregivers in Minnesota. Older adults have unique concerns that often are missed or misunderstood. I provide counseling support to older adults dealing with a variety of issues, including retirement, family conflict, depression, isolation, end of life, terminal illness and more. I designed my practice to meet the needs of older adults and their families to have a dedicated time to talk with a kind, neutral, listening ear. Talking with a therapist is different than talking with family and friends. During your counseling session you get to unload and refresh, all in a space of warmth and non-judgment.
In addition to my clinical work, I conduct research, am an educator, and a board-approved clinical supervisor. I engage in collaborative research on topics related to aging, grief, illness, caregiving, and dementia with collaborators at researchers around the US; am adjunct professor at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in the Counseling and Psychological Services Program; and am a board-approved supervisor for clinicians seeking mental health professional licensure in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I envision a world where older adults are valued and honored (as we are all aging!), caregivers are supported, families are able to have hard conversations, and aging is seen as a time of opportunity and purpose – and I am honored to do everything within my power to make it so.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
There are mixed opinions in the mental health field about whether or not to have a “niche” or a specific area of focus or clientele. In my practice, I chose to niche myself right into a corner, and it has proven to be a very successful strategy for me. I have identified my areas of interest and developed strong skills and experience to address them with clients. Many of my referrals come from other therapists who have heard of my areas of focus and expertise, which are pretty unique in the field. Much to my dismay, very few therapists focus on working with older adults. Many choose to work with children (which is great, we need that!), or adults, but with kind of an unspoken cutoff at a certain age, maybe 55 years old. That leaves from 40+ years of life that folks are experiencing and they need help and support for! So having such a specific niche that is also unique in my field has been beneficial to me.
I’ve built my reputation on being knowledgeable and skilled, and doing good work. Word of mouth is powerful! Finding a therapist that you fit with is challenging (even therapists have a hard time finding therapists!!) because it’s such a unique, intimate, and vulnerable relationship talking about your areas of greatest concern, pain, and being willing to be challenged and grow. So when others know that I do good work – whether that be current or past clients recommending me to others, or colleagues who refer to me, that word of mouth shows its power. So ultimately I’d say it’s a cycle of doing good work, word of that spreading, and then having more opportunities to continue to good work.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
Absolutely I would do exactly what I’m doing today. I’ve known since middle school that I wanted to be a Marriage and Family Therapist. No joke. As a kiddo I was pretty depressed and anxious. Thankfully my Mom was very pro-mental health, and helped me to find a therapist. As happens, I had to take some time to find the right therapist fit. One was just sort of blah, One was a Christian therapist and wanted us to pray during a session (which was fine) but while I was praying, she stopped me and told me that I prayed wrong. Not kidding. That scarred me for 10+ years, where I didn’t pray out loud in front of others. Another made assumptions about how I was feeling based on my facial expressions (my face is very expressive, just not always accurate) and wasn’t very curious about what I was actually experiencing. So I had a handful of experiences that even as an adolescent I thought, “I can do better than that. I’m a great listener, all my friends have told me that” (such an adolescent way to think!). So even then I was determined to be good at my craft. Thankfully, a couple of great therapists came along in that time who showed me that I could be heard, validated, challenged, and supported as I worked through some stuff and grew along the way.
In addition, having supportive family and mentors along the way who were very encouraging of my goals and drive, helped me to sustain throughout undergrad, graduate school, supervision, licensure, and exams. I didn’t know when I graduated with my master’s that I would start a business 2 weeks later. I hadn’t necessarily planned on being a business owner. But toward the end of my program when I was starting to look for jobs, I wasn’t finding agencies I really wanted to work for. I knew I wanted to focus my work on older adults, but I didn’t find the local agencies who offered services to older adults to be particularly appealing. Thankfully, I had fantastic mentors at the time who knew me, my background, my areas of skill and experience, and encouraged me from the start to build my own practice. So I did! It’s been an incredible ride for the past 11 years! The freedom of working for myself is .. well hard to put into words just how impactful it has been on my life. And if my love of working for older adults hasn’t already become clear throughout this interview, yes, without a doubt I would choose the same specialty. Hands down.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vibrantlivingmn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vibrantlivingllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vibrantlivingllc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamarastatz/
- Other: Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/tamara-statz-minneapolis-mn/176586TherapyDen: https://www.therapyden.com/therapist/tamara-statz-saint-paul-mn
Image Credits
Just me