We were lucky to catch up with Victoria Lockridge recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Victoria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

My first job in the counseling field was working at an outpatient treatment center for substance use/addiction. I had completed my internship with this organization and decided to apply after I completed my internship requirements. How I ended up choosing to complete my internship here, I really couldn’t tell you. Substance use counseling was never even a blip on my radar when entering my graduate school program. This first job was, hands down, the most challenging job in the mental health field that I have had. However, I am very grateful for the lessons that I learned and believe this job has really shaped and refined who I am as a therapist today. This job taught me the importance of advocating for my clients regardless if other professionals did not agree with me. I learned how to sit with clients when they are feeling overwhelmed with anger, which had never been an emotion that I felt comfortable with. I also learned the importance of setting emotional boundaries. During the 2 years that I was employed with this agency, 2 of my patients had passed away. This was difficult for me to process as a new therapist and struggled with not taking at least partial responsibility for their lives ending. This leads me into my last lesson learned from this job which is to build and utilize a strong support system in the counseling world; this field of work is enormously rewarding, but can take an emotional toll, so having other counselors to process your experience with and lean on for support is key.

Victoria, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a licensed professional counselor and have been practicing for 4 years. After working in an agency and then group practice, I decided to venture out on my own and start my own private practice. Finding my career path has been tough. I have felt lost most of my life trying to figure out what I want to do (I changed my major at least 4 times in college). Imposter syndrome has been my unwanted companion ever since graduate school. “Who am I to try and change people’s lives? Why did I ever think I was smart enough, strong enough to be capable of helping others?” I believe every person in the helping profession has had similar thoughts at some point. The fact is, you don’t have to have a perfect life to help others. I see myself as a human just trying to help other humans as much as I can. I try to remind my clients that I am still learning and working on myself too. In fact, what my clients might not realize, is that they push me to grow as well. I have learned so much from my clients and they have helped me in ways that they may never know. I have such gratitude for every person who has trusted me, been vulnerable with me, shown me parts of themselves they have been too afraid to show the world. What a gift! As genuine as I can possibly portray in text, I truly believe I have the best job in the world. I feel overwhelmingly grateful to be where I am at today; tough days and all.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I have had to unlearn is that any type of negative or unwanted emotion is bad and you should try to get away from that emotion as quickly as possible. The reality is that all emotions serve a purpose, even anger and sadness. In fact, sometimes these are the emotions we should paying even more attention to. Every emotion is a message and instead of trying to quiet them, we should try to listen to them.

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

Probably the most obvious answer I can give here is that you should be a good listener. This is easier said than done and has many parts to it. Being fully present with your client means you are not paying attention to anything other that what your client is saying and observing how they present themselves. This is no easy task, and I’m sure everyone has experienced preparing a response in your head instead of listening to what the other person is saying in a conversation. Learning to be present is a skill and something that needs to be practiced while working in this field. I believe learning how to be authentic and genuine in your sessions is also key in succeeding in the therapy profession. It’s only fair that for me to expect my client to bring their truest self into session, I have to be willing to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wildvioletcounseling.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/wildvioletcounseling
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