October 1, 2024 • 17 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to establish a thriving mental health practice from scratch? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Sarah Jordan of Soul Haven Counseling, and discover her journey from grad school to co-founding a practice that specializes in trauma care for children, teens, and adults. Sarah delves into the importance of holistic support that addresses socio-emotional, intellectual, and academic development, and emphasizes the critical role of collaboration with schools and community stakeholders to offer truly comprehensive care. We also tackle common misconceptions about therapy, such as the belief that one must be facing a major crisis to seek help—learn how therapy can be a proactive tool for mental well-being.
In this heartfelt segment, Sarah opens up about the human side of therapy, including the fact that even therapists seek out their own mental health support. She shares personal stories about her love for exercise, cooking with her husband, and balancing joy and grief after losing a loved one during a happy period in her life. These experiences have given her a deeper understanding and empathy that she brings into her therapy sessions. We wrap up by exploring how these personal insights shape her practice and highlight Soul Haven Counseling's commitment to supporting parents in their mental health journeys. Don't miss this touching and informative episode that sheds light on the realities of mental health care.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta,
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Stacey Risley.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello friends and neighbors.
Welcome to North Atlanta's GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Today we have Sarah Jordan withSoul Haven Counseling in the
studio with us.
Welcome, Sarah, we're happy tohave you.
Thank you so much.
I'm happy to be here.
Well, we're going to go aheadand jump right in and, if you
will go ahead and tell ourlisteners about your business,
(00:31):
tell us about Soul HavenCounseling.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Absolutely.
I'm happy to tell everyoneabout Soul Haven.
So when you hear me talk aboutthis, I'll mention we a lot in
that we in this case is myco-owner, ms Caroline Ferrari,
and myself.
So we actually created SoulHaven Counseling, which is a
mental health private practicefor children, teens and adults,
and it's all trauma specialized.
(00:54):
So that's our corner of theworld, just offering mental
health care for that population.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Wonderful, oh my goodness.
Well, and this is something, Ithink, that is so underserved,
you know, in our community, Ithink a lot of people just we
don't necessarily know about theresources that are available,
and so I'm really excited to tohear hear more about you guys.
Well, go ahead and tell usabout your journey into this,
(01:19):
and this can be you and it canbe your.
What was your?
What is your co-owner's name?
Again, the brilliant Caroline.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The brilliant.
I love that.
So, caroline Ferrari and SarahJordan, well, tell us about the
journey behind Soul Haven.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Absolutely so.
Caroline and I actually met inour grad school career as we
were going through our clinicalrotations to learn how to be
therapists, and we actually metat a child advocacy center.
So our first interactions withmental health were working in
child trauma.
So our clients we offered freetherapy services, but they were
(01:58):
all children who were impactedby things like sexual abuse,
physical abuse, witnessingdomestic violence, witnessing
suicide and homicide.
And so she and I met in thatspace and we also met in the
academic setting as well,getting our master's degree and
we very quickly knew that thiswas where we were meant to be is
working with others, servingthe community, and we loved
(02:19):
being creative in the field andso as we kind of got our degrees
, we learned and honed in ourskills.
We still had that drive, but wejust kind of switched around
the environments where wepractice.
So I was, I stayed in a childadvocacy center setting and then
I moved to a private practiceand my original background is in
education and Caroline kind offlip-flopped, her background was
(02:41):
in private practice and thenshe moved into the schools and
so after a while we just kind ofreconnected with each other and
said there's a gap here becausethe schools can work on
development in this way, privatepractices this way, but we're
not really getting the wholechild and the whole family
covered.
And that's really where SoulHaven was born was targeting the
(03:03):
socio-emotional development,intellectual development,
academic development and makingthings creative and very
individualized so that parentsdon't have to worry about.
Okay, I'm talking to therapists, how do I connect them with my
school counselor, with the lifecoach, with the academic coaches
, and things like that.
So we typically reach out toall of those different
(03:25):
stakeholders in the communityjust to kind of make sure that
we're not just treating asymptom, we're really getting to
the root of what's going on.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I love that and you're really, you know,
speaking to my heart.
I also have an educationbackground.
I taught elementary school foralmost nearly 20 years before
changing careers.
So there is a gap, you know.
You mentioned there being a gapand there definitely is, and I
love that you are able to kindof connect all the pieces you
(03:53):
know for those families andthat's hugely, hugely beneficial
to have everyone working on thesame team, because you are on a
team, you know, and it's somuch easier when everyone just
works together and communicates.
So that is wonderful.
And I love that you guys bringyou know, like you said, you
guys you kind of flip flop, andI love that you both bring all
(04:16):
of that knowledge and a wealthof knowledge you know to the
table.
So that's wonderful.
So the next question is kind ofturned into a fan favorite and I
think with your industrythere's going to be a lot of
these answers.
But we ask all of our guests toclear up any myths or
misconceptions about theirindustries with our listeners.
And we imagine you've got quitea few of those, because I know
(04:39):
that just from my own experience, just from my own experience,
there are lots of misconceptionssurrounding health in general,
but also, you know, trauma basedprobably as well.
So go ahead and anything youwant to clear up with our
listeners.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Absolutely Stacey.
I love that you brought up thatquestion because I feel like so
much of our jobs is ridding themyths of mental health and when
I think about it, the first onethat comes to mind is I feel
like a lot of folks feel likesomething has to happen to go to
therapy.
They feel like there has to bethis really large traumatic
event or something really goingon in their life.
(05:17):
It doesn't have to be the case.
Of course.
Soul Haven and Caroline and Iare very trauma informed and
that's the basis of what we do,so we are absolutely reactive in
that way.
But therapy can also be veryproactive in nature and it can
be this idea of you don't haveto stumble into therapy because
something's necessarily wrong.
You can be in therapy to keepthings going right in your life.
(05:41):
And it's this idea of liketherapy can help strengthen what
you've already created.
You can get to know yourself alittle bit better and then also
therapy can be there to be likeyour safe haven and your soul
haven, I would say If life doeshappen, and how you can react
and adjust and still feel likeyou're in control and you are
being your best self in thosemoments.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I really, really love that and we kind of talked
during the pre-interview just atouch about there really is, I
just feel like this gap and withwith in mental health in
general.
You know, I think that there's,it's underserved, and I love
that.
You said that people think thatsomething bad has to happen in
order for therapy to bebeneficial, and that's just not
(06:26):
the case, you know, it's truly Ilove that.
You said, you know, beproactive instead of reactive,
and and that's just a reallygreat way to look at it I think
there's such a stigma that oursociety has placed on mental
health issues and thingssurrounding mental health, and
and being proactive about yourmental health is the same as
being proactive about yourphysical health.
(06:47):
You know, I just I really am astrong believer in that.
You know you don't have to havemental illness.
You don't have to be sick to goto the doctor for a physical,
you know.
So it's like there's there'sjust so many just a negative
stigma attached to it that justdoesn't need to be there for
folks.
You know, it's just not intoday's world especially.
(07:10):
I'm a firm believer in therapy.
I think we could all benefitfrom a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And your therapist is probably in therapy too.
I always like to say therapy isa human experience.
If we are not authentic andhumans in the room, I'm probably
not working very well with you.
So your therapist probably hasa therapist and they have a
therapist too, and we all wonderwho's really at the top.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And the answer is no one really.
Whoever's working, whoeveryou're working with in the
moment, everyone's got on thesame playing fields.
So we don't all have thetraining that you have on the
same playing fields, so we don'tall have the training that you
have, obviously.
Well, I love, I'm so glad thatwe addressed that one.
(08:02):
Well, we're going to kind ofshift gears a little bit now, if
you don't mind.
And I want to tell ourlisteners our show is really
geared about putting you know,getting to know the people
behind the business.
And so tell our listeners, whatare you doing for fun when
you're not working?
And I know that for you it'sfun to work and what you do and
that you love your job but whatare you doing when you're not
(08:22):
working?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Oh, my goodness, I love that question Because I
feel like therapists are liketeachers and there's this
misconception that like we don'texist outside of work and we do
, like we go grocery shoppingand run into students at the
grocery store.
They were shocked and I'm likedo you think I don't eat Right
exactly.
So when I am not at Soul Haven,I love to embrace movement in
(08:44):
my body, love, exercise.
You can typically find me at mylocal Pure Bar studio.
Pure Bar, alpharetta is one ofmy favorite places in the entire
world.
That's just my, that's my happyplace myself, and you can also
find me with my family.
You know I'm very grateful thatI truly married the most
wonderful man in the world and Ijust adore him, and so you can
(09:06):
typically find us like tryingnew recipes at home.
He's this avid gardener, soit's like my fun little
challenge to use what he gardensand use what he pulls to make a
recipe out of, and you can alsofind us with our family.
You know, very lucky.
I've got family that live offCanton Street and I got a very
sweet little nephew and we'reabout to welcome a second nephew
(09:26):
later this year and we canusually find us, thank you.
We're typically walking downcanton street.
I know this time of year iswhen the scarecrows come up and
so my nephew will love lookingat all the different scarecrows
and the pumpkins and things likethat, so we love to explore the
canton street area, play in thekitchen and then just be
together.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I'm very grateful for that yeah, that sounds
wonderful and we live in such agreat city to to be.
You know, I'm an Atlanta nativeand it's just there are so many
great areas.
Well, so to shift gears again,I'm going to move into and we
(10:05):
ask, we ask what you're doingfor fun?
And then we get a little moreserious and ask there's been a
life challenge.
We all have challenges throughlife but a challenge or hardship
that you've gone through inlife that you can say now, for
having been through thatexperience and come out on the
other side, that you're betteror stronger for that today.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Sure.
So when I think of that,obviously I'm very family
centered as a person from mylast answer, but I, a few years
ago, I had a pretty significantloss.
It was very close to me and itwas something that really
derailed myself, my family andour lives.
And it was also at a time thatwas meant to be the happiest of
my life, meaning I was gettingmarried, and so I was managing
(10:49):
this very traumatic grief andloss while at the same time I
mean, I picked up my weddingdress two or three days after
this person passed.
And it was this reallyinteresting time where not only
did I gain this very intimateunderstanding of grief and how
it relates to me, but also thisbalance of navigating one of the
(11:11):
darkest moments in my own lifeand one of the best at the same
time, and what it's like forthat darkness and that sorrow to
coexist with joy.
And I do feel like I can saythis now, but I do feel like it
happened for a reason and that Iwas able to acknowledge both at
the same time to help, honestly, keep things stable.
(11:33):
But it was very difficult.
There would be moments where Iwould say like I'm not fully
present in either emotionbecause the other exists.
And I think now I just have abetter understanding about that.
Human experience of life isreally messy and there's no good
time for anything to happen.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, that is great insight and I can imagine in a
situation like that that tobalance joy and grief at the
same time.
I had a friend that kind of wasgoing through something similar
around the time of her havingher first child and and she had
(12:13):
a lot of guilt when she wasfeeling joy, you know, and to
have the balance of those, ofthose emotions and I imagine, in
having that personal humanexperience of those you know,
helps translate into make you abetter therapist for people that
are struggling with that.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It does.
And even sometimes some clientswill say like I'm going through
this wonderful thing, whyaren't I happy?
It's like it's okay if we'renot feeling 100% happy because
you know, our world is verymessy, especially nowadays.
Yeah, right we can unpack itand we don't have to feel guilt
for feeling multiple things atonce, especially as women too.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Well, thank you for sharing.
I appreciate that.
And so, gosh, this is flown by,but we're already kind of about
to kind of wrap up.
So now let's circle back toSoul Haven, counseling again.
And is there anything else,before we do wrap up, that you
(13:18):
would like our listeners to knowabout Soul Haven?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh, my goodness, Absolutely, and I think I would
cater this towards the parents.
Obviously, we work with a lotof children and teens, so what I
would love people to know isthat going to therapy, at least
at Soul Haven, is not to tellyou that you're a bad parent.
Not at all, because that is ahuge fear and anxiety.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I love that you're addressing this.
As a parent and I've been ateacher and that so many parents
are hesitant to seek helpbecause they think it's a
reflection of something thatthey are or not doing correctly.
(14:00):
You know, and it's not.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So sorry, I fine, because you're right and I think
that we I'm really glad thatsociety is placing an emphasis
on spotlighting that.
There's a lot of wild pressuresput on children now, but we
also have to loop in theparental pressure and parent
shaming, and so when I talk toparents, when they come in, I
always like to joke and say,like imagine your ideal peanut
butter and jelly sandwich.
What kind of bread are youusing?
(14:27):
What kind of jelly or jam?
What kind of peanut butter andjelly sandwich?
What kind of bread are youusing?
What kind of jelly or jam?
What kind of peanut butter?
You can probably list hundredsof iterations of that same
combination and I always feellike parenting is adding
thousands to that.
Like I will never tell you thecorrect combination to make this
ideal sandwich in your head.
What I'll do is I'll say, likeokay, what ingredients do we
(14:49):
have?
Like how can we make this workin therapy with your child and
your family?
So it makes no sense to you.
You know you typically can'tGoogle the coping skills that we
like to teach at Soul Haven,but instead they're personalized
to your family.
It's okay, mom or dad, if we'rein the car going back and forth
to baseball practice, whateverit looks like to gate teams.
(15:12):
Can we try to ground whilewe're in the car together, or do
we have like a check-in systemthat we can use for your child?
And so that's really what Ilike people to know is that we
want to eradicate, or try tostart to eradicate, the shame
from the parent end and thechild end, because coming into
Soul Haven is not thisconsequence of something
(15:33):
negative.
If anything, it can just belike a nice sounding board to
get stronger later on.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I love that.
I love that you said use theword consequence.
I do think that that is amisconception, kind of goes back
up to the misconceptionquestion.
I love that you address that atthe end.
I'm super glad.
Well, and so if our listenerswant to learn more, if they want
to reach out, sarah, what isthe best way for them to get in
touch?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Absolutely so.
People can find us at ourwebsite, which is
wwwsoulhavengeorgiacom.
All of our importantinformation is there about
styles of therapy, insurance,super bills, our styles
ourselves.
But they can also find us onInstagram at soulhavencounseling
.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Wonderful Well, thank you so much.
It has been an absolutepleasure, Sarah.
I'm so excited that we've hadthe chance to get to know you
and Soul Haven Counseling.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Thank you, stacey.
I appreciate you so much, youand your time and your energy.
It's been great.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Oh well, thank you.
I have enjoyed it so much aswell.
So well.
That's all for today's episodeAtlanta.
I'm Stacey Risley with the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Thanks for listening and forsupporting the local businesses
and nonprofits of our greatcommunity.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
North Atlanta.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses, visit
gnpnorthatlantacom.
That's gnpnorthatlantacom.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta,
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Stacey Risley.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello friends and neighbors.
Welcome to North Atlanta's GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Today we have Sarah Jordan withSoul Haven Counseling in the
studio with us.
Welcome, Sarah, we're happy tohave you.
Thank you so much.
I'm happy to be here.
Well, we're going to go aheadand jump right in and, if you
will go ahead and tell ourlisteners about your business,
(00:31):
tell us about Soul HavenCounseling.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Absolutely.
I'm happy to tell everyoneabout Soul Haven.
So when you hear me talk aboutthis, I'll mention we a lot in
that we in this case is myco-owner, ms Caroline Ferrari,
and myself.
So we actually created SoulHaven Counseling, which is a
mental health private practicefor children, teens and adults,
and it's all trauma specialized.
(00:54):
So that's our corner of theworld, just offering mental
health care for that population.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Wonderful, oh my goodness.
Well, and this is something, Ithink, that is so underserved,
you know, in our community, Ithink a lot of people just we
don't necessarily know about theresources that are available,
and so I'm really excited to tohear hear more about you guys.
Well, go ahead and tell usabout your journey into this,
(01:19):
and this can be you and it canbe your.
What was your?
What is your co-owner's name?
Again, the brilliant Caroline.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The brilliant.
I love that.
So, caroline Ferrari and SarahJordan, well, tell us about the
journey behind Soul Haven.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Absolutely so.
Caroline and I actually met inour grad school career as we
were going through our clinicalrotations to learn how to be
therapists, and we actually metat a child advocacy center.
So our first interactions withmental health were working in
child trauma.
So our clients we offered freetherapy services, but they were
(01:58):
all children who were impactedby things like sexual abuse,
physical abuse, witnessingdomestic violence, witnessing
suicide and homicide.
And so she and I met in thatspace and we also met in the
academic setting as well,getting our master's degree and
we very quickly knew that thiswas where we were meant to be is
working with others, servingthe community, and we loved
(02:19):
being creative in the field andso as we kind of got our degrees
, we learned and honed in ourskills.
We still had that drive, but wejust kind of switched around
the environments where wepractice.
So I was, I stayed in a childadvocacy center setting and then
I moved to a private practiceand my original background is in
education and Caroline kind offlip-flopped, her background was
(02:41):
in private practice and thenshe moved into the schools and
so after a while we just kind ofreconnected with each other and
said there's a gap here becausethe schools can work on
development in this way, privatepractices this way, but we're
not really getting the wholechild and the whole family
covered.
And that's really where SoulHaven was born was targeting the
(03:03):
socio-emotional development,intellectual development,
academic development and makingthings creative and very
individualized so that parentsdon't have to worry about.
Okay, I'm talking to therapists, how do I connect them with my
school counselor, with the lifecoach, with the academic coaches
, and things like that.
So we typically reach out toall of those different
(03:25):
stakeholders in the communityjust to kind of make sure that
we're not just treating asymptom, we're really getting to
the root of what's going on.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I love that and you're really, you know,
speaking to my heart.
I also have an educationbackground.
I taught elementary school foralmost nearly 20 years before
changing careers.
So there is a gap, you know.
You mentioned there being a gapand there definitely is, and I
love that you are able to kindof connect all the pieces you
(03:53):
know for those families andthat's hugely, hugely beneficial
to have everyone working on thesame team, because you are on a
team, you know, and it's somuch easier when everyone just
works together and communicates.
So that is wonderful.
And I love that you guys bringyou know, like you said, you
guys you kind of flip flop, andI love that you both bring all
(04:16):
of that knowledge and a wealthof knowledge you know to the
table.
So that's wonderful.
So the next question is kind ofturned into a fan favorite and I
think with your industrythere's going to be a lot of
these answers.
But we ask all of our guests toclear up any myths or
misconceptions about theirindustries with our listeners.
And we imagine you've got quitea few of those, because I know
(04:39):
that just from my own experience, just from my own experience,
there are lots of misconceptionssurrounding health in general,
but also, you know, trauma basedprobably as well.
So go ahead and anything youwant to clear up with our
listeners.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Absolutely Stacey.
I love that you brought up thatquestion because I feel like so
much of our jobs is ridding themyths of mental health and when
I think about it, the first onethat comes to mind is I feel
like a lot of folks feel likesomething has to happen to go to
therapy.
They feel like there has to bethis really large traumatic
event or something really goingon in their life.
(05:17):
It doesn't have to be the case.
Of course.
Soul Haven and Caroline and Iare very trauma informed and
that's the basis of what we do,so we are absolutely reactive in
that way.
But therapy can also be veryproactive in nature and it can
be this idea of you don't haveto stumble into therapy because
something's necessarily wrong.
You can be in therapy to keepthings going right in your life.
(05:41):
And it's this idea of liketherapy can help strengthen what
you've already created.
You can get to know yourself alittle bit better and then also
therapy can be there to be likeyour safe haven and your soul
haven, I would say If life doeshappen, and how you can react
and adjust and still feel likeyou're in control and you are
being your best self in thosemoments.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I really, really love that and we kind of talked
during the pre-interview just atouch about there really is, I
just feel like this gap and withwith in mental health in
general.
You know, I think that there's,it's underserved, and I love
that.
You said that people think thatsomething bad has to happen in
order for therapy to bebeneficial, and that's just not
(06:26):
the case, you know, it's truly Ilove that.
You said, you know, beproactive instead of reactive,
and and that's just a reallygreat way to look at it I think
there's such a stigma that oursociety has placed on mental
health issues and thingssurrounding mental health, and
and being proactive about yourmental health is the same as
being proactive about yourphysical health.
(06:47):
You know, I just I really am astrong believer in that.
You know you don't have to havemental illness.
You don't have to be sick to goto the doctor for a physical,
you know.
So it's like there's there'sjust so many just a negative
stigma attached to it that justdoesn't need to be there for
folks.
You know, it's just not intoday's world especially.
(07:10):
I'm a firm believer in therapy.
I think we could all benefitfrom a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And your therapist is probably in therapy too.
I always like to say therapy isa human experience.
If we are not authentic andhumans in the room, I'm probably
not working very well with you.
So your therapist probably hasa therapist and they have a
therapist too, and we all wonderwho's really at the top.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And the answer is no one really.
Whoever's working, whoeveryou're working with in the
moment, everyone's got on thesame playing fields.
So we don't all have thetraining that you have on the
same playing fields, so we don'tall have the training that you
have, obviously.
Well, I love, I'm so glad thatwe addressed that one.
(08:02):
Well, we're going to kind ofshift gears a little bit now, if
you don't mind.
And I want to tell ourlisteners our show is really
geared about putting you know,getting to know the people
behind the business.
And so tell our listeners, whatare you doing for fun when
you're not working?
And I know that for you it'sfun to work and what you do and
that you love your job but whatare you doing when you're not
(08:22):
working?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Oh, my goodness, I love that question Because I
feel like therapists are liketeachers and there's this
misconception that like we don'texist outside of work and we do
, like we go grocery shoppingand run into students at the
grocery store.
They were shocked and I'm likedo you think I don't eat Right
exactly.
So when I am not at Soul Haven,I love to embrace movement in
(08:44):
my body, love, exercise.
You can typically find me at mylocal Pure Bar studio.
Pure Bar, alpharetta is one ofmy favorite places in the entire
world.
That's just my, that's my happyplace myself, and you can also
find me with my family.
You know I'm very grateful thatI truly married the most
wonderful man in the world and Ijust adore him, and so you can
(09:06):
typically find us like tryingnew recipes at home.
He's this avid gardener, soit's like my fun little
challenge to use what he gardensand use what he pulls to make a
recipe out of, and you can alsofind us with our family.
You know, very lucky.
I've got family that live offCanton Street and I got a very
sweet little nephew and we'reabout to welcome a second nephew
(09:26):
later this year and we canusually find us, thank you.
We're typically walking downcanton street.
I know this time of year iswhen the scarecrows come up and
so my nephew will love lookingat all the different scarecrows
and the pumpkins and things likethat, so we love to explore the
canton street area, play in thekitchen and then just be
together.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I'm very grateful for that yeah, that sounds
wonderful and we live in such agreat city to to be.
You know, I'm an Atlanta nativeand it's just there are so many
great areas.
Well, so to shift gears again,I'm going to move into and we
(10:05):
ask, we ask what you're doingfor fun?
And then we get a little moreserious and ask there's been a
life challenge.
We all have challenges throughlife but a challenge or hardship
that you've gone through inlife that you can say now, for
having been through thatexperience and come out on the
other side, that you're betteror stronger for that today.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Sure.
So when I think of that,obviously I'm very family
centered as a person from mylast answer, but I, a few years
ago, I had a pretty significantloss.
It was very close to me and itwas something that really
derailed myself, my family andour lives.
And it was also at a time thatwas meant to be the happiest of
my life, meaning I was gettingmarried, and so I was managing
(10:49):
this very traumatic grief andloss while at the same time I
mean, I picked up my weddingdress two or three days after
this person passed.
And it was this reallyinteresting time where not only
did I gain this very intimateunderstanding of grief and how
it relates to me, but also thisbalance of navigating one of the
(11:11):
darkest moments in my own lifeand one of the best at the same
time, and what it's like forthat darkness and that sorrow to
coexist with joy.
And I do feel like I can saythis now, but I do feel like it
happened for a reason and that Iwas able to acknowledge both at
the same time to help, honestly, keep things stable.
(11:33):
But it was very difficult.
There would be moments where Iwould say like I'm not fully
present in either emotionbecause the other exists.
And I think now I just have abetter understanding about that.
Human experience of life isreally messy and there's no good
time for anything to happen.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, that is great insight and I can imagine in a
situation like that that tobalance joy and grief at the
same time.
I had a friend that kind of wasgoing through something similar
around the time of her havingher first child and and she had
(12:13):
a lot of guilt when she wasfeeling joy, you know, and to
have the balance of those, ofthose emotions and I imagine, in
having that personal humanexperience of those you know,
helps translate into make you abetter therapist for people that
are struggling with that.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It does.
And even sometimes some clientswill say like I'm going through
this wonderful thing, whyaren't I happy?
It's like it's okay if we'renot feeling 100% happy because
you know, our world is verymessy, especially nowadays.
Yeah, right we can unpack itand we don't have to feel guilt
for feeling multiple things atonce, especially as women too.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Well, thank you for sharing.
I appreciate that.
And so, gosh, this is flown by,but we're already kind of about
to kind of wrap up.
So now let's circle back toSoul Haven, counseling again.
And is there anything else,before we do wrap up, that you
(13:18):
would like our listeners to knowabout Soul Haven?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh, my goodness, Absolutely, and I think I would
cater this towards the parents.
Obviously, we work with a lotof children and teens, so what I
would love people to know isthat going to therapy, at least
at Soul Haven, is not to tellyou that you're a bad parent.
Not at all, because that is ahuge fear and anxiety.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I love that you're addressing this.
As a parent and I've been ateacher and that so many parents
are hesitant to seek helpbecause they think it's a
reflection of something thatthey are or not doing correctly.
(14:00):
You know, and it's not.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So sorry, I fine, because you're right and I think
that we I'm really glad thatsociety is placing an emphasis
on spotlighting that.
There's a lot of wild pressuresput on children now, but we
also have to loop in theparental pressure and parent
shaming, and so when I talk toparents, when they come in, I
always like to joke and say,like imagine your ideal peanut
butter and jelly sandwich.
What kind of bread are youusing?
(14:27):
What kind of jelly or jam?
What kind of peanut butter andjelly sandwich?
What kind of bread are youusing?
What kind of jelly or jam?
What kind of peanut butter?
You can probably list hundredsof iterations of that same
combination and I always feellike parenting is adding
thousands to that.
Like I will never tell you thecorrect combination to make this
ideal sandwich in your head.
What I'll do is I'll say, likeokay, what ingredients do we
(14:49):
have?
Like how can we make this workin therapy with your child and
your family?
So it makes no sense to you.
You know you typically can'tGoogle the coping skills that we
like to teach at Soul Haven,but instead they're personalized
to your family.
It's okay, mom or dad, if we'rein the car going back and forth
to baseball practice, whateverit looks like to gate teams.
(15:12):
Can we try to ground whilewe're in the car together, or do
we have like a check-in systemthat we can use for your child?
And so that's really what Ilike people to know is that we
want to eradicate, or try tostart to eradicate, the shame
from the parent end and thechild end, because coming into
Soul Haven is not thisconsequence of something
(15:33):
negative.
If anything, it can just belike a nice sounding board to
get stronger later on.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I love that.
I love that you said use theword consequence.
I do think that that is amisconception, kind of goes back
up to the misconceptionquestion.
I love that you address that atthe end.
I'm super glad.
Well, and so if our listenerswant to learn more, if they want
to reach out, sarah, what isthe best way for them to get in
touch?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Absolutely so.
People can find us at ourwebsite, which is
wwwsoulhavengeorgiacom.
All of our importantinformation is there about
styles of therapy, insurance,super bills, our styles
ourselves.
But they can also find us onInstagram at soulhavencounseling
.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Wonderful Well, thank you so much.
It has been an absolutepleasure, Sarah.
I'm so excited that we've hadthe chance to get to know you
and Soul Haven Counseling.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Thank you, stacey.
I appreciate you so much, youand your time and your energy.
It's been great.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Oh well, thank you.
I have enjoyed it so much aswell.
So well.
That's all for today's episodeAtlanta.
I'm Stacey Risley with the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Thanks for listening and forsupporting the local businesses
and nonprofits of our greatcommunity.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
North Atlanta.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses, visit
gnpnorthatlantacom.
That's gnpnorthatlantacom.
Popular Podcasts
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com