E28: Counseling Across the Lifespan: Finding Strength in Vulnerability

What makes Tess Inman with Cristina Panaccione and Associates a good neighbor?  

Ever felt embarrassed to ask for mental health support? You're not alone. Therapist Tess Inman shares how her own struggles finding help in the 90s led her to a 13-year career breaking down barriers to therapy access.

For Tess and the team at Christina Panaccione and Associates Counseling, vulnerability isn't weakness—it's strength. Their female-led practice has spent a decade fighting the persistent myth that therapy is only for those with "something wrong." As Tess explains, trauma is subjective, and everyone faces struggles, especially as we collectively recover from the global trauma of COVID-19.

With two physical locations in the Pittsburgh area (McMurray/Canonsburg and Robinson) and comprehensive virtual services, this practice is removing obstacles to mental wellness. They provide school-based services across four districts and treat clients across the entire lifespan. Their team includes specialists certified in grief counseling, EMDR trauma treatment, and Gottman couples therapy—ensuring that whatever your needs, there's someone qualified to help.

What sets this practice apart is their commitment to holistic care. When working with children in schools, they often extend support to entire families. Their diverse team uses various therapeutic approaches, making mental healthcare more accessible and tailored to individual needs. Whether you're dealing with everyday challenges or more complex issues, their message is clear: seeking help is normal, natural, and necessary.

Ready to prioritize your mental health? Visit cpa-counseling.com, call 412-439-1416, or find their clinicians on Psychology Today. Taking that first step toward self-care might be the most powerful choice you make today.

To learn more about Cristina Panaccione and Associates go to: 

cpa-counseling.com

Cristina Panaccione and Associates

[phone]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a therapypractice?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
Tess Inman, with ChristinaPanaccione and Associates
Counseling.
Tess, how's it going?
Pretty good.
How are you doing?

(00:34):
I'm very well.
Thank you so much.
We're excited to learn allabout you and your business, so
tell us about your practice.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Sure, sure.
So we are a private practice inthe Pittsburgh area.
We have two locations, one inMcMurray, cannonsburg area and
then also in Robinson.
We also provide school-basedservices for four different
districts in the area Deer Lakes, shaler, burrell and we also

(01:04):
provide services for PA Cyberstudents and we are a practice
that's been, we've been aroundfor 10 years.
We are a female-ran practiceand we service across the
lifespan and we definitely arehere in the community to try to
normalize going to therapy,against that stigma that is

(01:24):
still present in our society.
We also have provide virtualservices as well.
Since COVID, there is a lot ofpush for virtual therapy, so we
also provide that.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
So how did you get into this business, tess?

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh, wow, yeah, I have been a clinician for about 13
years now.
I went into therapy to become atherapist because I remember
growing up in the 90s and havingmy own struggles, being exposed
to trauma and feeling like itwas almost embarrassing to ask

(02:00):
my parents if I could go totherapy, and then finding a
therapist was another mission onits own, and I think that I
really just wanted to contributeto breaking that stigma and
that being vulnerable andacknowledging our struggles is a
sign of strength.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Absolutely.
What are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Definitely that, with that stigma in our society
against mental health treatment,I think it's still seen as
there's something wrong with you, like you're crazy if you go to
therapy.
But really it is more aboutacknowledging that trauma is
subjective and we all havestruggles, especially in this
post-COVID world, withnavigating.

(02:46):
You know how to recover from aglobal trauma.
I think there's still, you know, those thoughts that you have
to be there, has to be somethingvery wrong with you in order to
go to therapy.
And you know, even using thatword crazy we don't like that
word very much because it's veryderogatory and it is it kind of

(03:07):
tells us that not everyone cango to therapy and that it
wouldn't be productive forsomeone who is just going
through life and has struggles.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Right, right.
And you know, as we know, thatmarketing is the heart of every
business.
Who are your target customershere, and how do you attract
them to the counseling practice?

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Sure, so we definitely use our website a lot
to get a lot of traffic intoexposing them to the different
clinicians that we have.
We do have a various scale ofdifferent kinds of therapists,
different modalities used.
Most of our clinicians also usepsychology.
Today, I'm finding today, intoday's world, that is such a

(03:50):
nice way to find a clinicianthat is going to meet your needs
, Because it's basically anonline profile of you know what
you specialize in, what yourhistory in the field is like.
So most of our referrals comefrom there.
We also get a lot of referralsfrom the schools that we work in
and with that you know we canprovide school-based services,

(04:14):
but also we'd like to, if needed, we'd want to treat the whole
family.
So we also have clinicians thatcan work with couples, with
families, with children, withelderly people.
So we definitely use word ofmouth referral in that sense.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Great.
As we talk about opening up theconversation around mental
health and reducing that stigma,have you ever thought about
doing your own podcast to getthe word out there?

Speaker 3 (04:43):
And, you know, one of these days I might just do that
.
It is definitely something that, again, we want to normalize,

(05:04):
that you can talk about thesethings, it's OK, you know, and
that also that a lot of peoplein our society might be
struggling with similar thingsto you.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Sure, absolutely.
And that relatability factortoo, absolutely.
So, outside of of work, what doyou do for fun?

Speaker 3 (05:19):
oh, I, I'm an athlete .
I've always um played sports.
I've been playing volleyballfor about 30 years now, so I
play a couple times a week.
Also, you know, hanging outwith friends, um, I love animals
, um, and even I I always loveto talk about this that
Christina, the owner of ourpractice again, she is even in a
band and she performs all overPittsburgh, and we all

(05:43):
definitely push for self-care,you know, so that we can take
care of ourselves, so we canbetter take care of our clients
as well.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Very good, Tess.
Please tell us one thing thatour listeners should remember
about Christina PanaccioneAssociates Counseling.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I think definitely that we treat across the
lifespan.
It is not a practice where youknow that you might not find
someone that has worked withyour age range or anything like
that.
We like to provide cliniciansthat work with little kids to
our early population, like Isaid, and you know that we also

(06:24):
have very many clinicians thatare certified in different
modalities.
We have grief certifiedclinicians, we have EMDR, which
is a trauma treatment.
We have EMDR clinicians.
Myself I'm a couples therapist.
I am Gottman certified, so wedefinitely have many clinicians
that have experience but alsohave certifications with that.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Excellent.
How can our listeners learnmore about Christina Panaccione
and Associates Counseling?

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Sure, you can go to our website at cpa-counselingcom
.
We also have our phone numbers412-439-1416.
You can also look us up onPsychology Today.
We do have a page for ourpractice, but also, if you go to
our website, most of ourclinicians have their own

(07:16):
Psychology Today that you canactually go to our website.
Most of our clinicians havetheir own psychology today that
you can actually access throughour website as well.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Very good.
Well, Tess, I really appreciateyour time today and having you
as a guest on our show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you asking me tobe here and, yes, I definitely
want to continue to spread theword, to normalize being
vulnerable and, you know, justsetting goals for ourselves,
care of ourselves as individuals.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thank you for the work you're doing in the
community.
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom.
That's GNPPittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.