November 19, 2024 • 10 mins
What happens when an elementary school teacher transforms into a mental health advocate? Meet Josh from Hope, Heal, Change Counseling, a passionate clinical mental health counselor who brings his unique journey to our podcast. Josh shares how his career took an unexpected turn from classrooms to counseling rooms, leading to the establishment of his own center in Rochester. From play therapy for the young to grief counseling for families, his team offers a wide range of services, all with the mission of destigmatizing mental health issues. Josh's inspiring story emphasizes that mental health matters to everyone, regardless of background.
Join us as Josh unravels some common myths about therapy. He invites listeners to rethink therapy as not a mystical solution, but a supportive space that empowers individuals to mend and nurture their self-relationship. This episode is packed with valuable insights, as Josh emphasizes the healing power of aligning with one's true identity. Discover how improving your relationship with yourself can be the key to unlocking personal growth and self-acceptance. Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation that promises to offer a fresh perspective on mental health and wellness.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lisa Swiftney.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi everyone and welcome to episode number 127 of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today we have with us Josh, andJosh is with Hope, healing,
change Counseling.
How are you doing today, josh?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm doing good, Lisa.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm doing good, thank you.
Thank you for agreeing to comeon and be a guest today.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, I've listened to some of the episodes and
flattered to be here to give alittle message to the community.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Great, so tell us about your business.
What do you do?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, so I'm a clinical mental health counselor
that's the official title forit, I guess.
I have my master's in clinicalmental health counseling and I
opened Hope Heal ChangeCounseling back in 2019.
Since then it used to be justme, but since then I've expanded
and I have a couple oftherapists with me now and we
provide mental health therapyservices to anyone in the public
(01:12):
.
We see people as young asfive-year-olds, all the way up,
you know, and we all niche insomething a little different.
So the most general form is,you know, helping people with,
maybe, depression, anxiety.
I do a lot of grief counseling.
Some of our therapists here doplay therapy, addictions
counseling and, of course,family and couple counseling is
a big thing for people too.
(01:32):
So we're kind of a one-stopshop.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Great and I appreciate you having this
ability and having your centerin Rochester.
It kind of disputes the wholestigmatism on mental health.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, I mean mental health, neuroses.
It doesn't really discriminate.
It doesn't care who you are,what you look like, it's pretty
equal for all of us and we'rereally proud to serve this
community and the community hasbeen great to us.
So our office is for peoplelistening right by St John's
School and Church next door, sowe're kind of buried right into
a nice neighborhood and some ofour clients just walk to our
(02:11):
office, which is such a neatthing for me.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh, that's amazing.
Tell our listeners about yourjourney.
How did you get into this?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, so I'm a career changer.
I went to school originally forelementary education and I
taught for four.
So I'm a career changer.
I went to school originally forelementary education and I
taught for four school years ina public school and I felt like
I was missing something and Iwent back initially to become a
school counselor, thinking, oh,I belong in the office and I'll
help kids with their guidancecounseling.
Once I got into school, Irealized I sort of fell in love
(02:43):
with the clinical part oftherapy and delivering talk
therapy and I sort of switchedgear and went the clinical route
.
And you know, here I am now.
So, yeah, I started aneducation.
So I've always been in thehuman services field and just so
happy to be doing what I'mdoing now.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Great, what an amazing story.
Can you tell us about any mythsor misconceptions that you hear
about in your industry?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
That's a really good question.
I think you know a myth is inour industry is that people are
going to come to me and I'mgoing to heal them and I have
got these magic tools and thesemagic potions and I'm like an
alchemist.
The truth is is I hopefullyprovide a space for people so
that they can heal themselves.
And it's not so much aboutgiving tools we're big believers
(03:33):
here at Hope, Heal, Change,Counseling that we're really
here to help you improve yourrelationship with yourself.
So many of us are in conflictwith ourselves.
We hate ourselves and or we'recoping for something in our life
and then we're.
We hate how we're coping.
So our job is to really providea space where you can work on
your self-relationship, becausewhen our relationship with
ourself is great, that's whenthe good stuff really tends to
(03:55):
happen.
That's where the healinghappens.
So I would say the myth is thatI, you're going to come and pay
and I'm going to give you thesecret to life, and really it's
about doing the work.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Wow, I didn't think about it like that, so that is
good.
Yeah, so tell us, when you'renow working with patients on
your business, what do you liketo do for fun?
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Well, I'll tell you what.
I grew up just North of townand so I was born and raised in
the area, moved away for alittle bit when I was teaching I
was a little bit of a lived upin Flint, but for fun I mean,
how lucky are we.
We have all these great golfcourses around.
I'm kind of addicted to thegame.
I don't get any better, but youknow I still like to love to
play.
I love.
Now that my business is inRochester, I participate a lot
(04:40):
in the downtown Rochester events.
We just went trick-or-treatingin the downtown
trick-or-treating event.
Big bonfire guy love sitting bya bonfire.
We have a little dog, a littlepug, named Marvin at home and
I've got a three and a half yearold, so my life usually
consists of chasing him aroundplaygrounds, parking lots, you
know places where he's notsupposed to be playing.
(05:00):
So yeah, that's a little and goLions.
I mean, that's my big thingright now.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Right, right.
That's a great game that we sawyesterday, huh.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Can you?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
describe for our listeners one hardship or a life
challenge that you rose aboveand can now say because of that
challenge that you're better forit and are stronger?
Yeah, that's another fantasticquestion.
I'm going to actually go backto an earlier part of our
segment here, when I realizedthat I didn't want to be a
teacher anymore.
That was a really hardrealization to come to.
I had all this schooling, allthis investment.
I had people telling me thatI'm a great teacher.
Yet for some reason I didn'twant to do it anymore and I
(05:51):
learned something about courage.
And I used to think of courageas like this huge thing where
you stand up in front of a groupof people and profess your
truth.
And really I learned thatcourage is just about making
some decisions in the face offear.
And I talked to my dad and Isaid, dad, I got to make a
change.
And I took that change as onestep at a time and applied to
grad school again, thinking I'dbe a school counselor.
And I just rose above by justputting one foot in front of the
(06:14):
other, making one decision at atime, until I got to an end
goal.
And that's how big things aresolved, right, we solve one
problem at a time until we gethome, so able to rise above just
by.
I didn't see it like this backthen, but just having these
small doses of courage, and thenI think it makes me.
I didn't see it like this backthen, but just having these
(06:34):
small doses of courage, and thenI think it makes me.
I don't know if it makes me abetter person.
I think it's made me a moreempathic person, because I work
with a lot of people that arecareer changers.
I sort of got my start incareer counseling and changing
career.
That can be a head scratchingfor those around us, but the
truth is is we're all trying ourbest and, to be more specific,
when we graduate high schoolit's like well, what are you
(06:55):
going to do, where are you goingto work?
And we're expected to make thesehuge life decisions at 18 years
old or 22 years old, and so Ithink I just have more empathy
now for people that feel alittle bit stuck and wanting to
make a change, and I'm here tohelp.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
You hit home on a lot of things there, so that is
great.
That is really good how youdescribe that challenge.
What's one thing that you wishour listeners knew about your
business?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think one thing I wish people knew about our
business something that'sprobably hard to see from our
clientele perspective, but wesee very clearly behind the
scenes here we really valuequality over volume and we're a
private pay practice, meaningmost people coming here are
paying out of their pocket, andit's a big investment and we
(07:49):
take that very seriously.
But because we're having peoplemake big investments into their
mental health, every staffmeeting, everything is geared
towards quality, whether it'sthe quality of our space, but
more so the quality of ourtherapy and we would rather see
fewer clients and providefantastic therapy rather than
(08:10):
seeing a huge volume of clientsRight providing sort of a cookie
cutter therapy.
So well, I guess that's thething I wish people knew is that
when you're signing up fortherapy with us, we're always
thinking about how can we be thebest therapy and therapy space
for people.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Wow, that is really good.
So now our listeners areintrigued.
They know that you have aquality practice.
How do they learn more?
How do they contact you?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah.
So probably the best way tolearn more is to go to our
website, which iswwwhopehealchangecom.
You can see our team and somepictures of what our facility
looks like and also learn moreabout our philosophy.
A therapy practice probablyisn't the best place to just
drop in, because we all might bein session.
You might walk into an emptywaiting room, but people are
(09:01):
welcome to call.
You know, our number is248-930-9132.
And I'm always happy if youknow, reaching out for therapy
is one of those courageousdecisions.
It's one of those small stepswithin a staircase that get us
to where we want to go, and I'malways happy to have people come
out one time or if I say hey,just stop in and get a feel for
(09:22):
the place and see if it's foryou.
So our website's probably good.
I'm on Facebook, I'm active onthe Rochester community page and
Lake Oregon and Shelby too, andDM me.
I try to be as available as Ican be.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
That's great.
Well, josh, thank you fortaking your time with us today
and letting us learn a littlemore about you and your practice
, and being a guest here on ourGood Neighbor podcast.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Well, thanks, Lisa.
I guess the last thing I'll sayif that's okay is, regardless
if it's my business or not, ifyou or someone you know is
struggling and they need help,don't hesitate to reach out, and
I'm happy to point people toresources or other therapists
that are the best fit.
But don't wait.
You deserve good things in yourlife and get the help you need.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Great, that's amazing .
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast,
rochester.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPRochestercom.
That's GNPRochestercom, or call248-988-9640.
(10:40):
You are.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lisa Swiftney.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi everyone and welcome to episode number 127 of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today we have with us Josh, andJosh is with Hope, healing,
change Counseling.
How are you doing today, josh?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm doing good, Lisa.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm doing good, thank you.
Thank you for agreeing to comeon and be a guest today.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, I've listened to some of the episodes and
flattered to be here to give alittle message to the community.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Great, so tell us about your business.
What do you do?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, so I'm a clinical mental health counselor
that's the official title forit, I guess.
I have my master's in clinicalmental health counseling and I
opened Hope Heal ChangeCounseling back in 2019.
Since then it used to be justme, but since then I've expanded
and I have a couple oftherapists with me now and we
provide mental health therapyservices to anyone in the public
(01:12):
.
We see people as young asfive-year-olds, all the way up,
you know, and we all niche insomething a little different.
So the most general form is,you know, helping people with,
maybe, depression, anxiety.
I do a lot of grief counseling.
Some of our therapists here doplay therapy, addictions
counseling and, of course,family and couple counseling is
a big thing for people too.
(01:32):
So we're kind of a one-stopshop.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Great and I appreciate you having this
ability and having your centerin Rochester.
It kind of disputes the wholestigmatism on mental health.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, I mean mental health, neuroses.
It doesn't really discriminate.
It doesn't care who you are,what you look like, it's pretty
equal for all of us and we'rereally proud to serve this
community and the community hasbeen great to us.
So our office is for peoplelistening right by St John's
School and Church next door, sowe're kind of buried right into
a nice neighborhood and some ofour clients just walk to our
(02:11):
office, which is such a neatthing for me.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh, that's amazing.
Tell our listeners about yourjourney.
How did you get into this?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, so I'm a career changer.
I went to school originally forelementary education and I
taught for four.
So I'm a career changer.
I went to school originally forelementary education and I
taught for four school years ina public school and I felt like
I was missing something and Iwent back initially to become a
school counselor, thinking, oh,I belong in the office and I'll
help kids with their guidancecounseling.
Once I got into school, Irealized I sort of fell in love
(02:43):
with the clinical part oftherapy and delivering talk
therapy and I sort of switchedgear and went the clinical route
.
And you know, here I am now.
So, yeah, I started aneducation.
So I've always been in thehuman services field and just so
happy to be doing what I'mdoing now.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Great, what an amazing story.
Can you tell us about any mythsor misconceptions that you hear
about in your industry?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
That's a really good question.
I think you know a myth is inour industry is that people are
going to come to me and I'mgoing to heal them and I have
got these magic tools and thesemagic potions and I'm like an
alchemist.
The truth is is I hopefullyprovide a space for people so
that they can heal themselves.
And it's not so much aboutgiving tools we're big believers
(03:33):
here at Hope, Heal, Change,Counseling that we're really
here to help you improve yourrelationship with yourself.
So many of us are in conflictwith ourselves.
We hate ourselves and or we'recoping for something in our life
and then we're.
We hate how we're coping.
So our job is to really providea space where you can work on
your self-relationship, becausewhen our relationship with
ourself is great, that's whenthe good stuff really tends to
(03:55):
happen.
That's where the healinghappens.
So I would say the myth is thatI, you're going to come and pay
and I'm going to give you thesecret to life, and really it's
about doing the work.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Wow, I didn't think about it like that, so that is
good.
Yeah, so tell us, when you'renow working with patients on
your business, what do you liketo do for fun?
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Well, I'll tell you what.
I grew up just North of townand so I was born and raised in
the area, moved away for alittle bit when I was teaching I
was a little bit of a lived upin Flint, but for fun I mean,
how lucky are we.
We have all these great golfcourses around.
I'm kind of addicted to thegame.
I don't get any better, but youknow I still like to love to
play.
I love.
Now that my business is inRochester, I participate a lot
(04:40):
in the downtown Rochester events.
We just went trick-or-treatingin the downtown
trick-or-treating event.
Big bonfire guy love sitting bya bonfire.
We have a little dog, a littlepug, named Marvin at home and
I've got a three and a half yearold, so my life usually
consists of chasing him aroundplaygrounds, parking lots, you
know places where he's notsupposed to be playing.
(05:00):
So yeah, that's a little and goLions.
I mean, that's my big thingright now.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Right, right.
That's a great game that we sawyesterday, huh.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Can you?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
describe for our listeners one hardship or a life
challenge that you rose aboveand can now say because of that
challenge that you're better forit and are stronger?
Yeah, that's another fantasticquestion.
I'm going to actually go backto an earlier part of our
segment here, when I realizedthat I didn't want to be a
teacher anymore.
That was a really hardrealization to come to.
I had all this schooling, allthis investment.
I had people telling me thatI'm a great teacher.
Yet for some reason I didn'twant to do it anymore and I
(05:51):
learned something about courage.
And I used to think of courageas like this huge thing where
you stand up in front of a groupof people and profess your
truth.
And really I learned thatcourage is just about making
some decisions in the face offear.
And I talked to my dad and Isaid, dad, I got to make a
change.
And I took that change as onestep at a time and applied to
grad school again, thinking I'dbe a school counselor.
And I just rose above by justputting one foot in front of the
(06:14):
other, making one decision at atime, until I got to an end
goal.
And that's how big things aresolved, right, we solve one
problem at a time until we gethome, so able to rise above just
by.
I didn't see it like this backthen, but just having these
small doses of courage, and thenI think it makes me.
I didn't see it like this backthen, but just having these
(06:34):
small doses of courage, and thenI think it makes me.
I don't know if it makes me abetter person.
I think it's made me a moreempathic person, because I work
with a lot of people that arecareer changers.
I sort of got my start incareer counseling and changing
career.
That can be a head scratchingfor those around us, but the
truth is is we're all trying ourbest and, to be more specific,
when we graduate high schoolit's like well, what are you
(06:55):
going to do, where are you goingto work?
And we're expected to make thesehuge life decisions at 18 years
old or 22 years old, and so Ithink I just have more empathy
now for people that feel alittle bit stuck and wanting to
make a change, and I'm here tohelp.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
You hit home on a lot of things there, so that is
great.
That is really good how youdescribe that challenge.
What's one thing that you wishour listeners knew about your
business?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think one thing I wish people knew about our
business something that'sprobably hard to see from our
clientele perspective, but wesee very clearly behind the
scenes here we really valuequality over volume and we're a
private pay practice, meaningmost people coming here are
paying out of their pocket, andit's a big investment and we
(07:49):
take that very seriously.
But because we're having peoplemake big investments into their
mental health, every staffmeeting, everything is geared
towards quality, whether it'sthe quality of our space, but
more so the quality of ourtherapy and we would rather see
fewer clients and providefantastic therapy rather than
(08:10):
seeing a huge volume of clientsRight providing sort of a cookie
cutter therapy.
So well, I guess that's thething I wish people knew is that
when you're signing up fortherapy with us, we're always
thinking about how can we be thebest therapy and therapy space
for people.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Wow, that is really good.
So now our listeners areintrigued.
They know that you have aquality practice.
How do they learn more?
How do they contact you?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah.
So probably the best way tolearn more is to go to our
website, which iswwwhopehealchangecom.
You can see our team and somepictures of what our facility
looks like and also learn moreabout our philosophy.
A therapy practice probablyisn't the best place to just
drop in, because we all might bein session.
You might walk into an emptywaiting room, but people are
(09:01):
welcome to call.
You know, our number is248-930-9132.
And I'm always happy if youknow, reaching out for therapy
is one of those courageousdecisions.
It's one of those small stepswithin a staircase that get us
to where we want to go, and I'malways happy to have people come
out one time or if I say hey,just stop in and get a feel for
(09:22):
the place and see if it's foryou.
So our website's probably good.
I'm on Facebook, I'm active onthe Rochester community page and
Lake Oregon and Shelby too, andDM me.
I try to be as available as Ican be.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
That's great.
Well, josh, thank you fortaking your time with us today
and letting us learn a littlemore about you and your practice
, and being a guest here on ourGood Neighbor podcast.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Well, thanks, Lisa.
I guess the last thing I'll sayif that's okay is, regardless
if it's my business or not, ifyou or someone you know is
struggling and they need help,don't hesitate to reach out, and
I'm happy to point people toresources or other therapists
that are the best fit.
But don't wait.
You deserve good things in yourlife and get the help you need.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Great, that's amazing .
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast,
rochester.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPRochestercom.
That's GNPRochestercom, or call248-988-9640.
(10:40):
You are.
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