September 9, 2025 • 12 mins
What makes Dr. Heather Ulrich a good neighbor?
What does it really take to understand yourself? Dr. Heather Ulrich, licensed psychologist and self-proclaimed "realist who smiles," guides us through this profound question in our latest conversation.
With over two decades of experience helping people navigate life's complexities, Dr. Ulrich shares her refreshingly straightforward approach to psychology. "My goal is to help people feel seen and understood," she explains, "because once people are able to be self-aware and understand themselves, we can better go out and navigate the world." This simple yet powerful philosophy forms the foundation of her work with clients ranging from six-year-olds to septuagenarians.
Dr. Ulrich shatters common misconceptions about psychologists with humor and clarity. No, she's not analyzing you unless you're paying her, and despite her expertise in human behavior, she doesn't claim psychic abilities. Beyond her professional identity, we discover a multifaceted individual who balances motherhood to teenage daughters and a toddler stepchild with her love for spontaneous road trips (sometimes literally sleeping in her Subaru) and bluegrass music.
Perhaps most inspiring is Dr. Ulrich's candid sharing of her own non-linear path to becoming a psychologist. Despite knowing her calling from a young age, she faced numerous rejections and setbacks. "Just because you feel like the path isn't going the way you thought doesn't mean you're not meant to do what you're supposed to do," she reflects, embodying the perseverance she now helps foster in others. Her Buddhist-inspired approach emphasizes that meaningful change must begin within ourselves—creating our own "instruction manual" for navigating the world more effectively.
Discover how self-awareness can transform your life by connecting with Dr. Ulrich through her website, social media platforms, or Substack publication "The Realist Who Smiles." Ready to better understand yourself and create a more conscious, thoughtful life? This conversation is your first step.
To learn more about Dr. Heather Ulrich go to:
Heather Ulrich, PH.D.
828-668-5332
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Transcript
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, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
So we are very excited today.
I'm excited today to have avery special guest in our
studios for the first time, andall excited to learn all about
what they do.
And I'm sure you will be too,because today I have the
pleasure of introducing yourgood neighbor, dr Heather Ulrich
(00:31):
, phd.
And Heather, welcome to theshow.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you, skip, it's good to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, we're thrilled to have you and, like I said,
all excited to learn all aboutyou and what you do.
So if you don't mind, why don'tyou kick us off by telling us
about your business?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Sure.
So I'm a licensed psychologist.
I'm actually licensed in acouple of states.
I'm licensed in North Carolinaas well as Delaware and Maryland
, because that's actually whereI grew up.
So I like to provide servicesback in my home area.
So I'm a licensed psychologist.
I'm a parenting coach and alife coach.
I'm a writer on Substack.
I'm also a trainer who doessome online trainings through
(01:06):
Mayhex, some of our localcontinuing ed places, and I used
to say I'm a self-proclaimedrealist who smiles.
That's kind of my motto for lifeis I'm a realist who chooses to
smile.
And overall my goal is to helppeople, whether it's parents,
whether it's co-parents who aredivorcing and separating,
whether it's adults, kids, justindividuals who are seeking to
(01:28):
better their lives.
My goal is to help people feelseen and understood.
Through my treatment I try tohelp them feel seen and
understood so they can betterunderstand themselves.
Because once people are able tobe self-aware and understand
themselves, we can better go outand navigate the world, the
complex world that we're in.
Once we have thatself-awareness and
self-understanding, we can thengo out and be more conscious and
(01:50):
thoughtful as we navigate theworld and can then better enjoy
our lives and get the most outof our life.
So I work a lot again withadults.
I work a lot with kids.
I work a lot with co-parentsactually divorcing and
separating families, helpingthem prioritize their kids as
they go through that process.
But my main goal is helpingpeople become more self-aware so
(02:11):
they can live a conscious andthoughtful life, be more aware
in their actions and get whatthey actually want to out of
their life, at whatever pointthey are in it, whether they're
six or whether they're 70,wherever they are at their stage
in life.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Very cool, very cool.
A realist who smiles.
I like that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
That is what my writing on Substack is called as
well A realist who smiles.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, what are some myths ormisconceptions in in what you do
, heather?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Absolutely the ones.
The two I get the most often isum, the two I commonly get.
One is that you're alwaysanalyzing me.
So anytime anybody meets me andI find out what I do, the first
thing I get is oh no, you'reanalyzing me.
And my response to that alwaysis are you paying me?
That's my first joke back Areyou paying me?
We don't analyze psychologists,don't analyze people out in our
(02:59):
daily lives.
I do say I'm alwaysunderstanding things.
My mind never shuts off, so Ialways like to understand the
world around me, but we're notalways analyzing people.
I don't like to break peopledown into their parts, so that's
not true.
The other thing that people sayis that we get in and we mess
up people's minds, that we'remind readers, that we can do
that and psychologists are notmind readers.
We're trained in understandinghuman behavior.
(03:19):
We're trained in lots oftherapy and techniques to help
you better understand yourselves, but we're not psychics, we're
not mind readers.
I am trained to predict humanbehavior by understanding human
behavior, but we're not mindreaders and we are not analyzing
human behavior every step ofthe way.
I do like just to be a normalhuman and go out and exist in
the world as well.
But sometimes people are afraidto talk to me when they meet me
(03:41):
out in the world, when theyfind out what I do.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
That's funny.
That's why you got me thinkingis she analyzing me as we talk?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I promise I'm not.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And I'm not paying you, so yeah, Exactly, that's
exactly right, I'm moreanalyzing what I'm saying, to
make sure I'm saying it theright way.
There you go, there you go.
Well outside of work, drHeather, what do you like to do
for fun?
Well, so outside of work.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Dr Heather, what do you like to do for fun?
Well, I'm a mom, I have twoteenage daughters and I'm a
stepmom to a toddler, so I lovespending time with my kids.
So whenever I can, I'm with mykids.
I love to see music, so I seemusic as much as I can and I
love to travel.
I love to road trip and Iactually this is going to sound
funny, but I we will get in ourcar and we will travel and we
will pull over wherever we wantand we will sleep roadside.
(04:25):
I love the freedom of it.
I love the being in the moment,the no planning, the no
structure.
We are able to just stop andjust be wherever we want to be.
So whenever I can, I have thefreedom.
We will get in the car anddrive and just do whatever the
road takes us.
It's that realist who smilesenables me to just be in the
moment, not plan, not structure.
Make the most out of my time.
That is one of my passions.
(04:47):
I hope to live in my car someday.
I know that sounds funny, butsomeday when my kids are grown.
I would love to live out of mycar.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You need to have an RV.
What kind of car do you have?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
That's the goal.
It's a Subaru.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a Subaru camp, my brother and I camping and he
would.
He had an old 1962 pickup andhe put a mattress in the back of
it and that my brother and Iwould sleep on and then he would
(05:20):
sleep in the bed of the truckbelow the mattress.
Anyway, it was some of my bestmemories as a kid, you know
simplicity.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
That's exactly right.
You don't need much to be happy.
That's the realist who smiles.
You don't need much to be happy.
Actually, sometimes less isI've learned that over time.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Amen.
And what kind of music?
You said you like to listen tomusic.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I do.
I actually.
I like a lot of bluegrass jam,band music, fish.
I don't know if you know Fish.
Fish is actually one of myfavorite bands.
I've seen them probably morethan 50 times, I see them quite
a bit.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Fish with a ph it's phis.
Are you a grateful dead fan?
I am a grateful dead fan.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yes, I'm, a fish is in that realm right it is yes,
yeah, and I love bluegrassanything, bluegrass anything
with a banjo, I love wow, lovebluegrass.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I'm a guitar player myself, so okay, I wish I was.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I enjoy and I appreciate it, but I can't play
oh you, you can, you can if youtell yourself you can, you can,
I appreciate that confidenceI'll take that.
I like it.
You can, you can.
If you tell yourself you can,you can.
I appreciate that confidence.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I'll take that.
I like it Absolutely.
You can do anything you putyour mind to.
My dad always told me Very cool, very cool.
Well, let's switch gears.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you've
overcome and how it made youstronger in the end when you got
to the other side?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Absolutely One of the ones I actually talk with my
clients about a lot, because oneof the things I say to my
clients all the time is there'sno one right way to do anything.
I often say there's wrong waysto do things, but there's no one
right way to do things.
And the example I always giveis actually my path to becoming
a doctor.
I knew that I wanted to be apsychologist from high school,
when I was very young.
I was one of those lucky peoplethat knew what I wanted to do
(06:51):
from a young age and in my mind,you went to high school, you
went to college and then youwent to a doctorate program.
That was the path you took.
Well, it wasn't that easy for me.
I went to an undergraduate, gota full ride as an undergraduate
and then applied to doctorateprograms, got into no doctorate
programs, had to recalibrate,had to go to master's programs
first and then applied todoctorate programs.
So my path was a little bithairy getting there.
(07:12):
I had to work really hard toget there.
Obviously, I eventually did getthere, but it was very hard for
me to get there.
There's lots of different pathsI had to take.
I had to shuffle around myplans quite a bit, but I still
got there.
However, had I gotten stuck onthe path that you're supposed to
take, what the books told me totake, my confidence might have
gotten shook and I might havethought I can't be a doctor.
(07:34):
This wasn't for me, I wasn'tsupposed to do this, and I might
have stopped and taken adifferent path.
Thankfully I didn't.
Thankfully I persevered.
I didn't let my confidence getshook.
I said no, I'm meant to do thisanyway.
It doesn't mean I'm not goodenough that I didn't get into
the PhD programs right out of myundergraduate degree and I
pushed through.
I got very sick in graduateschool.
I was bedridden for a while.
All kinds of things happenedduring my course to become a
(07:56):
doctor, but I pushed throughanyway and I'm very lucky.
I did because I love my job.
I'm pretty successful at it.
I have a private practice.
I work completely remotely, soI can travel from my car.
I can work at the beach, I canwork from any state.
I can work where I want to, howI had it set up.
So I talk to my clients a lot,especially my high schoolers, my
(08:17):
college students, when they getreally down about not being
able to get where they'rewanting to go, or feeling like
their career path is gettingshorted out.
About my journey and about howthere's not one right way to do
anything.
And just because you feel likethe path that you had is not
going the way you thought, itdoesn't mean you're not meant to
do what you're supposed to doand to keep going, because there
was times when I really thoughtthat I was not possibly going
to have my dream come true ofbeing a doctor, but I just had
(08:39):
to redirect and keep perseveringand keep going, and it was
quite hard at times.
It was quite hard at times, soit took a little bit longer than
I thought, but I'm glad Ididn't give up.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I'm very glad I didn't give up and you're here
and I'm here.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Exactly, I'm here.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
How long have you been here?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Many decades later, but I'm here.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
How long have you been?
Has your practice been inexistence?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Over 20 years now.
Over 20 years now, wow, yeah,wow.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, wow.
Well, congratulations on that.
That's incredible.
You don't look old enough tohave had a practice for 20 years
.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
Thank you, it's all thatsleeping in cars.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's so good for you, that's exactly right, that's
all the smiling.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
All the smiling, yeah , smile.
One of my modesty, smile, andif you don't feel like it,
smiling will make your brainfeel happier.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Smile anyway, smile anyway.
And my mom?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
always told me to moisturize.
The best advice my mom evergave me was to moisturize, so
I'll give that advice as well.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Well, it worked.
It obviously worked.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So if you could think of one thing that you'd like
our listeners to remember aboutyou, dr Heather, and about your
practice.
What would that be?
Again, I think it's going to be.
I mean, one of the biggestthings about my practice and
what I work with is I'm veryBuddhist inspired.
That's a lot of what I talkabout.
Is that self-awareness, aboutreally looking inside of
yourself.
Is that if we want to helpother people, if we want to make
the world a better place whicha lot of us do, a lot of us try
to help other people, we want tomake the world a better place.
(09:59):
We're trying to go out andserve other people is it's got
to start with ourselves.
So a lot of the work I do, mypractice, all the different
areas I work with from mywriting, so my co-parenting,
everything I do is really tryingto help people become more
self-aware that it all startswithin ourselves.
So anybody that's working withme or wants to come, you know,
come to my practice.
I really try to help you becomea more self-aware individual, a
(10:21):
more thoughtful and moreconscious individual.
So I mean that's if you look atmy Facebook page, from my
website to anywhere, anybodythat's coming to me is because
you want to grow, you want tolearn more about yourself.
We're not going to blameeverything on your mom or your
dad, but we are going to try tohelp you have I call it an
instruction manual for yourself.
We're going to try to help youlearn more about who you are and
why you operate the way you do.
That way, you can figure outhow to operate in the world that
(10:50):
you're in, whatever environmentyou're in.
We're going to figure out theinstruction manual for yourself
so you can figure out how tooperate in the environment that
you're in.
That's what I try to offerpeople is.
It all starts within ourselves.
That's why I love my job.
The job I do is help me learnmore about myself.
My clients help me grow.
Every time I sit with someone,they help me learn more about
myself as well.
It's a blessing to Awesome,awesome.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Very good thing to remember.
So, for those that areinterested in what you do and
potentially would like to talkto you, how can they learn more?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You can find me.
I have a website,DrHeatherAllrickcom.
You can find me on Instagramunder my name.
You can find me on Facebook.
You can find me on TikTok.
You can find me on Substack allunder my name Dr Heather
Allrick.
Dr Heather Alrick.
I have a publication onSubstack called the Realist who
Smiles, so you can find me.
I publish pretty regularly onthere.
I do trainings through Mayhek,which is based out of Asheville,
North Carolina, so I have sometrainings coming up in September
(11:35):
that anybody can attend thatare focused on their
child-focused trainings for anypractitioners that work with
kids.
So I'm out there.
You can find me in manydifferent avenues.
I try to put myself out thereso people can reach me for free.
You can find out if you want tohear from me.
There's lots of ways to get mewithout having to pay.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Very good, very good, all right.
Well, thank you so much.
And, dr Heather, I can't tellyou how much I appreciate you
taking time out of your busyschedule to spend some time with
us and our listeners andtelling us all about you and
what you do, and it's veryunique and we appreciate your
contribution to to life assmiling, as a smiling realist.
(12:12):
We appreciate that and wish youand your family and your
practice all the best movingforward.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
I appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
It was nice meeting you.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Thank, nice meeting you and hopefully we can have
you back sometime.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Sounds good.
Thank you, all right.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423-7-3.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
So we are very excited today.
I'm excited today to have avery special guest in our
studios for the first time, andall excited to learn all about
what they do.
And I'm sure you will be too,because today I have the
pleasure of introducing yourgood neighbor, dr Heather Ulrich
(00:31):
, phd.
And Heather, welcome to theshow.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you, skip, it's good to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, we're thrilled to have you and, like I said,
all excited to learn all aboutyou and what you do.
So if you don't mind, why don'tyou kick us off by telling us
about your business?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Sure.
So I'm a licensed psychologist.
I'm actually licensed in acouple of states.
I'm licensed in North Carolinaas well as Delaware and Maryland
, because that's actually whereI grew up.
So I like to provide servicesback in my home area.
So I'm a licensed psychologist.
I'm a parenting coach and alife coach.
I'm a writer on Substack.
I'm also a trainer who doessome online trainings through
(01:06):
Mayhex, some of our localcontinuing ed places, and I used
to say I'm a self-proclaimedrealist who smiles.
That's kind of my motto for lifeis I'm a realist who chooses to
smile.
And overall my goal is to helppeople, whether it's parents,
whether it's co-parents who aredivorcing and separating,
whether it's adults, kids, justindividuals who are seeking to
(01:28):
better their lives.
My goal is to help people feelseen and understood.
Through my treatment I try tohelp them feel seen and
understood so they can betterunderstand themselves.
Because once people are able tobe self-aware and understand
themselves, we can better go outand navigate the world, the
complex world that we're in.
Once we have thatself-awareness and
self-understanding, we can thengo out and be more conscious and
(01:50):
thoughtful as we navigate theworld and can then better enjoy
our lives and get the most outof our life.
So I work a lot again withadults.
I work a lot with kids.
I work a lot with co-parentsactually divorcing and
separating families, helpingthem prioritize their kids as
they go through that process.
But my main goal is helpingpeople become more self-aware so
(02:11):
they can live a conscious andthoughtful life, be more aware
in their actions and get whatthey actually want to out of
their life, at whatever pointthey are in it, whether they're
six or whether they're 70,wherever they are at their stage
in life.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Very cool, very cool.
A realist who smiles.
I like that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
That is what my writing on Substack is called as
well A realist who smiles.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, what are some myths ormisconceptions in in what you do
, heather?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Absolutely the ones.
The two I get the most often isum, the two I commonly get.
One is that you're alwaysanalyzing me.
So anytime anybody meets me andI find out what I do, the first
thing I get is oh no, you'reanalyzing me.
And my response to that alwaysis are you paying me?
That's my first joke back Areyou paying me?
We don't analyze psychologists,don't analyze people out in our
(02:59):
daily lives.
I do say I'm alwaysunderstanding things.
My mind never shuts off, so Ialways like to understand the
world around me, but we're notalways analyzing people.
I don't like to break peopledown into their parts, so that's
not true.
The other thing that people sayis that we get in and we mess
up people's minds, that we'remind readers, that we can do
that and psychologists are notmind readers.
We're trained in understandinghuman behavior.
(03:19):
We're trained in lots oftherapy and techniques to help
you better understand yourselves, but we're not psychics, we're
not mind readers.
I am trained to predict humanbehavior by understanding human
behavior, but we're not mindreaders and we are not analyzing
human behavior every step ofthe way.
I do like just to be a normalhuman and go out and exist in
the world as well.
But sometimes people are afraidto talk to me when they meet me
(03:41):
out in the world, when theyfind out what I do.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
That's funny.
That's why you got me thinkingis she analyzing me as we talk?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I promise I'm not.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And I'm not paying you, so yeah, Exactly, that's
exactly right, I'm moreanalyzing what I'm saying, to
make sure I'm saying it theright way.
There you go, there you go.
Well outside of work, drHeather, what do you like to do
for fun?
Well, so outside of work.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Dr Heather, what do you like to do for fun?
Well, I'm a mom, I have twoteenage daughters and I'm a
stepmom to a toddler, so I lovespending time with my kids.
So whenever I can, I'm with mykids.
I love to see music, so I seemusic as much as I can and I
love to travel.
I love to road trip and Iactually this is going to sound
funny, but I we will get in ourcar and we will travel and we
will pull over wherever we wantand we will sleep roadside.
(04:25):
I love the freedom of it.
I love the being in the moment,the no planning, the no
structure.
We are able to just stop andjust be wherever we want to be.
So whenever I can, I have thefreedom.
We will get in the car anddrive and just do whatever the
road takes us.
It's that realist who smilesenables me to just be in the
moment, not plan, not structure.
Make the most out of my time.
That is one of my passions.
(04:47):
I hope to live in my car someday.
I know that sounds funny, butsomeday when my kids are grown.
I would love to live out of mycar.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You need to have an RV.
What kind of car do you have?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
That's the goal.
It's a Subaru.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a Subaru camp, my brother and I camping and he
would.
He had an old 1962 pickup andhe put a mattress in the back of
it and that my brother and Iwould sleep on and then he would
(05:20):
sleep in the bed of the truckbelow the mattress.
Anyway, it was some of my bestmemories as a kid, you know
simplicity.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
That's exactly right.
You don't need much to be happy.
That's the realist who smiles.
You don't need much to be happy.
Actually, sometimes less isI've learned that over time.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Amen.
And what kind of music?
You said you like to listen tomusic.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I do.
I actually.
I like a lot of bluegrass jam,band music, fish.
I don't know if you know Fish.
Fish is actually one of myfavorite bands.
I've seen them probably morethan 50 times, I see them quite
a bit.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Fish with a ph it's phis.
Are you a grateful dead fan?
I am a grateful dead fan.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yes, I'm, a fish is in that realm right it is yes,
yeah, and I love bluegrassanything, bluegrass anything
with a banjo, I love wow, lovebluegrass.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I'm a guitar player myself, so okay, I wish I was.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I enjoy and I appreciate it, but I can't play
oh you, you can, you can if youtell yourself you can, you can,
I appreciate that confidenceI'll take that.
I like it.
You can, you can.
If you tell yourself you can,you can.
I appreciate that confidence.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I'll take that.
I like it Absolutely.
You can do anything you putyour mind to.
My dad always told me Very cool, very cool.
Well, let's switch gears.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you've
overcome and how it made youstronger in the end when you got
to the other side?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Absolutely One of the ones I actually talk with my
clients about a lot, because oneof the things I say to my
clients all the time is there'sno one right way to do anything.
I often say there's wrong waysto do things, but there's no one
right way to do things.
And the example I always giveis actually my path to becoming
a doctor.
I knew that I wanted to be apsychologist from high school,
when I was very young.
I was one of those lucky peoplethat knew what I wanted to do
(06:51):
from a young age and in my mind,you went to high school, you
went to college and then youwent to a doctorate program.
That was the path you took.
Well, it wasn't that easy for me.
I went to an undergraduate, gota full ride as an undergraduate
and then applied to doctorateprograms, got into no doctorate
programs, had to recalibrate,had to go to master's programs
first and then applied todoctorate programs.
So my path was a little bithairy getting there.
(07:12):
I had to work really hard toget there.
Obviously, I eventually did getthere, but it was very hard for
me to get there.
There's lots of different pathsI had to take.
I had to shuffle around myplans quite a bit, but I still
got there.
However, had I gotten stuck onthe path that you're supposed to
take, what the books told me totake, my confidence might have
gotten shook and I might havethought I can't be a doctor.
(07:34):
This wasn't for me, I wasn'tsupposed to do this, and I might
have stopped and taken adifferent path.
Thankfully I didn't.
Thankfully I persevered.
I didn't let my confidence getshook.
I said no, I'm meant to do thisanyway.
It doesn't mean I'm not goodenough that I didn't get into
the PhD programs right out of myundergraduate degree and I
pushed through.
I got very sick in graduateschool.
I was bedridden for a while.
All kinds of things happenedduring my course to become a
(07:56):
doctor, but I pushed throughanyway and I'm very lucky.
I did because I love my job.
I'm pretty successful at it.
I have a private practice.
I work completely remotely, soI can travel from my car.
I can work at the beach, I canwork from any state.
I can work where I want to, howI had it set up.
So I talk to my clients a lot,especially my high schoolers, my
(08:17):
college students, when they getreally down about not being
able to get where they'rewanting to go, or feeling like
their career path is gettingshorted out.
About my journey and about howthere's not one right way to do
anything.
And just because you feel likethe path that you had is not
going the way you thought, itdoesn't mean you're not meant to
do what you're supposed to doand to keep going, because there
was times when I really thoughtthat I was not possibly going
to have my dream come true ofbeing a doctor, but I just had
(08:39):
to redirect and keep perseveringand keep going, and it was
quite hard at times.
It was quite hard at times, soit took a little bit longer than
I thought, but I'm glad Ididn't give up.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I'm very glad I didn't give up and you're here
and I'm here.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Exactly, I'm here.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
How long have you been here?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Many decades later, but I'm here.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
How long have you been?
Has your practice been inexistence?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Over 20 years now.
Over 20 years now, wow, yeah,wow.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, wow.
Well, congratulations on that.
That's incredible.
You don't look old enough tohave had a practice for 20 years
.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
Thank you, it's all thatsleeping in cars.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's so good for you, that's exactly right, that's
all the smiling.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
All the smiling, yeah , smile.
One of my modesty, smile, andif you don't feel like it,
smiling will make your brainfeel happier.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Smile anyway, smile anyway.
And my mom?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
always told me to moisturize.
The best advice my mom evergave me was to moisturize, so
I'll give that advice as well.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Well, it worked.
It obviously worked.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So if you could think of one thing that you'd like
our listeners to remember aboutyou, dr Heather, and about your
practice.
What would that be?
Again, I think it's going to be.
I mean, one of the biggestthings about my practice and
what I work with is I'm veryBuddhist inspired.
That's a lot of what I talkabout.
Is that self-awareness, aboutreally looking inside of
yourself.
Is that if we want to helpother people, if we want to make
the world a better place whicha lot of us do, a lot of us try
to help other people, we want tomake the world a better place.
(09:59):
We're trying to go out andserve other people is it's got
to start with ourselves.
So a lot of the work I do, mypractice, all the different
areas I work with from mywriting, so my co-parenting,
everything I do is really tryingto help people become more
self-aware that it all startswithin ourselves.
So anybody that's working withme or wants to come, you know,
come to my practice.
I really try to help you becomea more self-aware individual, a
(10:21):
more thoughtful and moreconscious individual.
So I mean that's if you look atmy Facebook page, from my
website to anywhere, anybodythat's coming to me is because
you want to grow, you want tolearn more about yourself.
We're not going to blameeverything on your mom or your
dad, but we are going to try tohelp you have I call it an
instruction manual for yourself.
We're going to try to help youlearn more about who you are and
why you operate the way you do.
That way, you can figure outhow to operate in the world that
(10:50):
you're in, whatever environmentyou're in.
We're going to figure out theinstruction manual for yourself
so you can figure out how tooperate in the environment that
you're in.
That's what I try to offerpeople is.
It all starts within ourselves.
That's why I love my job.
The job I do is help me learnmore about myself.
My clients help me grow.
Every time I sit with someone,they help me learn more about
myself as well.
It's a blessing to Awesome,awesome.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Very good thing to remember.
So, for those that areinterested in what you do and
potentially would like to talkto you, how can they learn more?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You can find me.
I have a website,DrHeatherAllrickcom.
You can find me on Instagramunder my name.
You can find me on Facebook.
You can find me on TikTok.
You can find me on Substack allunder my name Dr Heather
Allrick.
Dr Heather Alrick.
I have a publication onSubstack called the Realist who
Smiles, so you can find me.
I publish pretty regularly onthere.
I do trainings through Mayhek,which is based out of Asheville,
North Carolina, so I have sometrainings coming up in September
(11:35):
that anybody can attend thatare focused on their
child-focused trainings for anypractitioners that work with
kids.
So I'm out there.
You can find me in manydifferent avenues.
I try to put myself out thereso people can reach me for free.
You can find out if you want tohear from me.
There's lots of ways to get mewithout having to pay.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Very good, very good, all right.
Well, thank you so much.
And, dr Heather, I can't tellyou how much I appreciate you
taking time out of your busyschedule to spend some time with
us and our listeners andtelling us all about you and
what you do, and it's veryunique and we appreciate your
contribution to to life assmiling, as a smiling realist.
(12:12):
We appreciate that and wish youand your family and your
practice all the best movingforward.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
I appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
It was nice meeting you.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Thank, nice meeting you and hopefully we can have
you back sometime.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Sounds good.
Thank you, all right.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423-7-3.
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