What drew you to the counseling field?
Hi, I’m Maddie and I’m a mental health therapist here at Optimum Joy. Something that brought me to the counseling field is always being interested and drawn to others, to other stories, to connecting and caring for people. And so when I was at this crossroad of really trying to figure out what I was going to be doing, I learned more about counseling and something clicked for me. It made sense of what I wanted to do in life, but also made sense of, “wow, this is an amazing resource that, you know, I wish I would have had access to in some ways throughout my life,” and really wanted to be a part of the community of making it accessible to others.
What is your favorite part of being a therapist?
One of my favorite things about being a therapist is getting to experience sitting with a client and watching them come to a better understanding of themselves. Oftentimes it feels like something clicks and then everything starts to change. I think it’s really interesting—we live with this internal mind of our thoughts constantly racing and going and we think we know ourselves in a lot of ways, and we do. But there’s still so many things that have happened in our lives and that we’re experiencing that oftentimes is difficult for us to make those connections.
And so when someone steps into the counseling room and this connection is made or a new insight they’ve come upon, I think it’s so rewarding for me as a therapist to get to watch someone say, “wow, I never thought about it this way. I never experienced it this way. And this changes now how I see so many things or how I look in the world or think about myself.”
I think that counseling is and can be and probably should be more than just one hour out of someone’s week. And so when a client gets comfortable with the space that they’re in and gets comfortable in the relationship that we start to build, and then goes out into the world and is taking it in and thinking about it differently and bringing it into the counseling room—and then vice versa—and a client is taking what they’re learning and applying it outside, is something that brings me a lot of joy to watch.
What brings you joy outside of the counseling room?
Something that brings me joy outside of the counseling room is being outside. I feel very filled up when I’m in nature. Whether that’s at a unique nature spot outside of Illinois or just walking in the trail outside my apartment, it is something that brings me a lot of joy and allows for a lot of reflection for me, which kind of calms my inner being in a lot of ways.
Some things I enjoy doing are playing pickleball. If I’m not working, I’m probably scheming up a plan to find a place to play pickleball and people to play it with. Whether that’s friends or strangers, I’m always down for some pickleball. I also am a foodie. My husband and I love to try new foods, cook new foods. So a lot of the time I’m probably conjuring up a new recipe to try or trying to find a place to go to enjoy some good food.
What would you say to someone considering therapy?
As someone who’s considering counseling, I would want you to know that your story matters, and that you matter. And I would encourage you to bring your full and true self to the counseling room. I think, you know, it’s easy to come to session initially and see the stranger sitting across from you and maybe think they’re psychoanalyzing me or they’re judging me or they’re making these conclusions.
And what I would want you to know is that as your therapist, it’s our joy and privilege to sit with you, to learn more about you. You live a complete unique experience to you. And so my job is to seek to understand that experience, that story. So whether you feel like you’ve been wearing a mask for everyone else outside of counseling, I invite you to take that mask off. Whether you enjoy humor and you want to utilize that in therapy, bring it on. I think that whatever you’re bringing into the room, whatever you might feel doesn’t have a space in therapy, I would just encourage you to try it out, to bring it, and we’ll figure it out from there.
