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Meet Parker Forté

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Parker Forté.

Parker, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Hi! Initially, I would’ve stated a traumatic event at age 17 led me to counseling; however, reflecting back, I see that my story began at age five. I grew up in a fatherless home, which significantly developed my mindset and personality. Growing up in a single-parent household, I was not afforded much; because of this, I took pride in any and every opportunity presented to me. I remember caring for my dolls and speaking positive affirmations to them, imagining that I was a nurturing figure.

Upon graduation of high school, I had my son. I received a great deal of feedback and discouragement from my dreams of going to college. Despite the hardships I faced becoming a single mother at a young age, I accomplished my goal of being accepted into college. My lessons on performing well, regardless of my immediate circumstances, were extended as I navigated the dynamics of my educational environment. I began majoring in Pre-Law at the University of Memphis. I took a philosophy course and quickly realized it was not the route for me. I then switched to Journalism, which proved to be more difficult, majoring in versus just writing and journaling as a hobby. I did some self-reflecting, read through my old journal entries, and prayed for discernment and decided to change my major yet again to Psychology.

This was the beginning of the best journey ever. The minute I accepted and followed God’s purpose in my life of empathizing, speaking life into others, and facilitating healing… every opportunity presented itself. Divine alignment. I have been a hope dealer in Mental Healthcare since.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I wish I could say it has been a smooth road, but that would be furthermost from the truth. A lot of the struggles that I experienced stemmed from the demands of meeting family obligations, as a single mother, while pursuing my educational and career goals. I can’t count how many times my son slept on my lap while I wrote papers in the U of M’s computer lab and library. I can recall crying at the prison I interned at due to deciding to miss my son’s baseball tournament, to instead, work the extra hours to complete my internship requirements. It was always tough emotionally to have family and friends step in for me to support my children with their recreational events, while I worked or studied.

A current struggle is being in private practice and still maintaining a healthy work-life balance. I am a one-woman show now. I have always been an energizer bunny. When I worked for companies, it was easier for me to notice when I needed a break because I would become frustrated and think, “I’m not working this hard for someone else.” Being your own boss challenges that thinking style and makes it more difficult for me to incorporate appropriate downtime, vacations, and social activities. Because I fully rely on myself and don’t have the comfort of benefits, PTO, and bonuses, I am constantly thinking, GO! I find myself overwhelmed with the demand of mental health care more now in this current pandemic, so now I have changed my schedule to work only Monday-Thursday’s. This allows me to have a three day weekend. I also take two hours before my workdays to do some type of spiritual, physical, or mental self-care activity.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor in McKinney, TX and I service all of Texas. I have been working in private practice since 2018.

I am focusing on growing my business now into other states. I am working on obtaining my license in Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. I am most proud of opening up my practice in Miami and will soon be accepting new clients there! Yay!

I provide Individual, Family, Christian, and Group Therapy for males and females age eight and up. My specialties are Crisis Counseling, Co-Occurring Disorders, and Adolescent Counseling. I have worked pretty much every field of psychology from Clinical Research, where I studied various mental health drugs and reported back to the FDA, to Forensic Psychology where I completed mental health assessments for Collin County Jail to aid clients with mental health bonds. I spent a lot of time in Crisis Counseling while in Texas and now I focus on more “situational” style counseling.

I absolutely love the adolescents I work with! I run a Faith-Based Adolescent girls group called “It’s a Girl Thing” where I focus on equipping teenage girls with the tools and skills needed to overcome the rise in peer pressure, low self-esteem, and how to develop emotional resilience. I have also organized a Study Group for future LPC’s and LCDC’s to guide them on how to prepare for the National Counselors Examination. My goal is to meet with future therapists once a week to cover exam material, teach anxiety coping methods, and how to stay committed to studying.

I am most proud of myself for the therapeutic and networking relationships I have developed. Before starting my own practice, I worked for two other private practices. 70% of my caseload followed me, both times, to my new practice. The population I serve has shown that they appreciate my skill-set and I appreciate them even more. I also have developed great networking relationships here because I want to see every entrepreneur win and I think that is what sets me apart. I will help others in any way that I can, simply because no one really helped me. I just took opportunities. The love that my colleagues and cohorts show me in return is unmatched.

What were you like growing up?
I had quite the personality growing up. I was always the one dancing, laughing, taking pictures, and singing off-key but was also an introvert and spent a great deal isolating. I have always had an interest in arts and being creative. As a child, I constantly journaled, wrote short stories, drew, etc. I did these things because Alzheimer’s Disease runs in my family so I wanted to document any and everything so I would never forget my experiences. I still do this now. My personality has always been intriguing and expressive and I like to think this carries over into my sessions as well. I have tattoos, a nose ring, and I change my hairstyles every now and again. I think it’s important for my clients to see that professionalism doesn’t look one certain way. My tattoos allow me to be my true authentic self and embrace my creativity.

Pricing:

  • Individual Counseling – $140 Insurances Accepted Medicaid, BCBS, Aetna, UHC, Magellan, Molina, Ambetter
  • Girls Group – $20 per session
  • Study Group – $50 per session

Contact Info:

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