Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Lucas.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Shannon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It all started back in high school when I took my first psychology class and fell in love. During those years in high school, I was also involved in a traumatic car accident that opened my eyes to the world of counseling. Upon graduating high school, I headed for Stillwater, Oklahoma where I completed my freshman year of college. However OSU and I were not a good fit, thanksgiving of that year I applied to transfer to a few different schools, having one particular in mind. I finished out that year and learned more about myself than I ever thought I would have. Enter TCU. Fall of 2010 I started my first semester at TCU and the rest is kind of history. I completed my degree from TCU in December of 2013. I received my Bachelors of Science in Psychology with a double minor in criminal justice and child development. Through all my psychology classes my love affair with the field continued and I always knew secondary schooling would take place. What that would look like at the time, I was totally unsure but it later became very clear. My final semester at TCU I had a professor tell me Id make a great therapist and I should highly consider going to school for a masters in counseling.
That’s where the next chapter began. I started applying to various grad programs, masters and phd. After a rough post-grad year of many school rejections and waitlists, I gave the process one more try but before that second try a few things took place. During that year away from school, I followed my heart in another avenue and dove into the yoga world deeper. I was out of school for roughly a year and a half and during that time I took two different yoga teacher trainings earning double 200hr certifications. I took a job with CorePower Yoga during that time and started part of my life journey as a yoga teacher. While teaching yoga part time I ventured back into the application world for schools and found myself getting interviews and acceptances to a few local schools. Enter TWU. Fall of 2015 I started my Master’s degree and went to school full time until graduating in August of 2017. I received my Masters of Science in Counseling development, mental and clinical health. Finally being able to combine my two passions in one. I started my counseling career in March of this year seeing clients in a private practice, HERE help redefined. As of today, I work closely with clients (mostly kids and teens/ families) as well as teach yoga and help lead trainings for aspiring yogis.
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?
As I briefly mentioned before, during high school my sophomore year to be exact, I was involved in a very serious car accident. I was in the backseat of a friends car, that collided with a pedestrian and ended up causing that girl to lose her life. No one was faulted, and all was deemed a total accident. That accident I believe, changed the way the rest of my life unfolded. I saw and felt how people suddenly treated me different, how people expected me to behave or respond in certain ways. Some of which were a fit for me and others weren’t. I was bullied and outcasted intensely, horrible notes left in my locker and later on my car. Being 15 and 16 is already hard enough, add that to the picture and yea high school was rough for me. It was my small and incredibly supportive friend group, my amazing family, and a new program at the school that helped me get to graduation. I found my best friend that same year, and he still today remains my best friend.
Based on the series of things that happened in high school my reaction was to go as far away from all that as possible and that my parents were okay with (lol), enter Oklahoma State University. I never felt I truly fit in there, and later realized ultimately it wasn’t a good match because I picked that school for all the wrong reasons to best fit me. I applied to transfer schools in the fall of 2009, and it wasn’t until the fall of 2010 that I started at a new school. That process was a weird one and posed some interesting challenges along the way. Transferring credits from a public state school to a private school was far more difficult than it should have been. I ended up being a true sophomore credit wise at any other school, but because I transferred to private I basically had to start as a second-semester freshman. This is what caused the need for an extra semester, completing undergrad in 4.5 years, and needless to say, I was one of the graduates with the most credits (we all laugh at this now).
After starting at TCU life got so much better. The next big obstacle didn’t come into play until after I graduated. 2014 was a ROUGH year for me. I was rejected and waitlisted to every grad school I had applied to, totally throwing off my post-grad plan. I just remember consistently asking myself now what. Every thought and plan I had put in place was erased. I went on many job interviews and was consistently told I didn’t have the right credentials. So rather than take a job I would be miserable with I took all this as a sign to pursue another area I grew passionate about. Yoga, more on that later.
Grad school was one of the best things to happen to me, but during those two years, a lot of change took place in my life. I really struggled with having to move back home with my parents in order to afford school. I watched all my friends start their “big” lives, get married, buy houses, have their dream job, etc. I don’t want this to seem like I am complaining because its the complete opposite, but I would be lying if I said there weren’t challenges during those years. These challenges just wore a different face. I had to learn to be okay with where I was in my life versus where others were. I lost a few friends during these years, and that was incredibly difficult for me to wrap my head around because these had been multiple year-long friendships.
All the pieces that must be completed in order to be a practicing counselor is more than you really prepare for. First, the degree has to be completed with strict requirements, clinical hours, and a lot of time. However it doesn’t end there, you have to be granted permission to take your licensing exam and then what felt like I was selling my soul to studying, prepare for the 4-hour exam. The exam is challenging because counseling and human interactions aren’t something that can be put into a multiple choice or true/ false question. 3/4 of the time and effort put into my grad program revolved around those exact concepts- how do you connect to another. The theoretical and statistical pieces are just a few hours of the needed to graduate. So having completed my degree in August of 2017, it wasn’t until late May of 2018 that I was finally licensed as an LPC-Intern through the state of Texas and the National Counseling Association. Roughly nine months of waiting and preparations finally led to my career doors opening up. The challenge isn’t over yet, because now I have to complete 3,000 hours of supervision (think like residency for med students) until I am fully, and individually licensed. All that to say, I really learned that you have to LOVE what you commit to doing because the path to getting there may seem easy, but in fact, it poses a lot of challenges, both big and small, all wearing different faces.
Lastly, this one still hurts. I had to say goodbye to my four-legged best friend earlier this year. Not long after getting my license as a therapist I had to put my pup down. Athena was given to me my junior year of high school and was with me until the end of May this year. I had the best ten years with “my little cub” and miss her incredibly every day. The bond and love you share with a dog is one that will never be forgotten or replaced. I consider this a challenge because you don’t prepare yourself for these things to happen, let alone roughly five years before they should have. Adjusting and knowing my life without her is still something I’m grasping because she was present for ten very crucial years of my life. Anyone that knows me knows how important she was to me and my life.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the HERE, Help Redefined. And CorePower Yoga story. Tell us more about the business.
Well, I must say “my business” consists of two parts. Part one being a yoga teacher for roughly four years now. I use these skills both in studio working for CorePower Yoga as an instructor; but also in a private practice providing more yoga therapy to individual clients. I’m known for my sequencing and theming abilities as a studio instructor, basically how I create what my class will be like for the hour. I’ve also been told my taste in music is pretty rad and expansive, so I guess you could say that’s something I’m known for too. I am most proud of the connections and skills this work has provided me. I meet new people every time I’m in the studio and have made some of my best friends from this space. Working that closely with people and their bodies has taught me how to better understand people and other bodies that differ from mine. I think what sets me apart from others in this realm is my personality. The teacher, my students, see and interact with is who I truly am. I work as a yoga teacher because I love the permissive environment to help people in a non-traditional way. I get to use music, art, the human body, words and combine it all to create an experience and connection to another person. So my creativity and very open mind ultimately set me apart from others.
Part two being a therapist. Although only being newly licensed I have been working with clients since the fall of 2016, as part of grad school requirements. I currently work in a private practice called HERE; help redefined alongside three other amazing therapists and women. Each of us has our own niche and specialty but we work collaboratively when needed to best serve the needs of our clients. I personally specialize in kids/adolescents/teens, expressive/creative arts, yoga therapy, parenting, and alternative therapy techniques. Along with that, my mentor and colleague, Abbie Driscoll and I came up with a concept a little over a year ago to bring my knowledge and skills into schools and make some therapy like services more readily available to the general population. Her daughter attends a local Dallas elementary school and we recently had our program accepted as an after-school program there. KIDGA (Kindness. Insight, Development. Growing. Awareness.) is the name we coined for this program and it is something I am incredibly proud of. So once a week I take KIDGA to this school and work on teaching the kids who enroll all those concepts, through the use of yoga and yogic techniques like breathing and mindfulness, using emotional language and associated crafts and activities. Ideally hoping to provide some alternative coping strategies as well as a deeper layer of emotional intelligence and language to help better socialize and connect. In this world I am most proud of the weekly work I do alongside my clients, it’s not always easy but when you see the changes actively take place in someone’s life, there aren’t really words to describe how empowering and impactful it feels. My kiddos are known to consistently ask their parents “when do I get to see Shannon again,” or I hear them say “I’m not ready to leave your office yet, I like it here” and it is those things that I am most proud of. I love the career I chose. However, if I’m honest, I think it chose me before I chose it. I think this portion of my business connects directly back to what I said above with the yoga stuff. I get to be creative in any and all ways I can think to be. I get to be my true self all while connecting and assisting others. Its hard to talk about yourself, but something I have learned that I feel sets me apart is how nonjudgmental and understanding I am. Those are things I have always been but never really knew how or where to apply them until now. In a world overflowing with technology and chaos, the simplicity of listening and talking to another person holds so much power, and that is something I will never take for granted.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t think its luck, good or bad. I think everything happens for a reason. It is from those reasons that we end up where we are. While reminding ourselves that nothing is permanent unless we chose to make it so.
Pricing:
- -Individual therapy sessions $90 a session- times vary by age of client.
- -Yoga therapy sessions run anywhere between $50-$90 a session. Sessions are an hour long
- -Private yoga, non therapy related, starts at $100/hour.
Contact Info:
- Address: Here, Help Redefined. 5646 Milton St. Suite 525 Dallas, TX 75206 (Work address)
- Website: https://www.herehelpredefined.com
- Phone: 214-223-8253
- Email: shanelizlucas@gmail.com
- Instagram: @shanelizlucas
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herehelpredefined/
Image Credit:
Emanuel Ramirez
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