Today we’d like to introduce you to Wanda Hudson.
Hi Wanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory
How did I get here? Well, I’ve wanted to be a counselor since graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi with my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in 2008. The field of Psychology is dear to my heart because of the amount of undiagnosed mental health illnesses and trauma in my own family. After losing my brother in a car accident in 2006, I wanted to be able to work in a field that would allow me to be a trusted person to people who walked around with deep, dark secrets tearing them apart.
I started my Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling in the Spring of 2009. I had moved back to my small home town with my mom, who had just separated from my dad. I could not find a job in the mental health field. We were experiencing a recession which meant hiring freezes for many industries. I took a job as an assistant manager at a Dollar Store, barely making minimum wage. My parents separation was ugly, even for a then 24-year-old and led to me experiencing high levels of anxiety and some symptoms of depression. After research and prayer, I decided to move to Houston for a fresh start and more opportunities. I moved to Houston began the Texas Teacher’s Alternative Certification Program. I took and passed the Generalist 4-8, went on a few interviews but without a degree in education and no formal education experience, I was not offered a teaching job. Instead, I took a position as a Life Skill’s Teacher Assistant.
Soon afterwards, I took the Special Education EC-12 test and the following October; I had landed my first Special Education Teacher role. I quickly became a member of leadership teams on that campus and the other three campuses that I would go on to work for. The final campus I worked for ended in me being the first Middle School Mental Health School Counselor in that district and the first black Mental Health School counselor in that district. What I didn’t share is that once I landed my teaching position, I dropped out of my Master’s Program. Fear set in once I moved to Texas. How would I complete my internships in a place where I don’t know anyone? How will afford to pay a Site Supervisor or afford to complete the 3000 hours? When I entered into my fifth year of teaching, I decided to go back to pursue a Master’s in Education for School Counseling. Another colleague had shared that his program was dual and allowed him to become a school counselor and LPC. He shared that it was difficult to do and a lot of people did not complete it. That was my motivation. I applied to that program, but they told me that I had to go back to finish the classes at my last university in order to move forward.
I decided to apply for a M.Ed at Lamar. The first month of the program, I was offered the opportunity to pursue the CACREP School Counseling Program that they were pursuing, which meant I would move from the 36-hour program to the 48-hour program. They also said that since they were pursuing CACREP accreditation, those of us who moved up to the 48-hour program would also have the option to pursue the additional 12 hours for the Mental Health Counseling Certification. So I am a part of the first group of students to graduate from Lamar University dual counseling certificate program. As an educator, I’ve enjoyed providing quality services to students in Title I campuses, advocating for black and brown students & black and brown staff members. In 2019, the Lord told me it was time to branch out on my own so that I could have a bigger platform to help the marginalized communities. On June 29, 2020, I had my first session in my private practice.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road. I moved to a new state with no family or friends and worked my way up in education. It was a humbling experience to take a position as a teacher assistant being that I was also a certified teacher myself. I did it because I knew that I would do the work to eventually have my own classroom. I was misinformed about my salary when I took the teacher’s assistant role. I felt like I had made the biggest mistake of my life when I found out how much money I would have to live off of.
The first year of being a teacher was also the year of one the biggest teacher layoffs I’ve ever experienced. Many first-year teachers lost their jobs on my campus. I was one of few who did not. There was a lot of stress leading up to the date where I found that my job was secure. I have student loan debt for a program that I was nearly finished with, yet I did not complete. I literally started all over to get to this point. I’ve experienced systemic discrimination firsthand along the journey, which caused great distress and still does when I think about it. The death of my brother has been my motivation since 2006. His story is one the main driving forces behind what I do besides my faith. The death of my brother is also probably one of the biggest challenges that I’ve had to face in order to get to this point.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Wanda Hudson Consulting is a full-service mental health company. Wanda Hudson Consulting offers virtual individual therapy for teens and adults experiencing grief, anxiety and other stress-related issues. Wanda is an Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) trained therapist and a participant in the Trauma Care Institute Basic Certification Program. Both of these training equips Wanda with the resources to work with people that have experienced trauma at any point in their life. Other services offered are corporate & educational mental health consulting. Wanda also offers self-paced online mindfulness courses. Wanda Hudson Consulting will be offering virtual mental health workshops throughout the year. You can also purchase Inhale Empathy merchandise from Wanda. Wanda believes that if more people inhale empathy then discrimination can be exhaled and released. Be on the lookout for more partnerships from Wanda in 2021. She’s just getting started!
What does success mean to you?
I define success by the amount of people who leave me feeling inspired, encouraged, somewhat better than how they felt before.
Contact Info:
- Email: wandahudson@wandahudson.com
- Website: www.wandahudson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepresentcounselor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentcounselor
