Today we’d like to introduce you to Meri Rule.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
After I became a widow, 9/9/1999, I felt lost and needed a new purpose in life, so I went back to school after many years of grieving. I’ve always been interested in helping others feel better emotionally, so going back to school for my Master’s in Mental Health Counseling was a great fit. After some contemplation, I went back to school again to study Clinical Psychology to further my expretise even more and now here I am in private practice helping one person at a time.
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?
I was quite nervous about going back to school for my PhD thinking it would be too difficult for me, but speaking to the advisor and her telling me, ‘it’s not harder, just more classes,’ that helped me make up my mind to continue on the academic journey. The disseration process was very challenging, but taking things a step at a time and having a great support network, helped me complete my academic journey.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
After working for other private practices over the years, I was curious as to what it took to build my own. This topic is not taught in graduate school, so I explored how others ran their private practices and decided that I could do that too. Being my own boss is a huge gift for myself and my clients because I could dedicate times outside the normal business hours to reach others all over Texas.
I specialize in depression, anxiety, stress, relationships, addictions, and treat clients using CBT, Solutions Focused therapies, along with offering Auricular Acupuncture to help manage symptoms.
I am proud that I could help a diverse population, treating clients uniquely to fit their own level of processing and needs. Meaning, I meet the client where they are and go at their pace. I have quite a few long-term clients that find my services helpful which could also encourage others that are looking for a safe place to learn and grow.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Since building my own private practice was not taught in graduate school, I would encourage those that want to, to reach out to already established practitioners to help you get started. Being a supervisor, LPC-S, I have had the privilege to help post Master’s students learn about this process and hope that they also share the process with others starting out too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drmerirule.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meri-rule-phd-05aa16a4/
