Today we’d like to introduce you to Holly Gedwed.
Hi Holly, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began my career at a young age, graduating at 23 from the University of Missouri–Columbia with a Master’s degree in Social Work. While I was young—often far younger than the individuals and families I was working with—I had already accumulated a great deal of life experience. I grew up in rural Missouri with two parents who worked incredibly hard and five siblings. From an early age, I learned independence, responsibility, and the value of hard work. I had what I needed, but anything extra was up to me. That included applying to college, paying for school, and covering my living expenses.
Throughout college and graduate school, I worked one full-time job, one part-time job, and attended school full time. Rather than feeling overwhelming, this season felt empowering. I felt capable, motivated, and deeply connected to my purpose. I was working toward what I wanted most: a degree and the opportunity to help others live healthier, safer, and more fulfilling lives.
I began my studies believing I would work with underserved children, which led me to a daycare position at the only treatment center in Missouri that served pregnant women and women with children. Over time, the program needed additional support, and I was asked to transition into working directly within the treatment program. That experience became a turning point. It was there that I gained profound insight into addiction and witnessed firsthand how powerful and devastating substance use disorders can be—not only for individuals, but for families and entire systems of support. For several years, I worked as a technician facilitating classes and groups with women in treatment, experiences that shaped both my clinical perspective and my compassion in ways no textbook ever could.
During my final semester of graduate school, I completed a full-time internship in Texas. What began as a temporary move quickly became permanent—I felt drawn to the area and decided to stay, obtain my licensure in Texas, and build my professional life here.
For the next eight years, I worked in residential treatment programs supporting individuals and families navigating substance dependence and complex mental health challenges. Those years were formative and deeply meaningful, giving me a strong clinical foundation in trauma, addiction, and co-occurring mental health disorders. At the same time, the work was intense and emotionally demanding, often requiring long hours and a significant commute. As I got married and began thinking about starting a family, I realized this pace was not sustainable or aligned with the life I wanted to build.
With deep reflection—and the unwavering support of my husband—I took a leap of faith and opened my own private practice in Southlake, Texas in 2016, a community where we knew we wanted to live and raise our future family. From the very beginning, I knew I didn’t want to build just another private practice. I wanted to create something that reimagined what mental health care could look like—something that moved beyond symptom management and toward meaningful, lasting change.
At the core of this vision was a belief that people don’t need to enter therapy because they are “broken” or because something is wrong with them. Our practice is not problem-centered. We work with many high-functioning individuals who are successful, motivated, and capable, yet seeking deeper self-awareness, balance, and fulfillment. Our focus is on optimizing mental, emotional, and relational health—not just treating pathology, but supporting growth, resilience, and longevity.
I initially started the practice independently, and over the next five years built a very healthy, thriving practice doing work I genuinely loved. As demand grew, it became clear that what we were building was resonating deeply. I maintained a consistent waitlist and repeatedly heard how difficult it was for clients to find care that felt both clinically excellent and deeply human. That gap clarified my mission—not simply to grow a business, but to build a sustainable model that could serve more people without compromising depth, integrity, or values.
That realization led me to intentionally expand—building a team rooted in clinical excellence, compassion, and leadership. I pursued my certification in Integrative Mental Health and sought clinicians who understood that true healing requires attention to the nervous system, the body, relationships, and environment—not just thoughts and behaviors. Together, we committed to creating a practice that bridges science and soul, structure and flexibility, professionalism and humanity.
As the team grew, we outgrew our original space and recognized the need for something more expansive. About a year ago, we moved into a larger location intentionally designed to support healing, learning, and community connection. The space was created to feel calm, grounding, and restorative, and includes a dedicated yoga and meditation room. This allows us to offer experiential and embodied approaches to mental health—because therapy isn’t just about talking through experiences, but also about walking through them together.
Community impact has become a central pillar of our work. We believe mental health support should be accessible, practical, and woven into everyday life—not limited to the therapy room. We regularly offer restorative yoga to the community, host vision board and intention-setting workshops, and create spaces where people can slow down, reflect, and reconnect with themselves.
We have built meaningful partnerships throughout the community, including wellness workshops with organizations like Lululemon focused on creating safe and calming internal spaces, collaborations with local gym owners to explore the mind-body connection in overall health, and partnerships with functional medicine practices to speak on grief and how it manifests in the body. We’ve also had the opportunity to speak with students at TCU about mental health, resilience, and self-awareness. These collaborations allow us to meet people where they are and extend mental health care beyond our walls.
A year after opening my practice, I became a mother, and over the past ten years of private practice I have welcomed three children. Motherhood has been one of the most beautiful and challenging parts of my journey. Learning how to be a therapist, a business owner, a leader, a wife, a mother, and simply a human being has stretched me in profound ways. There have been seasons of alignment and fulfillment, and others that felt messy, exhausting, and uncertain.
This lived experience has deeply shaped how I show up for my clients and my community. It has strengthened my ability to connect in a raw, honest, and human way. I’ve learned that people aren’t meant to be perfect—and that the more we strive for perfection, the more disconnected we often become. True healing happens when we allow space for the mess, the difficulty, and the unknown. In that space, we create room for authentic connection, compassion, growth, and peace. That belief is at the heart of both my personal journey and the vision behind the practice we continue to build.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Building something meaningful rarely is.
One of the most challenging aspects has been growing the business without losing the integrity of the work. As demand increased, there was constant pressure to expand quickly. Finding clinicians who were not only highly skilled, but also aligned with our values, philosophy, and level of care took time. There were moments when the practice outpaced our capacity, and I had to sit with the discomfort of waitlists, saying no, and slowing growth intentionally. From a business perspective, that wasn’t always the easiest choice—but it was the right one. I learned that sustainable growth requires patience, clarity, and a willingness to protect your vision, even when it’s hard.
At the same time, I was growing my family alongside the business. I became a mother a year after opening the practice and have had three children over the past ten years. Balancing pregnancy, postpartum seasons, and motherhood while running a practice and supporting clients was deeply challenging. There were seasons when I felt pulled in every direction—trying to be fully present for my family while also carrying the responsibility of employees, clients, and the business itself. I often questioned whether I was doing any of it “well enough.”
Providing excellent care while managing a growing team, navigating leadership decisions, and honoring my own limits required constant recalibration. I had to learn how to set boundaries, delegate, and trust others—skills that don’t always come naturally to clinicians. The road has been messy, humbling, and at times overwhelming. But those challenges forced me to grow not just as a therapist, but as a leader and business owner. They shaped the systems, culture, and values of the practice in ways that wouldn’t have been possible without the struggle.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are an integrative, private-pay mental health practice focused on optimizing wellbeing through customized, trauma-informed, whole-person care.
I am the founder and owner of a private-pay group counseling practice made up of a carefully curated team of clinicians, each with advanced training in trauma and relational healing. We offer individual therapy, couples and marital counseling, therapeutic intensives, restorative yoga, and wellness workshops—providing care that is both clinically excellent and deeply personalized.
At the core of our work is a specialization in trauma and its impact on relationships, behavior, and emotional wellbeing. We work extensively with developmental trauma, attachment wounds, and relational trauma, as well as the destructive behavioral and relational patterns that often emerge as a result—such as codependency, toxic relationship dynamics, emotional dysregulation, and chronic stress. We also treat depression, anxiety, self-esteem concerns, and stress-related conditions through a trauma-informed lens, recognizing that many symptoms are rooted in unresolved nervous system responses rather than isolated diagnoses.
We intentionally operate as a private-pay practice so we can prioritize quality over volume. This allows us to spend meaningful time with clients, protect confidentiality, and provide advanced, evidence-based treatment without the limitations or micromanagement of managed care. At the same time, we are committed to accessibility and offer a sliding scale fee so cost does not become a barrier to receiving care.
Our clinicians bring a high level of expertise in advanced, evidence-based modalities specifically suited for trauma and relational work, including EMDR, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, alongside CBT and DBT. These approaches allow us to work with both the nervous system and cognitive patterns that drive trauma responses, helping clients move beyond insight alone toward integration, resilience, and lasting change. We work with ages 14 and up.
What sets us apart is our focus on optimized mental health rather than problem-centered care. We frequently work with high-functioning individuals and couples who may appear successful externally but feel stuck in recurring relational patterns, emotional reactivity, or internal distress. Our work is solution-focused, integrative, and carefully customized to each client’s goals, relational history, nervous system, and lived experience.
Beyond clinical work, we are deeply committed to education, prevention, and community impact. In addition to hosting wellness workshops for the broader community, providing education for TCU students, and partnering with fellow local business owners, I have led classes in partnership with Alliance For Children to educate and resource their first responder partners. This work is rooted in the understanding that trauma exposure is cumulative, and that supporting the wellbeing of those serving children strengthens the entire system of care.
At our core, we are committed to thoughtful, ethical care that supports deep healing, relational repair, and long-term wellbeing—both for individuals and for the communities they are part of.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Take one step at a time and lead with curiosity, not certainty. You don’t need a perfect plan to start—clarity comes from action.
Fear will show up when you’re building something meaningful, but it doesn’t get to make your decisions. Feeling nervous or unsure doesn’t mean you’re off track; it means you’re growing. Setbacks are part of the process, not proof of failure.
Be intentional about who you learn from and spend time around. Surround yourself with people who are building, thinking, and willing to share their knowledge—those environments accelerate growth.
Stay rooted in what matters to you. Listen to all parts of yourself and build from your values. You don’t need everything figured out—you need trust, momentum, and the willingness to keep showing up.
Pricing:
- 170/Session with Fully Licensed Clinician
- Sliding Scale fee offored
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.southlake-wellness.com
- Instagram: wellnessthatmovesyou
- Facebook: Southlake Integrative Counseling + Wellness
- LinkedIn: Holly Gedwed
Image Credits
Adrian Cortes
Mike Lewis
