Today we’d like to introduce you to Ly Tran.
Ly, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2001, freshly equipped with degrees in Computer Science and Business, I spent a couple of years working for Deloitte Consulting. I quickly realized I enjoyed helping people solve complex problems, but felt empty doing the kind of work I was doing. It seemed too finite, too removed from making a difference in things I felt were more lasting in this life.
So in 2005, I went back to school to gain my Masters in Biblical Counseling from Dallas Seminary, hoping to redirect my passion to help others into more personal and relational areas of life. After finishing my degree in 2007, I began practicing as a counselor and around the same time got married to my wife, Dana. But earning a living as an intern counselor is hard, so I also started a real estate business, flipping houses in my spare time. I figured after spending two years hitting the books hard, I’d spend some time swinging a hammer and breaking a sweat to hustle out a living.
That worked well enough for my wife and me until 2011 when we took on two more major additions to our family. Our first daughter, Avangeline, was born and we bought a business selling dessert. From 2011-2018, we owned a Paciugo Gelato in Uptown, Dallas where we learned how to run a small business. At that time, I also began scaling back my real estate business and moved over to mostly owning and managing rental properties.
Two years later, we had three more major changes in our life. We had our second daughter, Juliette, I took on a full-time pastoral position at Chase Oaks Church in Plano, and I began my doctoral degree in Marriage & Family Ministries. With all the different things we had going on, I had to learn how to outsource and build systems to operate these different ventures and responsibilities. This might sound like a lot, and when I share this with people, it’s usually met with some sort of fascination.
But I assure you it’s not meant to be, nor is it in reality, impressive. Each of these chapters and additions was met with tremendous failure and disappointment. But I think what I kept telling myself was that each endeavor and failure was a lesson to learn and opportunity to grow. That’s how I approached it, and that’s why I kept challenging myself more, to be more open to “the next thing.” Perhaps, I was just trying to be open to where ever God might take us.
So after spending ten years practicing counseling, eight years operating businesses, and five years Pastoring at a church, my vision started to come into focus. I was involved in a number of things, but I began to see how all these different experiences could come together and make sense. I was an entrepreneur but wanted to do more than just meet a need, I wanted to address a problem in my community that few could do, a problem that I was uniquely equipped and gifted to do.
So in the summer of 2016, around the same time my third child Aaron was born, I began building Watershed Initiative. I wanted to launch an organization that combined the best of two worlds. I wanted Watershed Initiative to have the ability to address real mental health and family needs, but also to have the passion of the local church to make a difference. I started by recruiting other therapists who shared my vision for a better way to do mental health, looking for therapists I could educate and train to do more for their clients and in ways that were more affordable and accessible to the community.
But later that winter everything changed. Everything stopped. On December 16th, my 4-month-old son died during his afternoon nap. We had just started the business, and later that week our banker let us know we had been approved for the loan to launch all of this. But I didn’t care. None of it mattered anymore. My wife and I were devastated. There were days I honestly wasn’t sure of how we’d survive. The pain was overwhelming, and the ache echoed within us as though there was a great hollow chasm within each us.
“What was the point of all of this?” I wondered. Why do anything? Life just seemed to stand still for us, while the world kept moving and spinning. I wish I could say in those first few months that I responded with determined purpose, but I didn’t. I think I just kept going and pushing with the launching of Watershed Initiative because I really didn’t know what else to do. We didn’t want to make any rash decisions and decided to stop what we spent so much to start seemed like a big one.
So that’s led us here today, two years later. Watershed Initiative has twenty therapists and two locations, Richardson and Frisco. There’s something I’ve learned about pain and loss, a sort of wisdom I’ve heard from others who have suffered loss express as well. Incredible pain yields incredible clarity.
2017 was a year of pain, but it was also a year that refined and redefined everything for us. My vision for Watershed Initiative was already meaningful. I wanted it to make a difference. I still do. But that’s not enough anymore. That vision actually feels small to me today. I wish I had words to describe the experience. The best way I can put it is to say, part of despises this world and longs for heaven. To see and hold my baby boy again.
As a follower of Christ, it’s always been my belief that my home was in heaven, but never before have I just wanted to be there so badly and to be free from the sorrow and pain that death can bring. But I am here, and as much as I’ve wrestled with God as to why, why my son had to go, why I had to remain behind, why it couldn’t have been me, I’ve found a kind of peace and joy in making the best of my time here.
What I’m trying to say is that, if I must be here, then I’m going to give everything I have to make a difference. Life’s too short to live trying not to lose. When you’ve already felt like you’ve lost so much, there’s not much to hold you back from risking everything in order to gain whatever meaning and joy you can muster from this world. There is no room left in my heart to hold anything back. No fear, no worldly gain, no concerns of failure. So that is what has gotten me here today.
Today, the best way I know how to make a difference is to go “all in” on the vision of Watershed Initiative. When I feel like it’s accomplished what it was intended for, I’ll move on to the next thing, and the thing after that. Everything I do, I feel compelled to do without reservation, with a sense of fierceness. I love and appreciate my wife more, I treasure my kid’s hugs more, and I enjoy my work and purpose with a greater sense of fullness. Every day I ache for my son, but every day there’s also a deeper kind of joy in this life as well.
I’m thankful for all the seasons of disappointment and failure in all the ventures we had done up until this point. The struggle of those seasons prepared my wife and me to not only handle and survive the loss of our son but to draw closer as a family, to live and love more courageously and fiercely. I don’t know what will come of the things we risk and invest ourselves into, but what’s the worst that can happen? We have nothing left to lose and everything to still gain.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve already detailed the biggest struggles, but I’ll share some of the smaller ones as it relates to other areas:
1) I wish I didn’t waste $100K on a college degree that I didn’t ultimately use.
2) I wish I hadn’t wasted two years doing a consulting job that I didn’t enjoy.
3) My first real estate flip was a flop, and my last one was a disaster where I lost lots of time and money. Overall I did well enough to make a living, but it was filled with frustrations, wasted time and tough lessons.
4) In many ways, I regret my doctoral studies and am still hopeful that something good will come out of that investment of time and money. But if I could do it over again, I wouldn’t have done it.
5) I really regret having bought into the gelato shop. It took us three years just to get it to a place where it became an asset instead of a liability.
All of these struggles have a common theme. I took a risk to do something that might be good, there were many times or seasons where things went terribly bad, and yet pushing through it we were able to draw something redeeming and wonderful about it.
Each of these experiences, for good or bad, have helped prepare me with key skills/experiences in different industries, which in turn has helped me to make better, wiser and more aggressive moves today.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Watershed Initiative – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
CULTIVATING CHANGE:
The Watershed Initiative was created with one goal in mind: Making a Difference by Cultivating Change in our Community. We are a collaboration of therapist from various areas of specialties that are unified in our faith in Christ and a compelling drive to make a difference in the life of individuals, couples, families and their communities. Watershed Initiative does this by focusing on two areas of need: Wellness and Healing.
Wellness Initiatives:
What sets us apart from most other mental health practices is the amount of time and energy we put into collaborating with our community to help raise the level of dialogue and awareness on mental health and relationship issues. We host workshops that we call “worksheds,” go into churches, schools, etc., to help promote discussion and acquisition of tools that in turn helps people address issues before they require the help of a counselor.
We also offer coaching help for those who might need more individual or family attention to help apply what the learn into real-life situations. By promoting more wellness in our community, we hope to prevent and reduce the need for healing resources to be utilized at all.
Healing Initiatives:
If specialized and professional mental health need arises from these engagements with the community, through our team of 20+ therapists we also offer counseling help that can address most every marriage, family, and individual mental health need and can accommodate most any financial situation. We are also a curator of mental health resources and are avid networkers, so if we aren’t able to help or aren’t the best fit, we aim to be a resource that helps connect people in our community with the right resource for them.
Watershed Initiative is about initiating and stimulating real change in the places that matter the most (people and relationships) and in ways that we as mental health professionals are uniquely trained to do and passionate about.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
If I were to compare Dallas to a number of other cities I’ve visited or lived in, I think what I like about Dallas (and Texas in general) is how highly valued community and connection is in our city. It’s strange to say that because I think our community is becoming more disconnected with the effects that technology and social media. But Dallas still places a high premium on family and community better than most other cities.
I think Dallas can tend to be fake and inauthentic. As much as we want connection and community, I think many of our communities in Dallas miss out on deeper connections because of an image we try to manage or protect. Being an advocate for mental and relational health means raising awareness that the masks and images we maintain lead to all kinds of mental illness and broken relationships.
Pricing:
- Our coaching and counseling offerings range from $30-180 dependant on experience
Contact Info:
- Address: 6371 Preston Rd #120 Frisco, TX 75031
- Website: www.watershedinitiative.com
- Phone: 214-414-0378
- Email: info@watershedinitiative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/watershed_initiative/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watersheddallas/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WatershedDallas
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
