Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryna Talamantez
Hi Bryna, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story begins back in the year 2000. It may sound like the start of a Jonas Brothers’ song, but it was the furthest thing from one. I was 9 and on the fourth day of fourth grade, my dad died from a long illness he had been dealing with complications of for 11 years. It was my first of what would be a lifelong of grief and loss. The death of my dad was followed by the death of my Grammy when I was 14. She had served as a third guardian and helped raise me throughout my childhood during my father’s illness and after his death while my mom worked to try to provide for us. Grammy was my constant companion and support system and although life had always provided some chaos, she made life feel stable. It was after her death that my mom and I lived a chaotic existence trying just to make it through the days of high school without our pillar of hope, love, and strength. What people don’t often realize is grief is not just dealing with the feelings of the person, but often there are other losses that come along with the death and loss of a person. People can lose their homes, ways of life, financial security, routines, friends, familial relationships, and more. These are all things I have experienced as a direct result of someone dying. As a child and teen, these are things that I navigated mostly on my own, and it was a heavy burden to bear.
The hardest thing I have ever had to navigate was the death of my mom when I was 19 and a sophomore at SMU. In one instant I went from student just trying to navigate a full load of classes while working 30 hours a week to try to help contribute money home to help my mom pay bills to an orphan who wanted to finish her undergrad degree with very limited financial support and a general mistrust of others for emotional support. I quickly learned who the people were that I could rely on, and I was grateful to those people. There were few times that I let people outside of my very limited inner circle of people knew what I was struggling with daily, and half the time I did not even let in the inner circle. I wanted to keep my head down, finish school, and keep going.
After my mom’s death, I was asked by a family member why they thought I had been given so much grief and loss to navigate. At first, I joked back to her that God just seemed to have a cruel sense of humor. After a pause and a stern look, I took a moment to think. Then we started to talk through it. Maybe I had been given these challenges because I was supposed to help others, kids and teens, who were also navigating grief and loss of their own. It was then that I decided that I shifted my focus in school and in life to make this my goal. All throughout grad school I knew this was my goal. I have spent a lot of time receiving extensive training in how to help others who are grieving to help fill in the gaps with my personal experiences with grief and loss. I also enjoy sharing knowledge about helping those who are grieving alongside my practice where I get to spend my days alongside kids and teens who are navigating their own grief and loss journeys. I always share with my kids that just because I have had my own grief and loss, I will never tell them I know exactly how they feel, because I do not. Everyone’s grief journey is different. But I can sit with them while they are sad, angry, upset, confused, and feeling whatever they need to feel without judgement because I have sat where they have been.
Grief brought me to this field of therapy, but I have expanded my practice and knowledge to include helping kids, teens, and young adults who are navigating grief as well as ADHD, anxiety, and life transitions. I am always seeking and gaining more knowledge so I can fully support my clients.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Life for me has not always been a smooth road, as I have already mentioned. But, it has brought me to my field and why I am. so passionate about what I do. Once I was in the field of counseling, as in any profession, there were definitely learning curves! It took me some time to figure out what specialities and populations I specifically felt I was most capable of serving, but once I did things really started to take shape.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Talamantez Therapy?
I opened my office, Talamantez Therapy, in the Spring of 2021. I specialize in seeing children, teens, and young adults who are navigating grief, ADHD, anxiety, and life transitions in person at my office in North Plano as well as virtually throughout the state of Texas. I think what sets me apart from other offices when it comes to grief in particular is how much life experience I have mixed with my professional experience. I have been to several grief conferences and spoken about grief at several and make sure to stay up to date on the latest research, ideas, and activities to help clients.
My office is bright, colorful, and approachable for kids. My kids know that when they come into my office, it is their time and their space to do and talk about anything they need or want to talk about. We can paint, play games, play with dolls, sit in silence, just talk, we have done it all. They also know that I am a sucker and if they want a new game or toy, I will let them pull up Target or Amazon on my phone and we will find said game or toy, but they know I will wait for it to go on sale! It warms my heart when my kids are happy to come to the office and tell me about their successes of the week.
On top of my therapeutic services in my office, I love public speaking. I have a podcast called “What the Feels” that is available wherever you listen to podcasts. On the pod, we talk about the mental health themes in different movies, books, and shows because talking about mental health through characters can be easier than talking about our own mental health directly. I also love speaking to different groups, organizations, and at conferences about mental health, but particularly about child grief. It is something I am passionate about and want to share with anyone who will listen. In the US, 1 in 12 children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they turn 18. Chances are if you are reading this, you know a child who is grieving. Therefore, it is important that we should all know how to talk to kids about their grief, things to say, things not to say, and ways that we can help them.
To expand services to those who do not necessarily need therapeutic services but sometimes need emotional checkins with their feelings or grief, I have created “Unbox Your Grief” and “Unbox Your Feeling” Boxes for children and their families. The Unbox Your Grief boxes are family oriented and are centered around helping families navigate tough days such as their person’s death anniversary, birthday, and different holidays. Each box contains a conversation guide of how to handle the day, 5 activities, journal prompts, and a post day discussion guide. I also have a Pet Loss box for families navigating the death of a beloved pet. The “Unbox Your Feeling” boxes are geared towards elementary school age kiddos who are learning about their feelings and available now are boxes to introduce them to their feelings, anxiety, separation anxiety, and ADHD.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think that what has been important to my success has been my determination and stubbornness. Throughout every obstacle that has come up, I allow myself a moment to fall a part a bit with my pint of ice cream, and then I say “Ok, let’s get back to it,” and I keep going. I have been better about learning how to ask for help when I need it, even though I can still be very independent. I also think that my creative mind helps keep new ideas flowing so I never feel stagnant in my job. Not that my kids let me think that any day is the same!
Pricing:
- Sessions are $125 per session
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.talamanteztherapy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talamanteztherapy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077690751301
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhattheFeelsPodcast
- Other: https://feeds.libsyn.com/426017/rss
Image Credits
Taylor Sonego (image credit for image in pink jacket with inside out characters, blue jacket with puppet, and two images of inside of office)
