Aimee Thompson MA, LPC-S, CCTP shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Aimee, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about your customers?
We help wounded people find hope, healing, and resilience. Most of our clients have been deeply wounded in important primary relationships (parents, partners, etc.). There are two things that surprise me as I do this work:
1) The level of pain that humans can inflict on other humans. That probably shouldn’t surprise me but there are still stories I encounter that do.
2) The deep healing and resilience that humans are capable of and the fight it takes for many to get there. The type of healing I walk people through is not easy and I admire the strength, determination, and persistence that my clients have. I am also amazed at the array of positive characteristics that many develop as they survive difficult relationships and situations.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
At Counseling for Hope we empower clients to break free from trauma’s impact and embrace resilience. We help people wounded in their closest relationships move from being hijacked by trauma to living with greater freedom and choice. Our clients find that intrusive symptoms become less intense and less frequent, old wounds lose their sharpest edges, and most importantly, they discover how to live from the resilience that was always in them. We meet every survivor exactly where they are, with deep understanding and a safe healing process.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
At 14, I had my first of 3 back surgeries for scoliosis. At this moment, I deepened my trust and faith in God. I grew up in a Christian minister’s house and already knew and loved Jesus. Yet, it was this first surgery and the ones that followed in my adult years that have helped me know God in a real and tangible way. Each of these painful and challenging experiences made me wrestle with the purpose of pain and suffering. I learned my own resilience and cultivated a deeper and sweeter relationship with God than I could have ever done apart from the trial of pain.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering makes us face our limitations and grieve whatever we lose as a result. It humbles us and really makes us evaluate our priorities and choices. It teaches us that we can do hard things and that there is beautiful life even with limits and pain. It helps us see who is really in our corner and for me, suffering helped me meet God in a way that I never would have encountered apart from it.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The biggest lie in the therapy world is arrogance disguised as expertise, the quiet belief that we’ve figured healing out. We earn degrees, collect certifications, fall in love with certain models, and somewhere along the way many of us start thinking we know exactly how healing is ‘supposed’ to go. That arrogance shows up when we get impatient with clients who don’t progress on our timeline, when we blame them for ‘resistance,’ or when we dismiss approaches we haven’t personally mastered. I’ve seen clinicians wound people they genuinely wanted to help, simply because their certainty left no room for the client’s actual experience. The truth I keep coming back to is this: the moment any of us believes we have it all figured out is the moment we become dangerous. Real healing requires humility, the willingness to stay curious, to keep learning, and to let the person sitting across from us remain the ultimate expert on their own life.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. When do you feel most at peace?
I feel the deepest peace in two places.
The first is out in creation, on a quiet trail, walking the beach, or watching a sunrise, where the vastness and beauty of the world stills everything inside me and I feel God in all of it.
The second is in my marriage. That relationship blesses me every single day and gives me a refuge from everything else.
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Contact Info:
- Website: https://counseling4hope.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/counseling4hope/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/counseling4hope/
Image Credits
David Lobban, photographer
Lindsay Williams, brander
