Today we’d like to introduce you to Clara Morgan.
Clara, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve alway had a heart for helping others. It’s just a part of who I am – and I truly believe that counseling is both an art and a science – and I try to find that balance during each and every session.
My journey in the helping profession began after working in early childhood education and ministry; I decided to go back to school to become a School Counselor because I loved the combination of education and counseling all in one profession. While in graduate school, I worked as a research graduate assistance and helped with the book-writing for three textbooks including research on trauma approaches in counseling. It’s rewarding to look back and see how things have come full-circle now.
As a High School Counselor, it was so rewarding to serve students in all different situations and navigating many immensely challenging situations. It gave me so much exposure and experience quickly as a new counselor. I truly feel like a theme of my life is a dedication to continually learning, so I started the process to gain licensure as a clinical counselor shortly after graduate school.
Once my family and I moved to Texas about three years ago, it felt like the perfect time to make a switch, and I decided to open up my practice, Freedom Walk Counseling, with the vision of seeing many women find freedom from things that have held them back for so long so that they can show up how they want to in their lives. I absolutely love the work that I get to do, the work-life balance I now have to be there for my family and two young children, and to continue to learn new approaches to best serve my clients.
I’m also excited to utilize a new approach to treatment called BWRT (BrainWorking Recursive Technique), which has been especially helpful for trauma responses, triggers, and low self-worth. As of right now, I am the only BWRT Registered Member in TX, and am honored to be pioneering this approach in Texas.
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?
As in any profession, you have good days and harder days, but I’ve always felt like the road has been guided. I’ve been blessed along with way with amazing mentorship and supervision to support me. I also make an effort to meet up monthly with trusted colleagues to collaborate and share knowledge and best-practice in the field.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I started Freedom Walk Counseling, PLLC in July of 2024. My practice is based in Aledo, TX but I also work with clients online through tele-health throughout the state of Texas. I specialize in working with women and teen girls (ages 14 years and older) navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, low self-worth, and life transitions. The bulk of my work has been to help clients diffuse intense emotional reactions and rebuild core identity after trauma. The approach I use is a new treatment model, called BWRT (BrainWorking Recursive Technique).
BWRT was started by Terence Watts in the UK in 2011, and it is quickly growing in the United States as a treatment for trauma and other concerns. This model aims to work the cerebellum: the part of the brain with more neural pathways than the rest of the brain combined.
The mechanism of BWRT utilizes the “recursive” looping, or more simply put, the patterns of the brain response system in relation to an environmental stimulus. The goal is to shift the automatic, emotional response before it even begins in the conscious part of the brain. Essentially, BWRT is utilizing a naturally occurring brain state, mimicking the wait state of a freeze response that happens during trauma, and neutralizing the heightened response through the recursive looping process.
BWRT has been an effective treatment approach for many concerns including phobias, food aversions, trauma-responses, low self-worth, anxiety, and more.
I am the only current BWRT Registered Member in the state, and excited to pioneer this model in Texas. I have seen wonderful breakthroughs with my clients since using it for almost a year now.
I also offer speaking engagements for local women’s health programs on topics such as mental wellness in motherhood, overall wellness, and BWRT group work. I have a partnership with an amazing organization, Unfaulted, which provides support for young women who have aged out of foster care. I am one of their partner counselors and also speak at their Empowered Conferences.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Most recently, I noticed a need to cultivate a support network of women entrepreneurs in Aledo. This past Spring, I got together with a good friend, Annie Hillman, of 1428 Financial, and we decided to start hosting networking gatherings for women in business in our community. The Aledo area is rapidly growing, which also means that businesses are quickly growing. We noticed there was a need and desire to have local meet-ups like there are in other surrounding major cities.
We have now hosted two events for Aledo Women in Business – a Spring Social at the Lumen Room in April, and a Fall Festival at Serve Coffee & Goods in October. Both events had about 40 women in attendance each time. It felt like a big risk at the time because we truly started from the ground up – just two friends, with two businesses, who had just met at a coffeeshop a year prior (Serve – in fact!), with the vision to cultivate an encouraging and authentic culture and community of local women in business so that they can strengthen their support network. The networking events are designed with the women in mind with a laid-back and comfortable atmosphere all at no-charge thanks to the generosity of other amazing women-owned business sponsors.
Pricing:
- To help make counseling more accessible, session fees are offered on a sliding scale determined by household income. Please reach out for additional information.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.freedomwalkcounseling.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freedomwalkcounseling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Freedom-Walk-Counseling-PLLC-61562752392917/
