Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Fitzgerald.
Morgan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have wanted to be a counselor since I was young. I was first introduced to the field of psychology early on by my grandfather, who is a licensed clinical psychologist. Some kids played with toys at that age, but growing up in a psychologist’s office meant I played with testing materials. Throughout my time in his office, I got to see first hand what he did for people and how helpful they found his work. I always was drawn to finding a career equally as fulfilling. After getting to college, I found a passion for psychology, as well, which lead me to complete a bachelor’s then a master’s. All the while having a clear path of wanting to help people through therapy. I specialized early on in addictions counseling. This was a population of people that I found to feel connected too. People close to me struggled with addiction and I found my way of giving back was to help others with similar struggles.
I wanted to be an author as a young child as well. I would write stories to which my grandmother would lovingly read and give me positive feedback on. A love for writing continued through school, with teachers giving me positive feedback toward my writing. Nevertheless, I never thought I would one day be an author. When the opportunity to write a book came about, I jumped at to take what I had learned and trained in to help people struggling with addiction. During the writing process, I kept imagining what I thought would be the most helpful information to give to people. I have had so many teachers and mentors throughout the years to provide such information. I just wanted to provide the same type of empathic teachings to help others.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Writing a book, although a passion project, is ultimately a sacrifice. As a working mom and wife, I felt pulled to take this sacrifice in order to fulfill my dream of becoming an author. Balancing all my responsibilities and not letting my family time fall to the wayside was very difficult. When I tried to use strategies from college in regards to studying, I found that with a family, none of these things worked. Most of the time my writing happened between the hours of 11 pm – 3 am. Sometimes it was nice to have the house to myself, putting on my favorite music and getting into the writing zone. Other days, when my two-year-old was especially active, I felt so exhausted by that time, I pulled the energy from the deepest depths just to keep my eyes open. During this time, I pushed myself harder than ever before to expand my capabilities of what it meant to exceed my own intellectual capabilities.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. I provide therapy to adolescents and adults of Texas through telehealth services. I specialize in working with people with addiction, anxiety, and depression. I also found that therapy to me meant meeting my client wherever they are at. Therefore, my goal is that any new or recurring client I have feels like I take pride in working with them and know it is an honor for them to step into the therapy room. My style of therapy is open and collaborative, regardless of what the person is seeking therapy for. I think the thing I am most proud of is that I put my heart and soul into providing the best quality, trauma-informed care to each and every person who I meet with.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe in luck, but more so happenstance. It was by happenstance that at each decision toward my current career goals, I chose a direction that allowed so many things to come together. This lead to these things happening in my life now. I was drawn to psychology, was drawn to writing a book and I began making choices that reflected these things. There have been setbacks along the way. One big one was not being able to be licensed right of graduate school due to some delays in licensing. All I ever wanted to do was be a therapist. Therefore having this skill and being unable to use it felt very helpless. However, I think that in doing so I learned a valuable lesson of how important my training was to me.
Contact Info:
- Address: 560 North Kimball Ave, Suite 130
Southlake, TX 76092 - Website: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Skills-Workbook-Addiction-Meditations/dp/1646112652/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=mindfulness+skills&qid=1600062293&sr=8-6;https://www.arpsych.net
- Phone: 817-488-0502
- Email: mfitzgerald@arpsych.net
Image Credit:
Rob Scholl
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