Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Russell.
Whitney, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have always wanted to help people. To make their lives better in some way. Or to heal them. I grew up in West Texas amidst Friday night lights (literally, the movie was filmed in my home town) and there wasn’t a lot of talk about mental health.
It was a pretty taboo topic that you only talked about behind closed doors and didn’t share with your friends, family, or community. So my freshman year of college, when you’re told to choose a major, I erroneously chose pre-med. It was during that first year at Austin College (small liberal arts college in Sherman, TX) in my Psychology 101 class that I discovered that I didn’t want to help heal people’s bodies, I wanted to help them heal their minds.
I found the brain to be a fascinating place. Identifying the origins behind people’s behaviors, their feelings, their thoughts. How our core beliefs are formed and how we manage them today. How we can learn and unlearn. The human experience was and continues to be a very important part of my therapy practice. Self-awareness is such an important part of healing your relationship with yourself, your body, and others.
Not too long into my counseling career, I took a job at an eating disorder treatment center and I discovered my passion. Being a treatment provider for eating disorders requires very specialized experience and training, and for some reason it just came naturally to me. And it fit right into my feminist beliefs that none of us have to live by societies rules or the rules we imprison ourselves with. We are born to be free. To be wholly and truly ourselves no matter our gender, race, body size, religion, sexual orientation or ability.
Growth is an important part of my personal and professional life. So after being a therapist at the treatment center for five years, I decided that I needed to challenge myself. Over the next several years, I climbed the corporate ladder of Eating Disorder Treatment. I became the Program Director for a residential facility, then the Regional Director of Residential Operations, and finally the Regional Director of Operations of the Residential and Outpatient Divisions.
Through this corporate climb, I learned a lot about myself, my limits, and my true desires. During the time that my professional life was booming, I got divorced, became a single mom of my son Jase, got remarried, became the mother of a blended family of 3 children (Jase, Joley, and Gracie), and then rounded out our wonderful family with the addition of our youngest daughter, Josie. So if you’re tracking all of that, we have four children. It’s a beautiful mess sometimes.
I looked at myself one day and realized that by continuing to advance my career, I was spending less time with my family and less time engaging in my passion of providing exceptional therapeutic care to my community. It was then that I knew I needed to grow in a different direction. I chose to challenge myself yet again, and take the financial and professional risk of opening up my own practice.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
This road hasn’t always been easy for me. I struggle with self-criticism and self-doubt. There have been times where I have felt so sure of myself and my abilities to then be placed in a new situation and suddenly, I feel like I have no idea who I am or what I’m doing. Several times in my career I have felt like I was learning to fly the plane while also building it at the same time. I have had the privilege and the burden of leading 150-200 employees who look to me for answers. And sometimes you find yourself, especially in mental health, in uncharted territory. I learned that the best things I can do are to have humility with others and compassion for myself. If I give my best, admit when I make mistakes, and use every opportunity as a chance for growth, I live more in alignment with my values.
Please tell us about Brave Haven Counseling.
I founded Brave Haven Counseling in June of 2019 and my mission is to give others a safe place where they can do daring and difficult work. I specialize in helping people to heal their relationships with themselves, their bodies, and others. My favorite part about being a therapist is establishing relationships with my clients where I am able to help them to see what they have been missing about themselves all along- that they are powerful beings worthy of great love, belonging, and connection.
As a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist-Supervisor (CEDS-S), I have met exceptional standards within the specialty of eating disorders as designated by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. It was very important to me to obtain this certification as I want my clients to feel confident in my abilities and know that I am continually educating myself in the field of eating disorders.
With the designation as CEDS-Supervisor and being a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, I have earned the ability and privilege to supervise and develop other clinicians. Fostering growth in the counseling field is one of my favorite parts of my job. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for my supervisors and mentors along the way and I am honored that I get to have the opportunity to do that for others.
I also specialize in using the enneagram in the therapeutic setting. I have studied under world-renowned enneagram master teacher and author Suzanne Stabile. I love to use the enneagram in therapy if my clients are interested in or have knowledge of the enneagram. The enneagram can be immensely helpful in therapy as it helps clients to feel seen and understood, quickly identify behavior patterns that keep them stuck and have greater compassion for themselves and others.
I offer in person and virtual counseling and supervision to anyone within the state of Texas because I don’t want for someone to feel like their location is a barrier to receiving support.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have taken more risks, made big leaps sooner, and allowed myself to believe that things were possible even if I wasn’t 100% confident.
Pricing:
- 50 minute Individual Counseling Session- $160
- 90 minute Individual Counseling Session- $240
- 50 minute Virtual Meal Support- $90
Contact Info:
- Address: 2425 N. Central Expressway Ste 700
Richardson, TX 75080 - Website: www.bravehavencounseling.com
- Phone: 9726589499
- Email: whitney@bravehavencounseling.com
- Instagram: @whitneylpc
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