Megan Broadhead

I’ve recently begun a new adventure in my professional life. I have joined a new therapeutic community and am building my practice here in Atlanta. I know the statistics. I know that there is a possibility that I will fail, AND there is also this possibility that I won’t. To take this step is huge. In terms of personal growth, it means that I’ve acknowledged the risk and still decided to act in the direction my spirit hopes to go. In discovering different ways to market myself and my unique way of being with clients, I have come across a few insecurities- one of which has to do with my Masters of Divinity degree.

I’ve never worked with small children in a clinical setting before, and I suddenly find myself in a position at a private practice that sends many of them my way. I’m learning my way through this work and am actually enjoying it. I often think to myself, “How cool that these kids get to come to therapy so young, and that their caretakers are making this a priority.” Thinking back, I might have liked a reliable, safe place and person to myself for an hour each week!

Not too long ago, I received my first counseling paycheck. I couldn’t believe it. It felt pretty surreal to finally get paid for what I’d been doing for free for so long. In a strange way, it was very empowering. Someone was affirming my work by paying me. Many of us do not go into this vocation thinking we will make lots and lots of money. That’s not what this whole experience was about- it was about so much more than the monetary value of the check (which- let’s be honest- wasn’t very much in and of itself!).

I once was a little girl around the age of 9. Our family always went on vacation with my dad’s side of the family. We rented cabins along a lake in the northern woods of Wisconsin, and we would spend the week hiking, fishing, swimming (if the water wasn't icy cold in the month of June), playing Frisbee golf, biking, hanging out by the camp fire, and oh-so-much more... Some of my best childhood memories are centered around these trips, and there's one in particular that I'm thinking about today. I believe that significant memories of our past show up in a BIG way in our present and our future. If only we will pay attention, we can learn so much about ourselves.

It was one of those moments to be remembered: you know- an “ah-ha! moment". On a surprisingly warm wintery Saturday morning in Atlanta, I was getting ready to lead an adolescent process group at the eating disorders center where I was interning. My husband left for a jog a few minutes earlier with our dog. After he left, I continued to get ready, made my coffee and breakfast, and was about to head out the door when he came charging back inside after maybe 10 minutes. Huffing and puffing, my good man exclaimed, “Chick-fil-A’s breakfast ends in 14 minutes! I need to make it there and get a chicken biscuit before it’s all over!” He dropped our dog off and “ran” right back out the door before I could express the hilarious irony of the situation with him.