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I am a first-generation college graduate from a small Ohio town. Growing up, I had little knowledge of higher education and the options that existed. I thank God that my high school marching band performed at a Taylor University football game during my junior year. From that moment, I was focused on finding my way back to Taylor as a college student. I will forever be grateful that this aspiration became a reality. In 1996, I graduated from Taylor with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. In the year before graduation and for a period after, I worked in an adult inpatient psychiatric unit in Marion, IN, and was offered the opportunity to lead processing groups with the patients. While one of my professors had done a remarkable job staying in character as someone with schizophrenia in Abnormal Psych class, it was in the psych unit where I first encountered psychosis, personality disorders, psychiatric meds, and certain behaviors and diagnoses that I had only just read about. I also worked at an inner-city youth camp and a residential treatment facility for youth where I learned about behavioral management and attachment issues and the impact of violence and neglect in the home. I learned that while these youth craved connection, sometimes it was also the very thing they fought against. My Taylor experience and the support of my professors empowered me to step into these unknowns and helped provide a lens to interpret and digest what I was encountering. In 1998, I married my best friend, David Smith (Taylor, ’97). In 2000, I graduated with my MA in Counseling Psychology from Ball State University in Muncie, IN where we have lived since getting married. Following my graduate program, I was commissioned to develop a counseling program at a local government agency to assist adults as they sought to break cycles of generational poverty. I offered individual and group counseling and eventually began supervising graduate students to expand the number of counseling groups available. Some of my grad students were even other Taylor alum. Looking back, I feel humbled that someone entrusted me with this task at such a young age. In 2002, I became a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in Indiana. While fulfilling my licensure requirements, I built a relationship with a local practice owner and had the opportunity to immediately begin seeing clients there while continuing to manage the counseling program at the government agency. Due to my work experience up to this point, I willingly took on clients from across the lifespan presenting with a wide range of issues. I spent the next 18 years in private practice broadening my skills as a therapist, identifying my preferred population, and learning the inner workings of running a practice. In 2020, David and I started our own private practice, Freedom Work Counseling and Consulting. I am consistently learning new skills in managing a business and working with insurance billing while still providing therapy. I am grateful that during my years as a therapist, I have had the flexibility to create a schedule that honored my separate desires to counsel, be an engaged and available parent, and volunteer in the schools, our community, and church. I feel incredibly fortunate that I get to do this important life work with my husband. I didn’t know that’s how it would all work out. He had a Biblical Literature major/Psych minor from Taylor and worked in church ministry for 10 years before deciding that he wanted to transition to the ministry of mental health counseling. We attend training together, challenge one another, present together, and literally see clients in adjacent rooms from one another. It truly is a blessing. While it may seem that my career path has been smooth, my personal adult life has been marked with deep heartache through experiences with chronic pain, infertility, the sudden death of family members, newborn loss, and failed adoption. The pain I have encountered has given me a deeper understanding and compassion for the clients I serve. Often, clients want to know that the person journeying with them through their pain has also taken their own journey. While I don’t pretend to have grasped this during the experiences, what the enemy meant for destruction, God has used for good.
I had so many amazing experiences as a Taylor student. I wanted to do ALL of the things but I believe that throughout my four years, I found the uniquely right things for me. Serving as a Personnel Assistant for 2 years helped me grow in leadership, confidence, and organization. Working the opening hours in the fitness facility meant that I got to build relationships with professors and Taylor leadership in the wee hours of the morning before most students were even awake. Being a part of the Inter-Class Council meant that I got to be a part of planning some of the most epic events on campus. Writing papers all night in the dorm hallways with my floormates felt like we were both suffering together and encouraging one another. Singing in the Gospel Choir awakened a passion for music. A performing arts Lighthouse trip to the Bahamas was beautiful and life-changing. A January World Impact experience in inner cities on the East Coast opened my eyes to the face of poverty in our country. A summer semester experience in Albania opened my eyes to the face of poverty in another country. And just as valuable were the everyday experiences with my Taylor friends - rollerblading the Taylor loop, participating or cheering at intramural competitions, late night walks, meaningful conversations in the DC, confessing and praying together, dancing our hearts out in our rooms, attending chapel together, and learning about each other’s stories.
Being a Psychology major at Taylor means that you will have the opportunity to grow academically, relationally, spiritually, and on a deep intrapersonal level. I recall many assignments that challenged me to think beyond what I could pull out of a textbook. I had to go deeper, considering what I believed about humanity, coming to terms with my own brokenness, and further understanding the process of redemption and reconciliation to God, ourselves, and others. There were many times that I would stop by my professors’ offices to talk through personal issues, relationship woes, and career questions. I am so grateful for the professors who provided a safe space to struggle through these vulnerable topics. In addition to providing an encouraging and supportive environment, my professors challenged me academically. Sometimes it was really difficult and sometimes I was functioning on little sleep due to my struggle to find the balance between work, play, and school. However, when I attended graduate school, I felt confident in my study skills, research skills, writing skills, and presentation skills. I was so grateful for the ways my Taylor experiences had prepared me for these next steps.
As a Taylor student, I took a wide variety of classes - everything from History, Math, Spanish, Creative Writing, Biology, Fit for Life, Sociology, Art as Experience, and the required Bible courses. I even found space for Accounting, Ceramics, Beginning Piano, and Aerobics in addition to my major courses. This meant that while I was at Taylor, I had additional opportunities to build relationships with individuals from different majors and therefore different interests from myself. This also means I have a basic understanding of many other areas of study outside of psychology which has proven to be helpful within the counseling setting as the majority of my clients present from different career paths.
Remember that God wants to partner with you. Jesus is the healer, but He has so many beautiful things to show you on the journey. Believing that it all rests on your shoulders is too heavy a burden to bear. Honest and authentic connection is the greatest gift you can offer to others. But it is also the greatest gift you can offer to yourself. Always know there is room to grow. Be humble and teachable. Seek out mentors and friends who will be equal parts encouraging and challenging. Remain accountable to others. Learn new skills. Stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone. In the growth, you will be reminded to depend on God and others and not just your own abilities. Don’t lose sight of what makes you unique. If you are creative, keep creating. If you love music, keep making music. If you enjoy the outdoors, get outside. If you want to travel, find ways to make it happen. If you do lose sight, set aside as much time as it takes to rest, reset, and remember who you are.
