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Welcome to the first episode of Outside of Session! This episode is a brief introduction so you can get to know your therapist BFF, Julie, a little better.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Outside of Session'
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to outside of session. I'm your host, licensed clinical social worker and therapist BFF, Julie Hilton. We're going to cover all the things here, whether it's mental health, entrepreneurship, relationships, trauma, or just life. Nothing is off limits. Hopefully you'll laugh a little and learn a lot, but most importantly, feel encouraged on your journey to live empowered.
Launching the Podcast: Excitement and Nerves
00:00:32
Speaker
Hey everyone, and welcome to the very first episode of Outside of Session. I'm so excited to be here today. Well, if I'm being honest, it's a close tie between feeling really excited and also feeling very nervous, but hey, we're here and we're doing it, so thanks so much for tuning in. I've honestly wanted to do a podcast for a really long time, and I just kept talking myself out of it.
00:00:58
Speaker
We literally could probably do today's episode on imposter syndrome because I have definitely been feeling it. I just haven't started a new project and put myself out there like this in a really long time. But you know what? I decided that 2023 is going to be the year that we just go for it and stop letting fear
Pursuing Passions and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
00:01:16
Speaker
get in the way. So if you have a passion or a project that you want to get started, but you keep talking yourself out of it, this is your sign that if I can do this, trust me, you can go after yours too.
00:01:29
Speaker
The reason I even wanted to do a podcast in the first place is because I feel like we're doing such a good job talking about mental health finally. And our generation has finally acknowledged and normalized that we all have struggles. It's nothing to be ashamed of. And the more we talk about it, the more we help each other. And I really just want to be a part of that movement. And I want to be a part of those conversations and make sure that my voice is heard with it too.
Humanizing Therapists: A Personal Perspective
00:01:57
Speaker
Today, I wanted to just take the time to share with you a little bit more about who I am and where I'm coming from. I know a lot of people listening today are probably like my friends and random people who have found me on Instagram over the years. So you probably have some sense of who I am. But I really wanted to be able to be more of like an open book about my life.
00:02:21
Speaker
mainly because sometimes I feel like therapists can be almost like way too clinical and impersonal. And it makes it hard to believe that they don't have it all together. I even have clients like make those comments all the time, like, Oh, I bet you never deal with this. But honey, I am I'm just not that therapist. And I want to be forthcoming with the fact that I struggle with things too. And I'm working just as hard to find my happiness.
00:02:50
Speaker
and to navigate through life as you are. I really want to show a more authentic and human side to the profession.
From Hospice Care to Mental Health Practice
00:03:00
Speaker
So a little bit about my background. I grew up in South Georgia, in case you can't tell, and I finished my MSW from Valdosta State University. And then for like the first seven or eight years of my career, I actually worked as a medical social worker in hospice care.
00:03:18
Speaker
And that fact always gets some very interesting looks and comments from people. So before you ask, yes, it was definitely heavy at times, but honestly more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. And I feel like I got a lot of really like well rounded experience with hospice because
00:03:37
Speaker
Grief comes for us all no matter what our what our lot walk of life is And so I was working with people that just had a really wide variety of issues because when you're caring for someone with a terminal illness there's so many other things going on in life like marital issues or Having a hard time balancing work and caregiving all these different things that I was helping people sort through it just gave me a really like broad perspective of issues that people face and
00:04:07
Speaker
But I really felt like the medical model wasn't for me after all of those years, mostly because there was a lot of red tape and a lot of providing care based off of meeting certain criteria and paperwork and stuff like that.
00:04:24
Speaker
And I also felt like mental health wasn't valued as much in that field, if I'm being honest.
The Birth of Empower Counseling
00:04:29
Speaker
So eventually I transitioned over to a more like mental health focused career that was in about probably like 2016. And eventually I started working with a counseling practice over by Kennesaw State University and
00:04:44
Speaker
I absolutely loved that job because I loved working with college age clients. It's just such a cool age of life and I still really enjoy it today. But you're like leaving out from under your parents and you're finding out who you are for yourself and also doing that while adjusting to being an adult for the first time. There's just like a lot of self-reflection and self-awareness things that you go through at that time of life of like really finding yourself and
00:05:12
Speaker
What I have found is so many people if they'll do it in their early 20s, it saves them so much heartache later on in life. So I've always just really, really enjoyed working with that population. So then after being at that job for a while, I ended up taking a really huge leap of faith. And in 2019, I opened up my own practice in Alpharetta, which is a suburb about like 20 minutes outside of Atlanta.
00:05:37
Speaker
And so now I'm full time with Empower Counseling and Consulting, aka my baby. And I couldn't be more happy and feel more blessed with how it's grown over the past almost four years now.
00:05:52
Speaker
Um, there were definitely a lot of tears and frustrations in the beginning because I didn't know a single thing about running a small business, um, figuring out things like a website and taxes and all the things that went into it in the beginning. But no lie, like my clients were so supportive of me and my friends and family really just pushed me to go for it. And I'm really just so thankful to be where I am today.
Addressing Trauma in Therapy
00:06:20
Speaker
So now at Empower, I work mostly as a trauma therapist. And lots of this podcast is definitely going to be talking about trauma and how the majority of us have experienced trauma on some level in our life. And especially talking about how our body holds on to trauma and it, I don't know if you've ever heard this saying the body keeps the score, whether that's with anxiety, depression, negative self talk, or those kind of things.
00:06:47
Speaker
So we will definitely spend a lot of time diving into that throughout these episodes. But you know, besides being a therapist, I'm also just like a normal human woman navigating what it's like to be alive in 2023.
00:07:02
Speaker
I'm married. I've got two phenomenal bonus kids. Well, they aren't so much kids anymore. They're 12 and 16, which is just so crazy. But I've also got two dogs that you will probably hear in the background from time to time. And I like to volunteer and I have a family with its own fun family dynamics.
00:07:25
Speaker
So again, I want to be authentic about all of these aspects of who I am, that I'm sure that you'll really be able to relate to.
Engaging with the Audience and Future Topics
00:07:34
Speaker
Speaking of what we'll be talking about on outside of the session, I really want to hear from you what you want to discuss. So please leave me some feedback in the comments or you can find me on Instagram at empower underscore counseling. That's like the social media that I use the most, really the only social media I use.
00:07:53
Speaker
I've already had some people give me some ideas when I was talking about even starting this podcast. I had a couple of people reach out and talk about doing an episode on boundaries and boundary setting, which I know is something is a really popular topic right now and needs to be discussed more and more.
00:08:10
Speaker
But also someone else asked about how to identify manipulation in relationships and what to do about it, which I thought, oh my gosh, that could be such an interesting episode. So it's going to be that kind of thing. But I also really want to do some practical episodes on things like coping skills for anxiety or guided meditations or other type of exercises that you guys can do outside of therapy to help you process your emotions.
00:08:36
Speaker
So really anything that is helpful for you so that when you leave a 20 minute podcast for me thinking like dang that was good or that was helpful I can start using that or applying that today. And honestly I want it to be enough that you can say I need to share that with my friend.
00:08:55
Speaker
Um, speaking of that, do me a favor and like and comment on this episode, if you will, and let me know what you think. And please, please follow so that you don't miss any other episodes dropping in the future.
Closing Remarks and Podcast Disclaimer
00:09:08
Speaker
So that's it for today. I really just wanted to introduce myself and get this thing rolling. I am so excited to start this journey together and I really hope that you feel the same. We'll talk soon.
00:09:22
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Outside of Session. Remember, while I am a licensed therapist, this podcast is not a substitute for individual therapy. The contents of this episode are for educational and entertainment purposes only. If you are having a mental health emergency, please dial 911 for immediate assistance or dial 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.