I am lucky. All of my life I’ve forged deep connections with others. From when I was little, I had an innate sense of how to develop deep friendships and really connect with people. I understood that it was about listening, asking questions, sharing about myself, listening more, never judging, and never repeating what someone had shared with me elsewhere.

I don’t know how I’ve always known this, but I have. It’s who I am.

As a kid, I wasn't the social butterfly that my older sister was — she made many friends, and I made fewer friends, deeper friends. I always felt heard and understood.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer after college, in Mali, West Africa, I cut hair for the other volunteers. My (now husband) says I had a truth serum — people shared with me what was on their minds and hearts as I cut their hair. But my truth serum wasn’t magic - it was listening and questioning, sharing and listening some more. So you might think I’ve always been a therapist, but I haven’t. I was in the IT field for years before I pursued my Master’s in Counseling 12 years ago.

Though I’ve always known how to connect and that it was important, I couldn’t have explained why. That came later when I worked in the Erie Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease. We helped people get better, to reverse disease--healing happened when they learned to connect more deeply and were part of a supportive community. Learning just how powerful deep connection is in our lives has blown my mind and impacted my personal and professional life SO MUCH. You might wonder: How can connecting more deeply magically help people heal? It helps them relax and share more, feel understood, and stop thinking there’s something wrong with them. And it helps them learn to listen more deeply. Research shows that people who feel deeply connected are healthier and more resilient!

Indeed, it is in the soil of deep connection that people can heal, grow, and thrive. That TRUTH is the basis for my business idea. Thrive Therapy Space will be a coworking space for local mental health professionals. It will provide them with the healthy and nourishing soil where they, their practice, and their clients will thrive.