2022-100-Faces-Book - Flipbook - Page 87
Denise
Encourager. Note-taker. Believer.
Denise approached therapy at Insight Counseling, a
United Way partner agency, because she felt like her
tank was empty. She’s naturally an encourager, the one
that helps others get along.
“But over the years, because of the way things didn’t
turn out in my life like I thought they would, there
seemed to be this sort of weight. When I went to
Insight, it was like my hope got refurbished and
filled up.”
She had been working with a coach for a few years
who asked if she had ever considered therapy.
“When she said the word ‘therapy’ … I’m like, ‘Wait a
minute. Therapy?’ ” she remembers. “In my community
… Black community, Christian community … we don’t
really talk about that kind of thing.”
But she said she had some worries that she wanted to
look at and talk about in a deeper way, so she made
an appointment.
“It was the best four months of twice-a-month
sessions that I’ve ever had in my life. There’s a growth
in me and a desire now to know that everything’s okay.
Everything that happened in the past is the past, but I
have a future.”
“It would be like a painting that you could see the
images on, but there wasn’t any color. After therapy,
there was color. There was movement.”
Her therapist gave her homework. She’d have “a-ha”
moments. She learned about her triggers. She explored
restoration therapy, which identifies safety patterns
and uses empowerment to promote behavioral
change.
She remembers waking up early one morning and
looking out the window in her bedroom. That’s when it
all clicked.
“I looked out the window right before the sun was
totally up,” she recalls. “The moon was still in the
sky and there was this tree that I had in my backyard
that needed trimming terribly, but I hadn’t done it
yet. I got back in bed to do my morning reading and
I started reading and I remembered that I wanted to
get something and I went to get up again. And as I
sat on the side and looked up, it’s like, the moon had
just moved and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. It’s only been
a few minutes. How could the moon move? As I stood
there, looking out, it’s like God said, ‘Denise, the moon
and the tree didn’t move. You moved. Your perspective
changed.’ That was a huge lesson for me. And
understanding how, when I changed my perspective
about things, then things can be different.”
Before therapy, life for Denise felt mundane. She
needed peace. She knew she was repressing
her feelings.
Insight Counseling
