Stegall Counseling PLLC

I’m different than most therapists out there. What makes therapy with me different? Well in order to understand that, let me tell you the quick story of why I became a therapist. After graduating from college, I felt lost. I bounced from job to job, but struggled to find my true passion in life. I was scared I would never find what I was supposed to do in life and this caused me intense anxiety. I didn’t feel like myself. My family and friends were really concerned about me because I stopped laughing all the time and instead I wanted to stay home and avoid people. I kept trying to keep my thoughts positive, but I found that when working in a toxic work environment it was hard to keep my thoughts positive. Instead I would find myself checking my heart rate, having feelings like I want to pass out, and wanting to RUN to my car to get home ASAP. These emotions were exhausting and draining. My mom was the one who told me that I really needed to go see a counselor to talk about what was going on with me, since I was constantly irritable and never happy. I struggled with the idea of having to call to set up an appointment. I thought to myself… “A therapist won’t understand me and she will just judge me!” After struggling for a couple more weeks with complete misery, I could no longer live with so much anxiety anymore and I made the call to set up my initial appointment. On my way to the appointment, I almost had a panic attack in the car. I was crying the whole way there so scared of what she might think or say. Once I arrived, I sat in my car for a few minutes, but decided I needed to go into the office. I was breathing so hard that I was afraid I was about to have a panic attack. After checking in with the front desk, I had to get some water and sit down while trying to make myself relax. Once I sat down in her office, she was the most genuine person I have ever met. Therapy was nothing like I had expected. She helped to make me feel accepted and to understand that my emotions are important. She helped me to understand that my emotions help to guide me in life, but when they become so intense they become ineffective. The more I understood what emotions I was feeling such as sadness, upset, frustrated, angry, irritated, mad, resentful, and embarrassed, the more I realized there were so many things I didn’t know about MYSELF or really didn’t want to admit to myself. I attended therapy weekly for several months and began to identifying that the job I was working was NOT what I wanted to do for a living AND not where my TRUE PASSION was in life. I decided that I could no longer continue to live in this state of HIGH INTENSE ANXIETY. I knew that my mental health was first priority. I found the experience to be the complete OPPOSITE of what I expected it to be. I expected judgement but instead she gave grace, compassion, and empathy. She helped to ask me questions which caused me to be real with myself in what I truly wanted from life – HAPPINESS, COMPASSION, PEACE, LAUGHTER, AND EMPATHY FOR OTHERS. I realized that by going to counseling personally, I wanted to become a counselor so that I could help others in their personal struggles and for them to know someone is there to walk with them through this thing called life.