About
Something needs to change.
You’ve tapped every resource – each book, podcast, mood tracker, breathing exercise, mindfulness app, and friend who has had the same struggle to no avail. The hamster wheel only spins faster, and you haven’t gone anywhere.
Being smart enough is not your problem because you are plenty bright. Yet, you feel continually dumbfounded by your failed attempts that land you back at square one with the same uncomfortable feeling you initially set out to change.
You imagine the life you want but have no idea how to get there from here. The rut you are in feels insurmountable.
At the very least, you are desperately aware that you are tired of experiencing chronic moodiness, irritability, fatigue, frustration, and burnout and are ready for a new normal.
Good news!
I can meet you at your square one and introduce you to the same superpower that was revealed to me when I circled the drain at my ground zero. I spent most of my young life searching for a magic bullet or superpower to eliminate the excruciating desperation I felt amidst the unchanging results of all my efforts. The worst consequence of all this “efforting” was my willingness to settle on beige mediocrity – feeling good only sometimes.
In our work together, we will tap into this “gap” (Mind the Gap!) that exists within you between stimulus and response. In a split second between what happens to you (the stimulus) and your response to it lies freedom or power to choose that response. It might look like this: something happens and/or someone did or said something (stimuli), and you worry, apologize, fight, hide, etc. (responses).
By slowing the process waaaaaay down, I amplify your micro-moments. The code may look like this: (s) 
(r). We will work together to pry open this space and lengthen that arrow so that you can make intentional choices aligned with your values, beliefs, goals, and purpose. The result is authenticity.
Consider this simple traffic scenario to illustrate.
There is a stop sign posted at an intersection (stimulus) you run through it (response).
Most likely, your response is unintentional. You don’t consciously choose to ignore the stop sign and blow through the intersection with the risk of accident and injury. You miss the stop sign; in your mind or awareness, there is no sign. Thus, no space to choose a response.
If you had been aware of the stop sign, a moment in time would exist, what the Buddhists call “the sacred pause,” to choose your response – to stop or not.
About Me
Stimulus and response were part of my life.
I had an introduction to this space between stimulus and choosing a response. It happened to me in my early 20s when I got sober. By then, I had already blown up my life and faced severe consequences due to my risky behaviors, questionable decisions, and downright bad choices.
I didn’t ever set out to intentionally complicate my life, but I kept blowing through the proverbial stop sign with fingers crossed that I didn’t create much wreckage.
I noticed significant changes and experienced actual results in my life when I started paying attention. So profound was this personal power and recovery that I naïvely decided to dedicate myself to education and training to get some credentials behind my name.
In 1991, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from the University of Arizona and hit my addiction bottom around the same time. I graduated from Saint Louis University with a Masters in Counselor Education with a Clinical Marriage and Family Therapy specialization in 1997.
Detours are part of destinations
Aspiring therapists must have 3000 hours of training before applying for licensure, and in the 1990s, most intern placements were unpaid. Our first child arrived early in 1998, and I made the conscious choice, tapping into that superpower, to forfeit 1750 clinical training hours and set aside my career indefinitely to prioritize the needs of our young family. Although the best choice, it was a hard choice.
By 2006, I did return to work in education. I earned my Pupil Personnel Services (PPS) Credential, allowing me to work as a clinician and counselor in public education. In 2014, I returned to my goal of MFT licensure and began again acquiring the necessary 3000 hours. When it was all said and done, and I received my license in 2018, I earned more than double the training experience required because my career took a big detour.
All along the way, I gained meaningful experience, including working in schools as a mental health clinician for emotionally disturbed students, as a school counselor at both continuation and comprehensive campuses, and as a social worker for foster care youth in group homes, case worker for foster families, and as a clinician in a group practice as well as a community clinic.
While interning, I completed a 52-hour training for EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and 100 hours of training in IFS (Internal Family Systems). I am a Level I-trained and approved EMDR clinician. I am currently Level II-trained and approved IFS therapist, and in the process of becoming an Certified IFS Practicioner.
I am in year two of a comprehensive three-year training program to become a certified SE (Somatic Experiencing) practitioner. I am in year three of a three-year cohort training in metaphysical energy practices and bodywork techniques to supplement my work in healing trauma.
Choosing an intentional response is life-changing.
I invite you to come and find rest in my cozy office space, tucked away in a serene pocket of natural beauty, void of your hustle and the world’s bustle.
Here, with the sacred pause as the cornerstone, we will work together to uncover the real you, discover what truly lights you up, and recover your purposed and passionate flame to set your world on fire.
Call 530.208.9424 or email lisaolsonmft@gmail.com when you are ready to ignite your flame.
