Emilie Slechta Thomas, MA, LMFT
Change can be scary as well as exhilarating. Even the dream of positive change promises open vistas of possibility while also hiding dark corners of the unknown. Such corners may present as challenges, obstacles, or just about anything unexpected. When we are in a comfortable space and we feel life is going smoothly, we tend to resist change at all costs. Sometimes we avoid it even more so when life is calling for it desperately. What is familiar to us holds the illusion that it is safer and preferable to the unfamiliar. In reality, this idea very seldom proves to be accurate or healthy. Many of us rightly find ourselves in a psychotherapist’s office when this kind of resistance is afoot, so that we can effectively get back to the business of actualizing all that we are in this life by finding the root of the resistance, then developing the coping skills to deal with it and move beyond it. We are then set free to enjoy the growth that results.
The past year, as we all know, has been anything but smooth and comfortable. We have all been forced to make changes in our lives to accommodate the societal adjustment to the Covid19 pandemic. We have faced sharp learning curves in our work and in our homes, whether those curves were domestic, relational, or technological. Because of the extremity and suddenness of such changes, the therapists at VPCC and at many counseling centers around the country saw an enormous increase in individuals requesting therapy. While we have worked to make the needed adjustments in our operations to meet these requests, we have also found that it is time that we too need to grow through change.
For the last two to three years I have trained and worked both as a medicinal herbalist and as a facilitator of meditation workshops in addition to my work as a psychotherapist. Sitting in my comfortable seat in Waynesboro at VPCC as Executive Director, I had gazed at the potential but still imaginary vista of opening a satellite office where I could continue my therapy practice with VPCC while also expanding my meditation workshops and herbalism services. It sure seemed like a lot of energy to risk opening to more growth and embracing all the challenges that would come with such a move. However, once the Center felt its own growing pains recently, manifested in the form of full therapist schedules and talks of expanding our services, I knew the time had come. VPCC’s continued growth was also allowing me to grow- and this meant change!
I stepped down as Executive Director at the end of March in order to devote my time and energy to my clients and to finding and developing an office space that will expand both my own goals as well as VPCC’s mission to provide spiritually sensitive psychotherapy to members of our growing community. I am proud and excited to announce that we will now be able to do so in Staunton as well as Waynesboro, as I will begin seeing clients this summer in my beautiful downtown Staunton office at 50 Middlebrook Avenue. Like the Waynesboro space, it will be warm and welcoming, have ample parking, and allow enough space to adapt to conducting meditation workshops. Please feel free to give me a call if you would like to work through your own challenges with change, and remember : the new, expanded life is always greater than the old- even, or especially, when it scares us.