Handling Things Before They Handle You

In this next episode, we hear from Autumn Walker, a licensed professional counselor in Maryland, who is seeking to normalize mental health. Autumn talks about how going through her own healing process allowed her to discover new sides of her story, and be able to pass on lessons learned to others wishing to engage in healing work for themselves. She reflects on what it was like to understand that, growing up, her basic needs (i.e. food, clothes, etc.) were always met but coming to the realization, as an adult, that her emotional needs were not always met as well. Autumn opens up about being exposed to domestic violence at an early age and developing coping mechanisms that she would later take time to process and unlearn in her adulthood. Autumn describes healing as a “rose growing from concrete” and an “ongoing process” which leads to you opening one door and seeing that there are so many other doors and levels that you can unlock in the process. Autumn also talks about healing being a form of “resilience” and having the ability to turn your “lemons into lemonade” while learning to face obstacles that come with healing because, as Autumn puts it, “new levels means new devils.” As a therapist, she asks that listeners not see healing as a burden but rather as a requirement and training to reach different levels of peace in our lives. She suggests that people think about going to therapy, engaging in yoga, meditative practice, and spirituality as another means of centering ourselves in our healing work. Autumn also elevates the importance of having a positive social support system and filtering out connections that are not serving us. She also encourages people to listen to podcasts like Between Sessions and to buy a journal to dig deep into ourselves through bullet points, lyrics, drawings, writing, or anything that calls out to you. Be sure to connect with Autumn via: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesoulreasons/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumn-walker-5a84a590/