Hello There

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Hi! I am Megan The Therapist, but before I identify as a therapist, I call myself a social worker. I feel like I’ve been a social worker for as long as I can remember. When I was in elementary school, I was in special education and in the gifted program. This taught me a lot about people and their differences. Truth be told, I made a lot more friends in the special education program. It was there that I found my people, the kids that didn’t quite fit in, or just didn’t really care to fit in. It was there that I found out about learning differences and how everyone’s brain is unique. I also learned about the disparity between the two programs. The gifted program took extravagant field trips quarterly and got to study the most fun topics such as Greek mythology, how to run a business, and how to invent cool and useful products. Special education never got a field trip or the opportunity to study any special interest topics. Special education was about survival and acceptance. The gifted program was about privilege and growth. This was also my introduction to dialectics, how 2 things can be true at the same time. I have a learning disability and I am a very good test taker.

 

I always knew I had a lot of differences from neuro typical children. Teachers and parents called me emotionally sensitive or immature. I was told that because I had a learning disability, I was mentally two years behind everyone else. This was not fun to hear and made me question why I was even there in the first place. A sense of belonging was something I wouldn’t experience until much later on in life. Once I found it, the only thing that mattered to me was helping others find their sense of belonging.

 

After several less than successful attempts at college and a few grippy socks vacations, I finally found my passion for psychology and got my Bachelors of Science in Psychology in 2009. Some of my friends were talking about this thing called grad school that I had never heard of before. They all said they were going to go so I figured I should probably look into it. My negative self-talk told me that someone like me was not the type of person that would fit in a grad school situation, however, I persevered. I ended up getting accepted into the Masters of Social Work program at Kennesaw State University.

 

All of the sudden school was actually extremely fun and enjoyable. All of the subjects made sense to me. I had finally found my place and a word to describe me: social worker. The social work program deepened my understanding of culture, poverty, government programs, death and dying, human behavior, counseling, and how play is a universal language that anyone can understand.

 

My work experience has been in community mental health, behavioral support for individuals with brain injuries, hospice and palliative care, discharge planning, group therapy for grief and loss, and individual therapy for children, teens, and adults. My favorite interventions to practice from are polyvagal theory, brainspotting,  internal family systems, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, art and play therapy, narrative therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. I work hard to be a non-judgmental safe space for my clients and to create an environment that feels like home. I currently work for Awaken Counseling in Marietta, Georgia.