From Addiction and Incarceration to Helping Others Heal

Hello and welcome to Therapist Voices at Reach Link. Reachlink is a digital mental health counseling platform. My name is Jesserwitz. I oversee Reach Link's network of amazing providers. This is our second episode. I'm so so happy to be joined by Reach Link's very own Charity Anderson. Charity is a licensed professional counselor in Texas. Charity, thank you so much for being here. I have to give you a shout out because we touched base yesterday about when to plan this podcast episode. And I was thinking that you would probably say, "Oh, you know what? In the next couple weeks, I I have availability." But you did say that, but you also said, "I also have 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." And I said, "Well, that is a gal who is ready and willing to do whatever is asked of her." Meanwhile, I'm sitting here thinking I was not planning on washing my hair tonight, so I better get to it and match the work ethic that Charity has.

So, thank you for doing this, for getting both of us here. Um, I'm really, really, really glad to have you. You've been a provider that I feel like I have connected with in a way where I can rely on you. I know that if we're in need, I can call on you. even if it's within short notice that you'll tell me the truth and that you might be able to accommodate someone. You've done that a lot. Um I actually do recall now that I think about it, this is very full circle here. A time where I called you when we had a client, this just came to me, so pardon the confusion. You we had a client that really needed to be seen. We knew they weren't appropriate for video counseling. I don't remember the details, but it was something where we were pretty sure in-person counseling or maybe a higher level of care was going to be most appropriate, but we really just needed to get this person seen.

We needed them to get assessed. You know, we needed a professional recommendation so we could move forward and see what other resources we could come up with. Well, you volunteered that very night. I think you gave us 8:00 p.m. a night that you didn't typically have open for clients and you really saved the day and I will never forget that. Has that always been you as a therapist? Is it obvious that I'm describing you there? Well, I definitely I believe that everyone deserves a fair chance. Um, and sometimes life happens and we don't know what to do. Um, some things you just can't put off for tomorrow. So, yeah, pretty much I try to be where I'm needed if I'm needed, especially if it's a mental health crisis because we know how they can unfold pretty quickly. And that's exactly, I think, what we were worried about in this situation that, you know, get this person in front of a counselor and we're not sure what's going to happen. and we really need to have someone really competent, really, really ready to act.

And we knew we had that in you. So, tell us a little bit, if you wouldn't mind, tell us a little bit about your background and what got you here. What led you to even become a therapist in the first place? Well, I mean, it's not one of those um backgrounds that most people talk about. Um I came out of addiction, a 15-year addiction. Um went to prison, uh found God. Um h I had a counselor while I was in prison in the the addiction program that I was in um that really made a mark as far as giving me insight into what it was that I wanted to do. He was amazing at pulling trauma out of me. Um, helping me to deal with the emotions. Um, helping me to understand everything that I'd gone through for 15 years and why. So, of course, when I got out, I started my educational background. Um, I went to school for six years straight online um to get my master's in counseling.

But I originally went just to get my license chemical dependency um to work with substance abuse. Uh but during the process I began to see how mental health and substance abuse go hand in hand. Um so I quickly changed into mental health field. Um because you really can't treat one without treating the other. So, um I just fell in love with the art of helping. Um once you understand why people do the things that they do, um helping them understand why they do the things that they do becomes important. I believe that a lot of times if we were raised with healthy coping skills, um a lot of the things that we go through in life wouldn't be so, you know, detrimental. But because we're not, you know, introducing those coping skills, things that we already do on an everyday basis anyway, we just don't know that they're called coping skills, right?

So, I'm mental health is my field. I love it. I love working with people. I love to see the light bulb go off in people's eyes. I love those aha moments when things begin to make sense. And I love when I see people apply the skills that they learn and their lives actually begin to change. I'm so honestly honored that you shared that with us. I feel like we've had many a conversation and I didn't know that. And the authenticity that you're showing, which is huge for me. I know everyone loves authenticity, but I just feel like that makes the world go round. Authenticity and genuineess. Genuineess is is everything, especially in a therapist. Um, so thank you honestly so much for for telling us this. Is this someone that you're still in touch with or that you kept in touch with? Um, several people through social media because most of the people that I knew back in that life are in Florida.

So I keep in touch with a lot of people through social media. Um, so I have been able to see other people grow past addiction, past being a felon, past all of these things that the world says that you can't survive through, you know. Um, learning how to counsel, you learn to counsel yourself, you begin to see those things within you that you need to deal with, you know. Um, so that's been one of the biggest things for me is just recognizing why I do things or why I have lived in the certain certain circumstances that I've been through. Um, understanding that trauma trauma responses, you know, dealing with guilt and shame, being angry, all of these things I have experienced. So I counsel from not just an educational standpoint, but from a lived life experience. And that's that is so important.

I know that's a big thing, especially these days um with programs, wanting to know about a provider's shared experience possibly with a with a client when we're talking about matching clients and providers. um with with everything that you've gone through, what got with what got you to this place, everything that you've walked through, what would you say is an approach or framework that most informs your work? And now that I know all of this wonderful information about you, I don't know if I can guess. Well, so I generally pull from cognitive behavioral therapy. Um, but I use a mixture of everything. Um, because we can't just take one blanket approach for every individual that we come into contact with because everyone's different. But I think one of the main things is teaching people how to think about what they're thinking about. understanding that what controls our mind controls us.

Um, and understanding that we all have ways of thinking that are more harmful to us than it is good. But because we don't stop to think about what we're thinking about, we don't realize that our thoughts are irrational. you know, um, helping people to understand why they feel the way that they feel. It's because you have thoughts that are running through your mind unchecked and you're not even paying attention to them, but we're constantly responding to those thoughts. So, cognitive behavioral therapy would be my number one go-to. Um, I like the holistic view. Um I believe that you can't treat one area of an individual without treating all areas spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically. Um being able to tap into each area to help them see that you know you are one person but you have several different parts of you that we need to integrate.

You know coming from um eternal family systems when you're looking at parts work. So, I like that as well, helping people understand that, you know, yeah, you you're 52 years old, but there's this 12 year old little girl inside of you that's still angry. So, we need to be able to tap into that. So, you are really doing the whole person. I mean, holistic, you truly are coming from all angles. I always find that I think that it seems very obvious. You can kind of smell it a mile away when there's a therapist who might be newer to the field that has one one technique or modality that they feel the most strongly about and that's what everything comes back to. That's their box. And it doesn't seem like you're that way. It seems like you really, as you're saying, look at the person and like that 12-year-old that you need to tap into those.

That's really I imagine where the work really gets started. Yeah, that's great to hear. I mean I do a lot of psycho education because I think education is the key to recidivism. Um that prevents people from going back into a place that they fighting to come out of is the knowledge of what's going on with me. How do I understand my diagnosis? How do I understand my need to take medication? You know, just teaching people how to take care of themselves and not just their bodies, but their minds, especially from somebody that you then trust. It's not it's not always easy outside of a school setting to hear hear things like that that education, all that stuff. It's not easy to take, especially as an adult. I know not all your clients are adults, but to be in that place and to have that rapport and trust someone, you really are able to get right in there and and help give them what they need.

So, I was going to ask something that you wish people understood more about therapy and mental health care, and I just have a feeling you're going to have a really cool answer to this. Well, so I think that the misconception of therapy is born in childhood. When we teach our children what happens in my house stays in my house and you don't tell nobody what's going on, you're teaching your children that it's not okay to talk to people, that it's not okay to express yourself. So helping people understand that therapy is not telling somebody my business. Therapy is opening up to get the help that I need. Um, understanding that we're not here to hurt you and we're not just being nosy because most people say you just got to be naturally nosy to be a therapist. Well, we we're not nosy. We are inquisitive.

Right. So that's it. Um just let people to understand that it's okay to need help. Yeah. Some of us do feel like in Yeah. Do you feel like in 2026 cannot believe it's 2026. Do you feel like that has changed a good amount in in what you've seen from when you started um with mental health care being less taboo, more acceptable, um more sought out? Have you experienced that? So since the pandemic um the views on therapy I believe has changed a lot. I think that when we went through the, you know, the shutdown and families having to shelter in place. Yep. That's a really common one right from COVID. Yeah. Then people realize that for the very first time they've never been without employment. They've never um struggled and they don't have the skills to cope with it. Um I think that has changed the dynamics of um therapy.

A lot of more people are seeking therapy now. More willing um especially this younger generation. Not so much my generation. Yeah. Um, but this next generation coming up, they're all about um self-help and me too. So, so therapy is becoming more prominent. Um, and they're bringing their pet they're bringing their parents in too because of things that happened to them. Um, I've had more requests for family therapy. Um, so it is getting better. It is getting better. I love to hear that. I I don't think that I was aware of uh I definitely knew, you know, that the younger generation was more open to getting help and it not being such a such a taboo private um thing to seek out, but I didn't know about the family aspect. That's really interesting and really amazing. Do you feel like the role of therapists with the role of therapists now I know that has changed you know ebbed and flowed do you feel like that's going to evolve a lot over the next few years what do you think is in store for us or for you I think that the more avenues that we have to provide um like with online therapy which we didn't have for a long time, but now it is becoming quickly the most prominent way to deliver therapy.

Um, allowing people to receive counseling in the privacy of their own home where they're comfortable, not having to get out around people they don't know. Um, I think that it's just going to continue to evolve. I know a lot of people are worried about AI this and AI that. And yes, you can make AI, you know, as humanlike as you think you can, but it still is not that human um touch. So, I don't think it's going to be phased out or anything like that. I believe that Yeah, I think that counseling is something that requires that personal touch, if that makes sense. Yes, that human does. Absolutely. With all of this AI stuff, you know, I was initially nervous coming to a company that I knew was really tech forward and used AI, it made me feel I really aged myself coming here to reach link. But once it was instilled in me that no, no, no, we're not replacing the person at all. we are just supporting the therapist so that they can focus on the actual therapy, the thing that you went to all this these years of schooling for and had all this training in.

Um, which I think is not given enough credence these days. Uh, but but to know that we're just using it to help to help the therapist to help the client get these tools, but that a human will always be here. That's all I needed to hear. That there will always be a human. You can talk to anyone. You can pick up the phone. I think that's so important. I know that that's what we're all saying right now, but it's really good to see it in practice. Do you with what we're talking about um in terms of video counseling, has anything been especially surprising to you or not as surprising in terms of video counseling being such a norm now? Well, and that's funny because I was at first completely against video counseling because I thought that it was so impersonal um that it takes away that that that persontoperson contact, you know, being able to really um see emotions, see fidgetiness, you know, see those telltale signs that let you know this person is in trouble or they're currently manic, you know, things like that.

But over the last few years as I've been doing online therapy, I've began to realize that it actually again helps people be more relaxed because they're in their own environment. um when you're dealing with people who have high anxiety and you know things like that, it's hard for them to get comfortable enough to even talk to you in a physical setting because they're too busy worried about what's going on around them. So, this does cancel out some of those, you know, effects of having to go around people, go outside and things like that. But, um I really like online therapy. Yeah. because of the freedom that it brings. You're not confined to this one office space um looking at the walls all day. So, how how has that been for you? I know this I know this isn't necessarily what what we were going to talk about, but it just is coming naturally that way.

How was it for you to go from the setting you were in before to a virtual therapist in your home office? Was it isolating? Was it What was that like? H definitely took some getting used to. um going leaving the house from 8:00 to 5:00 every day, being around other o other people, having a schedule that was pretty much set in stone. Cuz if you wasn't counseling, you were doing other things. um going into private practice where I am at home in my home office and you know some days you know I I don't have sessions back to back every day and on the days that I don't I found myself like okay what am I going to do with myself right it right been a week and I haven't left my house routine So, uh, just being productive around the house doing some things that I've been saying I'm going to do for years and I haven't done because I don't have the time.

So, I mean, it's it's freed up personal time to spend with my family. Um, yeah. And then just the ability to work around different activities, being able to go and be a part of things that I wouldn't normally be able to do because I'm at work. So, right, I do enjoy it. Good. Now, I've got a little bit of a spicy question for you. How how do you feel like recent cultural or global events have influenced client needs? Oh, honestly, the things going on around the world right now has caused a lot of anxiety and fear with some of the clients that I'm seeing. Um, I have some clients that all the their whole session is about the world events. Um, so much so that they're scared to go outside. Um, they're scared to go to the store. Um, and I've had to tell a couple of my clients, you know, listen, I need for you not to watch the news today so that you can have some normal, you know, activities, but I need for you to not watch the news.

Leave the newspapers alone, you know, just step away from the current events. Um, people are people are concerned on both sides of the coin, you know. Doesn't matter what it is that you believe. Um, people are concerned and it is causing anxiety. Have you found yourself to ever be in a situation where your your clients are very focused on current events, political, you anything going on in the world? Have you found that it's been really putting your skills to the test to remain neutral? Has that been something that has come up for you if I may ask? Oh yes, ma'am. With the different different viewpoints. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the viewpoints that I hear um are very much contradictory to what I believe, what I what I feel. So I do have to put uh my feelings on the back burner because some things that are said uh it probably in any other setting would have been offensive to me.

Um, so I have to make sure that I remain biased, that I do not show any emotion to what you just said, but inside I'm just like, really? You know, I think the hardest thing for me to learn is that um I am not treating your understanding of the situation. I'm treating the the what's going on you the depression the anxiety the panic attacks whether you believe that you know the cow jumped over the moon or not you know whether you're what you're saying there's any factual basis to it I have to understand that this is your belief and your beliefs are valid to you long as they're not I found that to at others. Right. Right. As long as we're we're not having any breaks from reality. I I think that has been something that's come up for a lot of therapists that I know that feel like, you know what, I I just can't.

And you know, I can't speak for them. I'm not in their shoes. But it just brings me back to that whole thing I remember learning in school of, you know, tabularasa that um blank slate and how important that is. now more than ever as a therapist as as that neutral support that people are looking to. But that said, I know it's got to be a huge challenge. Mhm. What would what's something that you would want other therapists to hear right now? Whether it's something we just talked about or or something else, what's something that you wish you could just kind of get into other providers minds, especially maybe newer providers? Self-care is important. Um, we're in a profession where we listen to a lot of people's issues, know their trauma, um, what they're going through, how they feel. We're dealing with not just our emotions, but we're dealing with their emotions, too. being able to disconnect, um, have time to reset and to, you know, just restart coming out of a session and not carrying it with you throughout the rest of the day.

Um, and it it's okay for a therapist to have a therapist. Um, we need therapy, too. Even more so because it's hard sometime to separate their reality from our reality, especially if their trauma touches your trauma. Um, we get retraumatized too, you know. So having someone that we can talk to about how we feel, not necessarily what's going on with the client, but how we're feeling about what we're what we're hearing because we are affected. No, we have that. I mean, some people's stories are so traumatic that um you know, we we still think about those things. No, we we sympathize with our clients. so much to the point that we begin to feel for them, you know, and that can be a dangerous slippery slope. So, I would say mainly proper selfcare. What's something else that you do to make sure that you're taking care of yourself in this remote world where you're spending with your occupation, you're spending your time listening to other people.

Tell us something that you love to do. Well, I am a minister, so I go to church. I spend most of my time when I'm not Yes, ma'am. When I am not um at work or at at home, then I'm at church. So, I revival and programs and ministry, that's my outlet. That's where I am able to just release and allow like my my apostles and my pastors, you know, to pour into me um to help me to deal with life as life happens. You know, spending time in prayer and reading um my Bible. Those are things that help me. Those are my go-tos. Go ahead. I love that. I think you have such you have a wonderful story and truly thank you so much for sharing this with us. Um I know you don't owe your story to anyone but I know that that you were it seems like you were happy to share with us and I know you better and I have a feeling clients that could be listening in or providers that could be listening in.

You've said a lot of stuff, Charity, that I think has really hit home with me and I'm not a practicing clinician. So, I can only imagine the the the what you've done for other people. And I'm hoping that we can find some other ways at Reach Link for you to for you to help with that initiative and that support, that collaborative, that camaraderie of our providers. So, thank you so so much. I'm so happy that you were here with us. I always joke people have always joked to me that they know I'm serious when I touch my heart and I always realize when it happens that um that I'm feeling really connected. So, thank you a million. Um I would love to have you on again if we could do maybe a part two sometime. Feel like I have a million more things to ask you. Yes. Okay. Thank you so so much for having me. Absolutely. Everyone have a wonderful day and we'll see you soon. Okay. Bye. Bye. Bye.