Meet Laura Aguirre

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Aguirre. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.

Hi Laura, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

As a first-generation college graduate and second-generation immigrant, it is important to remind myself that I do belong in the spaces where I am. It is very easy to fall into the trap that you don’t know enough, that you aren’t enough. This is when I know I need to remind myself of all that I have accomplished. I also remind myself of my “why”. Why am I working in this field? Why am I dedicated to this work? It is for the people who need to feel heard, for those who need help reclaiming their dignity, and for the marriages and families that want to be stronger. I work hard with immigrant populations to help keep families together and to help them feel safe and heard. I work with faith-based populations to remove the stigma of mental health and teach that you can have faith and a therapist too.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I enjoy working with immigrant populations. There is an added layer of care when working with this population because of the changes the individual or family may go through as they move to a new country and try to establish a new life. Sometimes there is trauma before, during, or after moving.
I help clients make peace with the previous chapters of their story so they can move forward to create positive memories with positive coping skills. These coping skills do not just fit their trauma. They respect the origin culture as well. This way they do not feel they have to give up part of their culture.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

To be an effective counselor, you need to understand that experiences shape who people become. As a person understands this, they are able to understand what a client needs to heal.
A counselor must be able to have positive and authentic relationships to be able to cope and have a healthy work-life balance.
A piece of advice I can share is to keep finding things that bring joy. Depending on where a new counselor starts to work, it is still important to look for joyful things to prevent burnout.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl was incredibly impactful for me. Viktor Frankl was a survivor of the Holocaust and wrote this book while imprisoned. A few quotes that inspire are “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” and “No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.”
It is such a great reminder that we can have our reactions to situations but we still have the power to choose how we handle a situation going forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beginagaincc.com
• Instagram: @beginagaincounselingtx