We recently connected with Dr. Maya Weir and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Maya , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
When I was in undergrad at UC Berkeley, I studied Peace and Conflict studies
which taught me a lot about the various problems in the world. The recommended
path forward was to work on systemic change, like being a policy maker. As I got
to know myself better, I knew that personal transformation was more interesting
and aligned with my personality. I completed a yoga teacher training program, then
received a grant to teach yoga at various Bay Area non-profits. The purpose was to
increase access to yoga for people such as unhoused women and formerly
incarcerated individuals. When I was teaching, I would have students check-in at
the beginning of our classes. It soon became clear that I was more interested in the
check-ins than teaching yoga. I witnessed how traumatic experiences get stored in
the body and how important it is to integrate mind and body in the healing of
trauma. I decided to become a therapist and was accepted to the Wright Institute in
Berkeley!
Another layer to the story is the empathy that I demonstrated as a young child. My
parents have many stories about this like how I would cry only if I saw other
babies crying. That sense of empathy became a challenge as I grew up because I
would be deeply upset by the challenging emotions of others. In my journey of
personal transformation, I started therapy, and I learned how to channel my
empathy in productive ways. Becoming a therapist felt like a natural choice, so I
could utilize my empathy to help people.
Once I became a parent, my purpose became even clearer: to serve parents in my therapy practice. When my son was 9 months old, I started my private practice as an associate. During this time, I was seeing how becoming a parent is literally the biggest transformation a person can go through in their adult life yet is often really undersupported in this society. That is why I decided to cater my practice towards parents. I now have several services all aimed at supporting the parents of babies/toddlers. I offer individual therapy and couples therapy to parents. Mostly these are parenting wanting to work through intergenerational patterns and break cycles. I also offer a somatic short term treatment for healing traumatic birth experiences.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
One of my biggest passions is supporting the parents of young children who want to
change intergenerational patterns. The reason I love working with new parents is that it
is such a vulnerable and rich time in life. Becoming a parent is the biggest change that
can happen in an adult’s life yet is often undersupported. There are so many things that
come up in pregnancy, postpartum and parenting young ones, and I love supporting
people with those issues.
Oftentimes the work I do with parents in surrounding parenting triggers. Parenting can be particularly triggering when parents did not get certain things from their own parents and are now tasked with giving these things to their children (such as the capacity to help them process big feelings). In therapy, I am in awe of the courageousness of my clients in addressing these wounds and difficulties and working their best to create a different relationship with their children than what they had. I do this work 1:1 with clients but also with couples struggling with these issues and in this season of life.
My most recent addition to my practice is healing birth trauma sessions. I am SUPER excited about this offering. I was trained by Gena McCarthy in a model called, “Bilateral Stimulation for Healing Birth Trauma,” This model helps people who have experienced traumatic births heal and process it somatically. It combines tapping with somatic resourcing and it creates really profound results. A lot of healing can happen in a short amount of time. I really have loved adding this to my practice and seeing what profound insights and healing comes from this work.
In addition to what I offer in my practice, I am also a content creator on instagram as I also wanted a venue to support parents that is free. I make content about all the topics I listed above. My Instagram is @thrivingca and my facebook page is called Thriving Therapy
California. To check them out and follow me, visit:
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivingca/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554012933721
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?
In terms of my work, I’d say the three areas that are most important are; knowledge of attachment, having a learning mindset and following my passion. Knowledge of attachment is super important for the work I do because every human is formed through early attachments and these attachments impact our functioning and relationships for the rest of our lives. This is particularly important with the parents I work with because they are forming attachments with their own kids and this is often a terrain they want to work on improving.
In terms of a learning mindset and passion, I think these go hand in hand. When I chose to focus on working with parents this was because I was so passionate about it. But also this passion drives me to constantly learn. I am always excited to learn new things about parenting so much so that a lot of the time it doesn’t even feel like “work” to me. I think I am really blessed in this way that I get to do work that is meaningful to me and full of passion. It also makes it so the work does not become stagnant. For example, when I was noticing talk therapy was not enough for addressing birth trauma in my practice, I decided to do more training.
For therapists newer on their journey, if possible, I would say find your passion and then find the right people and mentors who believe in you and will support you in pursuing it. Also, find something that is so interesting for you, that you are excited to keep learning about it!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
One of my new adventures is being a content creator on instagram. I resisted it for a long time but now I’m having so much fun with it! I am currently looking for therapists that are in a similar niche area to collaborate on reels with. I just did a reel with a colleague and we had so much fun with it! I love learning from colleagues and working on projects together!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thrivingca.com
- Instagram: @thrivingca
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Thriving-Therapy-California/61554012933721/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-weir-85a53466?challengeId=AQFOn1QUn5t5EAAAAZJYTa6HXJ2S6lp3K8cJwjtjV3ayys5AzTnNUErLJhaeih5Nhszl5L5fG9k1MxhuMMuTcqsvr4qZUPeLOA&submissionId=72046325-e74b-fb17-cf16-d0bdf0661b05&challengeSource=AgFg64ZGaOM1XwAAAZJYTb9Kj1Nq-FsHz0QG3vHyWeLqXYIXAB0OrTOCd_64cTc&challegeType=AgF2LABf1sxyJgAAAZJYTb9NIcQprsCwvXIp7xzHH5lIzgnIM_Qgat8&memberId=AgHqoOTgZ-8z4QAAAZJYTb9RsFud8-SoMpAxpRs9wZDw9UQ&recognizeDevice=AgFCCVhKSTjWlQAAAZJYTb9UVnxvExbYS-B9zq2I3vjUgXRFIWzA
Image Credits
The image credits are for Tamar Weir
Logo credit: Brandwell Designs
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
