Meet Rachel Tice

We recently connected with Rachel Tice and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I find my purpose through offering my help to others. It’s the reason I became a mental health counselor. During graduate school, one of my professors asked our class, “Why do you want to be a counselor? And you can’t say it’s because you want to help people.” I find myself often thinking of this question and how it is impossible to answer. Helping others is not only my purpose but it is part of my life journey, there was no getting around it. Some people might have grander journeys, but I believe the work I do impacts generations to come.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a mental health counselor and being a counselor is a spiritual process. You need to have an interest in mental health, which usually comes with deep self work, and then you must be proficient enough to offer this healing to others. It is not an easy task. It must be taken seriously.
I love telling the following story because it was a pivotal moment in my life. During my freshman year of college I chose Advertising as my major. I wanted to make commercials and get my masters in business. I had everything planned out. But my amazing school, Georgian Court University, is a liberal arts college and one of the required courses was Psychology 101. After my very first psychology class I went to my advisor, switched my major, and never looked back. “This is it,” I thought to myself. “I know what I want.”
Which brings us to the present moment, a decade after completing a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with my professional license and a successful private practice.

Five years ago I began having health problems which brought me down my spiritual path. I studied Reiki and am in the process of becoming a Reiki master. I also practice mediumship and in the future I would love to offer these services to others. I have recently been diagnosed with multiple genetic disorders which answered years of questions and symptoms. I also got treatment for adult diagnosed ADHD which had a huge impact on my life and work.

My current goal for my practice is refinement. I am particular about taking on clients. I want to make sure I am the right fit. My experiences over the last five years have shaped me greatly. I now focus on working with adults diagnosed with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as chronic health issues. I also specialize in working with those in the spiritual and LGBTQ+ communities. I have been told by clients that it is easier to talk to a therapist that can actually empathize with their experiences and not just sympathize.

I want my practice to be different. I don’t want to be a void that someone talks at. I am an active participant in session. I love to try new and different techniques. Sometimes I might pull an oracle card for a client and we discuss how it resonates. I often have my clients read a book I suggest as a supplement to our sessions. These might be small gestures, but they make a difference in treatment outcomes.

My practice is often full with a waitlist. The reason for this is because my goal of being more thoughtful about the types of clients I help. This way I can provide the very best therapy I can.

What excites me most about my current journey is that this is something new for me. I have never had full control of my career before now. I have never been able to choose who I help until now. I love learning about my specializations and digging deep with clients during session. My work is not just for me, it is for many others and will impact them for years to come.
Currently I am working on a book for mental health and I am very excited about the process. I also a run monthly, in person Shadow Self Workshop. Information about the workshop is located on my socials.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three most impactful qualities for my particular journey are open mindedness, confidence, and empathy. I will add a fourth, which is curiosity.
Being open minded helps me gain unique opportunities in my life. The best example of this would be taking a year off graduate school to backpack throughout South America. This gave me a great experience that shaped my life. Not only do I love to travel but I love learning about foreign history and culture.

You need confidence to start a business. You need confidence to get a degree. You need confidence to do work that is difficult. I have achieved every goal I set my mind to. Not because luck or privilege, but because of confidence. I understand this can be difficult for many and it has been difficult for me as well. I believe that confidence is something that waxes and wanes, it is not something that you have or you don’t.

Empathy is an absolute necessity for having passion in the mental health field. Understanding human emotions and holding space to process those emotions is not just an intellectual quality, but it is much deeper and cannot be faked.

Last but certainly not least, curiosity is the driving force behind all that I do. If it was not for my insatiable hunger for knowledge, I would not be the person I am today. I cannot imagine myself being any different. In a perfect world, I would be a perpetual student, learning as much as I can all the time and passing that knowledge to others.

If you are beginning your mental health journey I ask that you be patient and open minded. These two qualities can apply if you are a new therapist, opening a private practice, or are starting therapy as a client. Being open minded is the single most important quality anyone can have. You could also define this as neuroplasticity. Humans must be adaptive throughout their entire lifespan, not just during school years.

Learn, try new things, listen to people around you, don’t take things personally, take care of your body, mind, and spirit, be in nature, surround yourself with great company, and love as much as you can. We are only here for a short time.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I believe there is a happy medium between the two choices. Obviously, I would not have chosen to become a counselor if I didn’t have talent or interest in this career. There are many areas of counseling that I have improved throughout my years in this field. Most of these experiences were against my will, or UNPLANNED is perhaps a better way of putting it.
For example, working in a psychiatric hospital gave me an intense knowledge of psychiatric medications. Working with children helped me learn how to use art in sessions. Working in substance abuse helped me learn about recovery and gave me the privilege of hearing many people’s life stories, some of which were incredibly heartbreaking; some of which were inspiring. Because of this I really enjoy working with family members of people with substance abuse issues.

Being diagnosed with ADHD and genetic disorders as an adult helped me redirect my focus to working with the neuro diverse population and clients with chronic illness. Going through my own mental health treatment lead me down my path of spirituality which highly influences the treatment I provide.

Most of these were not my strengths until they became my strengths. They were not planned and I believe this is the best way to discover new strengths and most importantly, foster them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.NewMoonCounseling.llc
• Instagram: @newmooncounselingllc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093123783523