Meet Sarah Rivera

 

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Rivera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

Being the youngest of four children, in a loving family of six, there was an immediate source of comfort, protection, love and attention I received as a child. I’m thankful to say that my family was, and still is, amazing. While supportive and protective, they were also challenging, direct, and assertive. I was challenged to keep up, stay up, and keep pushing forward, even when things are difficult. I had to try twice as hard as my siblings to “keep up” which was a challenge I was up for. While I enjoyed the attention and affection from others when making the right choices or accomplishing large achievements, I realized there was the need to develop more self integrity and self esteem. I became self motivated and driven to do everything to the best of my ability, even when no one was looking. Combine this with an unconditional understanding of God‘s love, my confidence and self-esteem has grown in big ways.

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

I am the founder and CEO of La Luz Counseling in San Antonio, Texas. La Luz Counseling offers evidence based clinical counseling to individuals throughout Texas struggling with anxiety and trauma. Through faith-based therapy and compassionate support, clients can immediately start their journey towards healing and work collaboratively with their counselor towards outcomes.
La Luz Counseling operates on the principle of inspiring transformation and fostering contagious change within individuals and the broader community.
The business is not only about providing services—it embodies a mission. La Luz, which translates to “The Light” in Spanish, carries a profound significance. It symbolizes the role of counselors as conduits of God’s light, guiding clients towards transformative change with Christ as the ultimate source of illumination. Inspired by the radiant presence of her maternal grandmother, Maria De La Luz Sanchez Almendariz, I envisioned a practice that echoed my grandmother’s kindness, humility, and strength.
The core values of quality, efficiency, and competency underscore every facet of La Luz Counseling’s operations. They ensure that clients receive personalized, compassionate care tailored to their unique needs. We maintain twice as much administrative staff as needed, ensuring seamless operations and enabling our team to prioritize client care and swift access to services without compromise. We ensure a swift response to inquiries within 12 hours to maintain rigorous quality assurance protocols. La Luz Counseling guarantees rapid turnaround times, aiming to have prospective clients seen by a clinician in less than one week, without ever resorting to a waitlist. This commitment to efficiency reflects our deep-seated belief in providing timely access to essential mental health services, guided by compassion and efficiency. La Luz Counseling remains steadfast in its commitment to excellence and above par standards.
We’re also proud to announce the launch of a mental health coalition, offered free of charge to charter and private schools in our area. This initiative provides weekly mental health support for high school students, helping them navigate the challenges they face during these formative years. We believe that early intervention and support can make a significant difference in young people’s lives, and we’re excited to partner with schools to bring these essential services to students.
In addition to these programs, we are committed to giving back to our community through donation drives that support local non-profits. With the help of our team, clients, and the larger community, we have successfully raised thousands of dollars of brand new items to donate to those who feel lost, forgotten or overlooked. By collaborating with other organizations such as child care centers and those without a home, we aim to extend our impact and help those in need throughout the area.
In addition to my work at La Luz Counseling, I am also deeply involved with The Counselor’s Mentor, a platform where I offer guidance and support to fellow mental health professionals. My aim is to mentor counselors in their careers, providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed and make a meaningful impact in their own practices. Through The Counselor’s Mentor, I am able to support up-and-coming professionals and foster a community of growth and learning.

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

Be Bold- you have to move boldly. At times you have to go against the grain. You may not always be on the side of popular opinion and you must have enough conviction to keep moving boldly anyway. There has to be a willingness to take risks- calculated of course, but bold nonetheless.

Be Fast- you have to move quickly. New ideas are nothing without data and action. You have to adapt quickly and make your own way. Don’t wait on others for an invitation, get out there and move swiftly, but strategically.

Be Fierce- helping people is a relentless mission. You must be willing to stay committed to your mission and vision- for your life, not just your business. You only have one life, stay focused and get moving to help others.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I hired a clinical supervision when obtaining my clinical licensure. She told me all of the wonderful things I was doing every session. She was my cheerleader for months and told me I was doing great and to keep going. I fired her. I didn’t want to know what I was doing right and well, I needed help to see my blindspots, weaknesses, and limitations.

I think it’s imperative to improve on areas you are not strong in. You already know what you’re doing well, so not much improvement needs to happen there. By staying honest about your limitations, it forces you into a position to either leave it weak until it dies out or strengthen it. When you choose to limit areas needing improvement, this can begin to weaken the entire system- which is you in this case. So buck up and be better.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Tomas Rivera Photography

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