Therapist Spotlight: Morgan Kolecke LCPC

We at Health and Healing Therapy want to give you the opportunity to get to know our therapists, what their clients struggle with, how they help, and who they are. We believe that connection and comfort with your therapist is vital to growth and healing, so we hope that knowing more about us can put you to ease and assist you in making a decision about whether we are the right therapy practice for you. To do so, we have interviewed each of our therapists about themselves, their careers, and their thoughts around therapy.

In this interview, Morgan Kolecke talks about the emotional journey of being a therapist, her specialties, and the importance of having a space and time for your own personal growth.

Why do you think it’s important for people to participate in therapy?

I think that even if you’re pretty good with your own self-talk, you can direct yourself, and you notice that you’re insightful and can get yourself where you need to be — I still think there’s something to be said about having a dedicated space and time for doing that. You might already have the tools and the skills, and you might be pretty good at them! But your day can go completely by and your week can fly by, and you haven’t sat down with yourself and found the space to do that, so you’re not really utilizing any time for personal growth. That’s probably the number one reason to come to therapy: to have the space and the time to do that. For number two: maybe you’re not so great at self-reflection. Maybe you need somebody else to hold you accountable, and I think there’s that piece that goes along with that as well.

What does a therapy session with you look like?

I want to say there are some laughs involved. I think my clients and I usually find us coming to some kind of laughter even though the subjects we get into are not really laughable, but somehow it turns into something a little brighter — a laughable moment. For me personally, I like clients to be a little more self-directive so that they show me the path they want to go down. However, some people just don’t have an idea in mind, or their path is not exactly clear to them. So, it can also turn into me being a little more directive and going in a direction that the client did not see themselves going.

What is the best advice you’ve given in a therapy session?

This is the one that got me! This is the question I looked at and was like, ‘oh boy — I need some time to think about that one.’ I think the best advice I’ve given is: make a decision. It doesn’t matter what the decision is — make one. There’s no right or wrong decision, and I think it’s better to just go with something than nothing; rather than just to perseverate on ‘what should I be doing?’, to just do something. Jump in, and do it. It doesn’t mean you can’t change your course, but just pick something now.

What is one of the hardest parts of being a therapist?

We’re human, too, so we’re going to feel just as much as you’re feeling. We’re going to feel along with you, and we’re going to have that experience multiple times a day. So, I think that would be the most difficult part — being along the emotional journey with everyone many times a day. I think people don’t realize that we join you on your journey, but we’re right there with you!

What do you like the most about being a therapist?

Along the same lines as the previous question, I like being able to go along on someone’s journey. It’s quite intimate. It’s an experience you’re probably not going to have with a lot of other people, and I don’t take it lightly. It takes a lot for someone to share intimate details with you and let you be along on this emotional rollercoaster with them.

What are common challenges that your clients face? What is an area or are areas of specialty you have?

That’s a question with two prongs that have very different answers — I have areas of specialities, but, oddly enough, a lot of my clients don’t necessarily fall into those areas. I tend to enjoy and have an expertise working with people who struggle with focus and attention. We call them the executive functioning disorders. Examples of that would be having difficulty being productive or difficulty staying on task, and it comes out in areas of school work or employment, where those skills are needed in order to complete tasks and function. Also, I work with a lot of behavioral-based issues in kids when kids are struggling. I like to work with parents on those issues to say, ‘okay, what can we do to support your child and communicate with them differently? How can we end the struggle or the problem they’re having in that area?’

What do you want/is your hope for your clients?

My hope is that they find some sort of positive light or thought to know that their struggle or situation is manageable and they have the ability to manage that situation effectively. My hope is that, together, we can build the tools to do so. I hope we can discover different ways to look at the problem and to solve the problem, and that they can apply that to other areas and other aspects without me, outside of me, and also outside of that current situation. I want to give them perspective in realizing that there are solutions, controls, or strategies to their problems.

What do clients say about working with you?

That’s a good question! I think that we don’t always get that immediate, in-session feedback, like ‘oh my gosh, an epiphany! This is amazing, I can’t believe this happened!’ We hope that happens, but I don’t think it happens in the moment together. I think that happens down the line or outside of session, and we don’t always get them coming back the next week saying, ‘guess what! Everything that you said was right and really effective!’

One reason why working with parents is something I enjoy is because I realize that being a parent is extremely difficult, and we don’t really ever know the right way to do it. We are humans and have emotions outside of our children. We have our emotions, our children have emotions, and those can clash greatly. I think the reason why that work and the feedback I’ve gotten about it is important to me is because you, as a parent, can have the support to look at an issue from the outside and the guidance to effectively manage that situation. I’ve heard parents say, ‘wow, that was so useful and helpful to me, to be able to sit with you for that one hour, brainstorm, and look at what I can do differently and how I can solve this problem.’ I think having that time and that space, as I mentioned in the first part of this, is so incredibly effective and helpful for people. So, I think that’s the feedback I get. People say, ‘wow, it was really helpful to have this hour with you.’

Click here to schedule an appointment with Morgan.