Entreprenuers and mental health. Can we talk about it? Or does it feel like a taboo topic to you? Today’s guest, Elyse Snipes, is a marriage and family therapist on a mission to get therapy off the couch and into the world so you can live the good life. Elyse is skilled at bringing practical solutions to everyday problems with a little creative magic and a whole lot of truth. She works with her patients to unlock their limiting beliefs and build a healthier narrative that makes room for healing, connection, and personal freedom… And she does it all from her restored 1953 vintage trailer parked on the beach.
I invited Elyse on the show because as entrepreneurs, we’re welcoming a bonus layer of expectation, stress, anxiety, and decision-making into our lives, and in order to be successful in our businesses, and our personal lives, we need tools to managed these often challenging hurdles. I love Elyse’s mission to normalize therapy, and do it a little different than I’ve ever seen before. If you have questions about therapy, or if you think you might benefit from working with a therapist but you don’t even know where to begin, Elyse will walk you through it right now. Let’s get to work.
Why does the therapy stigma exist?
Elyse is driven by several motivators to do the work she’s doing. One major motivator, of course is her clients, which we will dig into, but another massive part of her drive and her therapy style is to normalize therapy. She explained to me, “Part of the reason [the therapy stigma] exists is because, whether we want to or not, we build a counter narrative that allows us to stay safe, which usually means staying sick or not moving.” It’s possible that women in particular stigmatize therapy because they aren’t ready, or don’t want to do the work therapy requires.
Therapy Isn’t Only for Crisis
Yes, therapy can benefit those experiencing the “darkness” of life. Elyse spent years working in trauma therapy, seeing clients who experienced the darkest of days, but she explains that if therapy is only used in crisis then that is only part of what therapy is good for. Pursuing therapy outside of crisis means you get to start where most people finish. The group of people who can benefit the most from therapy right now, according to Elyse, are women who are ready to make a big change, who are over the stigma of therapy, and who want to experience the “badass” ownership of ourselves.
Entrepreneurs and Mental Health
Every human will experience some sort of anxiety, depression, grief, and loss. For entrepreneurs, what often happens is one area is hyper-developed through creating and growing a business. A women who started a business and put energy into its growth, often has parts of her life that do not receive the same or as much attention. Personal relationships might be in chaos, and this can result in a disconnect between the online persona she is portraying online. Entrepreneurs can benefit from therapy because it helps to grow the person behind the brand at the same time. Down the road with the help of therapy, when the business is booming, the person behind it all is also thriving because she worked on growing herself in tandem with her business.
Do you need therapy?
So I asked Elyse the big question: How do you know if you need therapy? She said quite simply, “If you are a human, you are qualified.” Therapy is preventative wellness like going to your doctor for an annual check-up. Therapy feels like light and discovery. You don’t have to “go through anything big” to be a good candidate for therapy. Therapy allows you to build a great foundation of skills and gently shift beliefs, habits, or feelings to better serve you in the future (when you face the inevitable challenging or difficult season of life).
More from This Episode
I hope you’re ready to press play on the full episode above because Elyse’s story is truly amazing. You’ll hear how she began her journey as a 10-year old in therapy to now working with her clients to live their best lives through her unconventional approach to therapy. In this episode we chat about how to find the therapist that’s best for you (spoiler alert: don’t treat it like speed dating), how she is demystifying the therapy experience with her podcast, her view of the “anxiety plague” in our nation right now, and the million-dollar questions she asks her clients to unpack the true issues behind their biggest mental health challenges. If you’re curious about therapy and think you might be ready to “do the work” that therapy requires, press play right now.
