Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Rose.
Hi Michael, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When my first child was born, I missed much time with them. Between the job I had at night and starting my private practice, I often arrived home after bedtime. Not quite ready to leave alone, I pivoted to a job with hours that would provide me more time with my family. With the birth of my second child, a whole new set of problems arose. Given some of the difficulties we were experiencing, I decided to go to one job instead of carrying two. With my private practice at a point that was providing me with what was needed, I quit working for a local nonprofit and went full-time. The opportunity that this provided was more time to dedicate to my family to ensure we were all growing positively. By creating a better work/life balance, I could give myself to both the work I love doing and the family I love. After working on my own for quite some time and getting to a more sustainable spot, my wife and I decided that working a full-time job would be ok if I’d like to explore that again. I began working as a contract therapist for a company that provided intensive in-home therapeutic services to families. The benefit of this work was that I could set my own schedule so long as I was meeting all the needs of the families I was working with. In the fall of 2019, I started exploring the idea of moving my private practice, which I had still been maintaining, to a virtual setting. The research that existed at the time helped me feel confident that a virtual setting would be just as impactful as an in-person setting, so I set out to do more research and ensure that the move would be as beneficial as I anticipated for the clients that I was currently working as well as any new clients that I started working with in the future.
As we all experienced, when Covid hit, my timeline was moved from a 3rd quarter transition with a 4th quarter commitment to a 2nd quarter where everyone was virtual. The work I was doing as a contract therapist slowly decreased, bringing me back to being a private practice therapist now working from home with two kids doing virtual learning. It was during this time that I began listening to more podcasts. This brought me to my next endeavor, which is Hurdle Hopping. It launched at the start of June 2022. Hurdle Hopping invites guests to discuss one or multiple hurdles they have experienced throughout their life, skills they used to hop those hurdles, or, if actively working on them, what they are doing to achieve their goals. Alongside the podcast, I work as a private practice therapist virtually.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life is bumpy. When we decided it was time, we wanted to have kids; not that we thought it would be easy, but we didn’t think it would be not easy. We weren’t the first of our friends or family to make this decision, and to date, everyone had an easy time of it. That ended up being something other than our experience. We went through several trials and decided our actions would be the final attempt. We were fortunate that what we had declared our final attempt was the final attempt needed. Within a week of finding out that my wife was pregnant, I lost the job that I currently had. Within a week, I discovered that the Minister that led a beautiful interfaith marriage between my wife and me and my closest friend’s father died unexpectedly. Life is bumpy. The impact of these three events is what led me to open my private practice within a few months. I wanted to create as much stability as possible while it was mine to control. After that, things leveled out the best they could. It was surprisingly easier when we decided to try child number 2. Not the ease that others experience, but it was easier than it had been with our first. After our second child was born, we didn’t sleep. Not in the sense that people say they don’t sleep when they have a newborn, but in the sense that unless the baby was getting rocked, sleep didn’t happen. After being told, “things will get better” or “they’re just really colicky,” we pushed hard enough and got a referral to a specialist that gave us a behavioral plan to help teach our new one how to sleep more appropriately. Here was one of the first times I felt emboldened! A behavioral plan. I got this. Again, not that things have been a cakewalk, but once everyone started getting sleep again, things seemed to level out. I can talk about covid, but everyone experienced that. We each had our unique interactions with it, but at the same time, the world stopped for mostly everyone. As I said previously, I knew I would be going virtual anyway. This just sped up my timeline. I maintain my virtual practice now that colleagues are returning to in-person sessions. It allows me to meet with people in Missouri and Colorado, where I am fully licensed to practice. I may even apply for licensure in other states as well.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Wild Minds Consulting?
Wild Minds Consulting is my private practice. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Missouri and Colorado (possibly more to come). I specialize in Anxiety, ADHD, and Relationships, as well as the exploration of various interventions that will help assist with mental health. I offer virtual services for individual, couples, and family counseling and have also started offering Life Consulting services. Providing a virtual setting allows for a safer exploration of various interventions that people may want to explore. Every person is unique. Because of this, I create a space that empowers the people I work with to bring their unique perspectives and truest selves to each session.
When I started, I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted my practice to be. With Wild Minds Consulting, I have achieved that goal. Hurdle Hopping, my podcast that shares hurdles that others have experienced and the skills or methods they utilized to overcome them, has allowed me to move even closer to my ultimate goal. Life is bumpy. We all experience hurdles. Asking for help when confronted with a hurdle, being given help when we ask, and learning to accept that help, when given fully takes strength. It takes confidence to hold others accountable but strength and resilience to hold ourselves accountable.
Who else deserves credit for your story?
The biggest supporter I have had has been my wife. Not to say there haven’t been others; there have been. But she’s the person that has been next to me since the start. She’s the person that has gone through the ups and the downs, has experienced those bumps, and has hopped those hurdles right alongside me. Who’s to say whether I would be where I am without her? That’s unknown. What I do know is that with her, my journey has been far more tolerable than it would have been without her.
Pricing:
- Individual Counseling is $150 per session.
- Family or Couples Counseling is $175 per session
- Life Consulting starts at $500 / week, but can change depending on what is wanted.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wildmindsconsulting.com
- Instagram: @hurdlehopping
