I went into therapy the first time with the attitude that it wouldn’t work. The second time, I gave it another shot, and it changed everything for me.
Jen Schwytzer is a licensed social worker, foster parent, coach, and CEO of KINDfulness Coaching. She specializes in empowering individuals to unlock their full potential. She helps women navigate stress, overwhelm, or burnout, enhancing their leadership skills, advancing in their current roles, or overcoming the chaos of family life.
Jen shares her personal journey with anxiety and the transformative role therapy has played in her life. She self-diagnosed anxiety, believing she had it under control due to her background in social work. After an official diagnosis, she attended therapy with a social worker but went into the session with skepticism and a closed-off mindset. As a result, she didn’t find value in the experience and decided therapy wasn’t for her.
Several years later, facing a series of personal crises, her anxiety worsened, and she looked for help again. This time, she found a therapist she felt a genuine connection with, which marked a turning point in her mental health journey
Everyone needs a safe space to talk about what comes up for them. Therapy gives you that outside perspective to help you get yourself in check.
Notes:
🌺 Jen works with women around anxiety, burnout, stress, and overwhelm.
01:15🦸♀️ Social workers are unsung heroes: Jen’s journey into social work.
03:05👩💼 Jen was overwhelmed and didn’t know it: starting her coaching business.
07:22⚠️ Warning signs in Jen’s life: symptoms of burnout and making the decision to change.
11:00🎯 Start with small changes: taking control, inner work, and releasing external factors of control.
14:00😇 Jen’s work on her anxiety in therapy: reasons she needed to seek therapy.
16:53🕵️♀️ Choosing the right therapist: the relationship is the most important thing in therapy work.
20:49🤓 Jen is ‘the manager’ type: allowing things to happen without her constant control.
23:08🦺 Having a safe space to talk about issues: the power of outside perspective and tough love in life.
27:24🏋️♀️ The weight on her shoulders: it’s not all about you.
30:47💫 Trying again with therapy: being an active participant and having the right mindset.
33:07Links:
What is Therapy: Deconstructed?
Society has led us to believe that therapy is for those with deep-seated issues and that it’s not for those of us who are “successful and stable”. The Therapy: Deconstructed podcast, hosted by Dr. Bonnie Wims, debunks the myths and societal beliefs about therapy and explains not only what therapy is, but also how it can help anyone who’s facing obstacles in their lives.
As a therapist, coach, and a UK Chartered Counseling Psychologist specializing in helping the global community, Dr. Bonnie has helped innumerable people get from where they are to where they’d like to be. She’s “your someone else” who is there for you when you need to bounce things off of so that you can better understand yourself. And she does it in a warm and intelligent style that’s peppered with levity.
Listen in each week to Dr. Wims if you’re therapy-curious and get answers to all your questions about what therapy is, what it is not, and how therapy may be the x-factor you’ve been searching for.