The Lounge Q+A: Shannon Theobald, Clinical Therapist

How does PocketSuite work for you?

PocketSuite follows my story. I worked in an agency with a severely mentally ill population of adults. Then I used to work at Dale Carnegie as a coach. A, “How to influence people”, training consultant. I swapped worlds in terms of population. I think it’s important to be well rounded and continue learning, so I ventured out into private practice, that’s how I met PocketSuite.

What are some important career lessons you’ve learned?

I think a really good point is about building your life. In my career of coaching, I never forget about life as a whole. Because you spend a lot of time building in time for you and the life that you want to create as a result of your efforts and fruits of your labor, that is really important too.

Quotes to live by?

I had a professor who said never work harder than your client. And I was really struck by that and I really think it’s so true because it’s so empowering. If I’m sitting there solving the problems for everybody, that’s not really what my role is. My role is to build problem solving skills within other people.

What is important to you?

So you got me thinking, it’s just balancing your life. Walking the talk of, you know, if I’m going to pitch self care to people, I best be doing that myself. Are you living up to that? You know, are you making time? Are you blocking out time on PocketSuite?

Is education important for an aspiring therapist?

Accreditation from a university is going to help so much.

Tips for success?

You have to trust your instincts in this field. If you’re in an orchestra, it’s not like you have a violin or an instrument that you’re playing. You are your business. Your ability to be genuine, your ability to learn and grow and be with the times. You can’t do everything for everyone. There’s no shame in that. It’s okay to say to a client, you know, I’ve never dealt with this, but let me find out, let’s work through this together. The permission to know that is okay is a big building block to being successful in the future because you’re never going to know everything.

Humans are unpredictable, but if you can just center yourself and have confidence in yourself and again, walk that talk, be your brand, that’s going to bring you success.

Final thoughts?

I work a lot in relationships and I really think that when life gives you lemons, which it does to everybody. Make something sweet. Someone wise once told me, we don’t get to pick the cards we’re dealt, but it’s how we play them.