Today we’d like to introduce you to Valerie Owings.
Hi Valerie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I actually started my adult life “backwards”. I had my oldest two children when I was very young, then I got married, then I started going to college. Collectively, it took me 16 years to go to school part time to get my master’s degree. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a career until I was in my early 30’s.
I’ve worked with children most of my adult life, but it wasn’t until my 30’s before I knew that counseling was what I wanted to do. I started out working in early childhood programs and working with school age children. I did brief stints here and there in other industries, retail, restaurant, corporate, and non-profit work.
I got my undergraduate degree in Social Psychology, but when I graduated I learned that there is not really anything you can do with that degree. I’d taken an intro to counseling course as part of that program and decided to apply to grad school for counseling after that. In grad school, I took a play therapy class and I set my heart on doing that kind of work. Knowing that I already wanted to work with children and families, it just felt like a perfect fit.
I worked in in few non-profits after grad school to get my feet wet before venturing into private practice about 7 years ago. I’ve since had office location changes and I’m now able to serve clients in the ways I am passionate about working with children and adults.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No! I had children very young and was married and divorced before I was 30. I was very poor during my first marriage and school was something that I just kept plugging away at. Sometimes I had to take breaks so that I could figure out a way to pay for classes and I always worked full time while also raising my children.
As you know, we’re big fans of Owings Counseling, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m a therapist in private practice. I’ve been licensed for 13 years and in private practice for almost 7 years. My specialization is with children, and I am a Registered Play Therapist™. I also offer sand tray therapy, which is very specialized and most of my adult clients find it to be very helpful, it can be a way to help a client get “unstuck” if other therapy modalities haven’t really helped them. I have a whole room dedicated to just sand tray.
I’ve also in the last couple of years started to specialize in working with neurodivergent clients, usually those with ADHD or who are Autistic.
I think I am most proud of my ability to connect with clients and support them no matter where they are at. Some clients come when they are really struggling or in crisis and other clients come when they want to maintain or process a current event in their lives. Either way, their issues are important to me and we work together on the client’s goals.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I’m a huge fan of Brene Brown and Esther Perel. I also listen to the Sexvangelicals podcast regularly.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://owingscounselingkc.com
- Instagram: owingscounseling_kc
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/owingscounseling
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-owings-counseling/
