Vibrant Therapist Spotlight: Angela Eischens

This month I have the opportunity to introduce you to one of my oldest therapist friends & colleagues. Angela Eischens and I attended the same graduate school over a decade ago and were in the same practicum course. We eventually ended up joining the same post-graduate school supervision group, too.

A couple of years ago, Angela and I met up for lunch and started talking about how we were each ready to do something a little different with our work, but I don’t think either of us were super clear on what that would actually look like. It has been interesting to see how that has unfolded for each of us over the past couple of years and I’m delighted that Angela agreed to share part of her experience with us through an interview for The Vibrant Therapist Spotlight.

Please introduce yourself to the readers and tell us a little about the work that you do.

Hi! My name is Angela Eischens. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Minneapolis and also recently became a Reiki Master. I have training in EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitazation and Reprocessing) and am Nationally Rostered to provide Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP).

As a therapist I work at a local Children’s Mental Health agency and specialize in the areas of early childhood mental health, parent-child relationships, trauma, development, and attachment and the impact of these things on our all-around development as a person. I also have a great interest in nutrition and mental health and have recently begun to incorporate this learning into my work with families when they are open to considering this change as they address the concerns they have for their child. The program I work in works primarily provides Child-Parent Psychotherapy in the home with families with children from birth through age 5 who have experienced some form of trauma, stress, or other concerns in the child’s social emotional and behavioral development that are impacting their growth and the functioning of the caregiver-child relationship(s). 

How did you decide to learn about Reiki?

I have always been deeply interested in metaphysical studies and spirituality. I have really been working toward finding a way to integrate the things that truly fill me up and make me who I am as a person into my professional life.

For years, I think I feared how others in the mental health field would interpret some of the beliefs I hold, experiences I have had, or alternative ways I think other can heal. I have always been highly sensitive and sensed subtle energy. I decided to learn how to work with it, understand it, and use it to assist healing in myself and others.

I am currently learning the language of subtle energy and finding ways to bridge that knowledge and language into my practice. As I have learned more about energy work and about Reiki specifically, I have found a great amount of consistency between that and the Interpersonal Neurobiology work being done by Daniel Siegel and others. Finding this bridge has really helped me to feel more confident in incorporating some of the language of subtle energy into my work. I do not, however, provide Reiki healings in my therapeutic work, but I do utilize Reiki for myself to prepare my own body and space for the work with families.

Being energy sensitive, I naturally feel, sense, and easily absorb a lot of the energies from my surroundings, so as I have become more and more attuned to the use and how to read subtle energy, I have found my regular self-care and energy healing to be necessary and maintaining this practice has greatly assisted me in my therapeutic work with families. 

What were the ethical factors you considered when deciding to start providing Reiki, blogging and opening your Etsy shop?  How have you navigated these factors in a way that works for you?

Being that I work in an agency, I do not provide Reiki as part of my therapy practice. I also tend to stick to the use of evidence based practices in my therapeutic work as this is a strong value of the agency I work for. At this time, I would not provide Reiki independently to clients I am working with through the agency I work for. If a client was interested in receiving Reiki I would refer them to another provider.At this time, I keep my Reiki practice very separate from providing therapy.

I also have an interest in the use of crystals and gemstones and the metaphysical healing properties they hold and have begun to create necklaces from natural stones and attune and charge them with the Reiki energies to support one in their own inner healing journey. I have opened an Etsy shop to sell my handmade necklaces and share the Reiki energies while I work on building up a part-time Reiki practice.

Through blogging, I’ve been working on developing a bridge between the two healing modalities of mental health therapy and alternative metaphysical healing beliefs and practices all focused on the purpose of addressing the traumas that occur in our lives and finding creative ways to support our healing journeys. 

Did you encounter any challenges as you decided to expand the type of work you do beyond providing therapy in an agency setting and how did you work through those challenges?

The biggest challenge for me at this time is that financially I cannot afford to have my own office yet to be able to create the space to provide both healing modalities. My life is not yet in a place where I could make that leap and still take care of myself and all of the other things that come with having your own practice. In the meantime, I have found a way to slowly start to develop my Reiki practice on the side.

Having time to truly grow my Reiki practice and Etsy shop is another challenge, but I have found that because it is something I love so much, making the time to work on this has been more fun than feeling like more work to do, most days anyway… I have learned to accept and value that where I am currently is exactly where I need to be for now and everything happens in perfect timing for me. I have learned that by allowing myself to take my time, I can establish a more firm foundation to build upon. I also find that the experiences I have between the time something is birthed into being in my life, I have gained new and necessary knowledge needed to make it all happen with ease and grace.

What types of doubt and fears have you encountered in your career and how have you addressed them?

Too many to name, honestly. It can be quite taxing on me physically, emotionally, and mentally to be with people all day as a more naturally introverted and highly sensitive person. Working in a non-profit setting has also not provided a sense of financial stability while paying down student loans.

I have really worked hard to focus on how I want to feel in my life and start building in those things that help me feel my desired feelings in life on a more consistent basis. I have developed a gratitude practice to help me truly take notice and honor the ways my work, my life, and my clients support my own growth as a person and support my desired feelings in my life.

Doing this work, as a therapist, has really lead me to do my own deep healing and trauma work to better understand my doubts and fears so I can make better decisions in my work. All of these practices I have named has supported my development as a therapist and has helped me to recognize what is in my control and what is not and has also really helped me get to a space of deeply honoring those things that make me afraid or to doubt.

Other fears in the work have also included those fears of competence. Truly feeling I can actually help someone on their healing journey in the best way. I have found by doing my own healing work, I can better walk alongside others on theirs. I have discovered that by seeing people as “fellow travelers” on this life journey creates the space for a therapeutic alliance that feels more authentic and takes some of the pressure off of “being the best”.

How do you personally manage overwhelm when working on multiple projects?

I have a constant mantra playing in the background of “Slow down” and “pace yourself”. I can get really involved with what I am working on and can easily lose track of time. I have worked to be more realistic with myself about what can actually be done in a given week or day.

I also practice stopping and checking in with my body multiple times in a day. My body always has the answer. I have learned to trust it and listen to it. I have found it so important to do my own body scan and talk to my body’s tensions, pains, etc. I practice actually acting on what my intuition says I need rather than saying “later”, from getting up to walk around, eat or drink something, take some breaths, place my hand on my heart for a minute, or meditate.

How do you approach your work and self care in order to avoid becoming burnt out or depleted?

As shared above, I really actually talk to, listen, and act on what my body says it needs. I have a regular routine of when I do tasks at home and I have blocked off my schedule at work to be done at a certain time on at least two days in the week so I can get home before the sun goes down to guarantee I get some time outside in the daylight or attend to other needs my body has (chiropractic, massage, a dance class).

I work really hard to no longer (or rarely) eat things that take away from my energy or impact my mood. Sometimes I choose to just pick up pre-made/already prepped food from the co-op as opposed to cook when my body truly wants to just do other things.

I journal. I meditate every morning for at least 10-20 minutes. I allow myself to rest when I really just want to rest. I have also made it a practice to notice, honor, and express my feelings and needs with others and allow myself to practice receiving from others in my life as opposed to staying in a giving or caretaking role that so easily happens as a therapist. When we are in roles of caring for others or creating a space of care for others, we need to focus even more on bringing that same level of care and nurturing into our own lives to remain able to do this work, I believe.

If you could go back in time, what tip or advice would you share with yourself at the beginning of your career?

There is a Lao Tzu quote that I feel says it perfectly:

“If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.”

Thank you, Angela, for sharing so much about your journey and the lessons you have learned along the way so far! If you would like to connect with Angela you can find her on her website, Instagram and through her Etsy Shop.

How about you?

I’m wondering who else in the Vibrant Therapist Community has a side hustle offering services or products that are not directly related to being a mental health therapist. Please comment below and let us know what you are up to!

Take Care,
Sarah

P.S. Angela is also offering us the following discounts!

One can receive a promo code for an immediate 20% off when they spend $30 or more in her Etsy Shop when they sign up for her newsletter through her website.

For readers of this Spotlight, Angela is offering a discount on Reiki Distance Healings: 1 session for $60 or a package of 3 for $150 ($270 value). Check out her website for more information about Reiki Distance Healing.