Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Rosser.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lindsay. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
At a young age, I knew I possessed a strong desire to understand and help others. With two medical professionals as parents, it seemed natural for me to pursue a career in the same field. However, after several experiences shadowing professionals as an undergraduate, I realized the medical field lacked something I craved: a more involved, sustained, and therapeutic relationship between professional and client. Along the way, I was also exposed to the many stigmas attached to mental health. I was saddened by how many people were blocked by fear from pursuing healing through psychotherapy. With new science available about trauma and the brain, I was eager to learn how to help others and break the shame around receiving mental health treatment.
After making the decision to change my career path at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, I prepared myself to pursue a graduate degree in psychology. Craving a more culturally diverse and urban experience, I found myself at California State University – Fullerton in their Clinical Psychology program. Given my medical background, I continued to hold interest in the biological aspects of psychology, which groomed my desire to further understand the body-mind connection. When searching for my own therapist, it was important to me that they be able to help me explore this connection. While researching, I discovered Dr. Marjorie Rand who introduced me to Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP), where I later spent three years in training at their home base institute in Venice, CA. During this time, I worked for Department of Mental Health serving men and women on the welfare program, CalWorks, and later working primarily with children and families.
Today, I am a certified Integrative Body Psychotherapist. I have other major trainings in reflective parenting, child development, and trauma informed care, among others. With this education, I truly believe I can be a guide and witness for others’ healing journeys. The IBP program especially reflects my beliefs and requires students to embody the therapy themselves before becoming a certified practitioner. Through my own healing process, I can better serve clients because I understand the humility, courage and persistence it takes to make meaningful and profound changes in our lives.
Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest obstacle I faced was – myself. To start a solo private practice, I had to believe in myself and face my fears about instability, money and all the unknowns that came with entering foreign territory. I also had to combat my own subconscious beliefs that were blocking me from feeling good enough; good enough to sit with someone who allows themselves to be open and vulnerable and to be a guide and witness to their process, good enough to know that sometimes just showing up with my full, grounded presence is enough to heal childhood injuries. Through these obstacles, I’ve learned to believe in myself and trust my higher power to guide and support me.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the WellBeings story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of California and I practice under the business name WellBeings. After graduate school, I chose to specialize in a holistic, integrative healing approach called Integrative Body Psychotherapy. IBP looks at the whole person – mind, body and spirit and primarily focuses on how early attachment injuries and/or trauma can result in a wealth of difficulties for us later in life. In my practice, I regularly utilize techniques such as yoga, meditation, mindfulness, neuroscience, mantras, affirmations, breathing, and movement to promote a sustainable sense of wellbeing in my clients.
I am most proud of my training and all the knowledge I’ve gained from my wellness mentors. I not only pull from my western training, I also like to incorporate what I’ve learned from spiritual, intuitive, and holistic healers who have inspired and helped me on my own path. I work out of the Ananda Acupuncture and Wellness Center in South Pasadena, CA, owned by Tia Hem. Tia also embodies what I believe about health and wellbeing – healing requires treatment at the cause of the problem, not just concealment of the symptoms. The causes of our ailments can include blocked emotions, unresolved trauma, high levels of stress, and so on. When we resolve these issues, we are able to experience increased energy and aliveness, which in turn positively impacts our overall health and wellbeing.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
According to leading trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk, the future of psychotherapy will include the use of yoga and somatic practices to help clients, especially trauma survivors, transform. He believes these types of therapies help trauma survivors heal the disconnected relationship with their bodies and learn to feel safe, powerful, and effective. Many of his theories are based off new advances in neuroscience which show how trauma impacts the brain. Bessel van der Kolk has pioneered the study of an eclectic group of body-mind approaches—including yoga, mindfulness, EMDR, neurofeedback, sensorimotor therapy, martial arts, and theater—to help trauma survivors live fully in the present, rather than stay trapped in the past.
Contact Info:
- Address: The Ananda Acupuncture & Wellness Center
2120 Huntington Dr., Ste A
South Pasadena, CA 91030 - Website: http://www.wellbeings-therapy.com/
- Phone: 626-720-4471
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Renee Krenk
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