Emily Spirk, LAPC, M.Ed.

What originally drew you toward becoming a therapist?

I had a pretty awful introduction to therapy for myself when I initially tried it with two different therapists in a row. So originally, I thought therapy was a waste of time, money, and energy. Because of that, I was not open to therapy until I reached one of the lowest points in my life after a specific traumatic event happened. While I was super scared to try again, I knew I had to have the courage to try if I wanted to get my life back and feel present again. I luckily got matched with a therapist who was profoundly different than the first two and it led to a pretty transformative experience for me and my healing. Many years after our work together, when I was working with a different but also excellent therapist, I came to the realization that I needed to exit the field of education due to burnout. In my exploration around what I wanted to do next, I could not stop thinking about how I wanted to be able to help others have a similar type of transformative experience because all humans deserve to be held through struggle, darkness, and realign to a more authentic and present version of themselves.

Who might feel especially understood by the way you approach therapy?

As a neurodivergent individual myself who received a late life diagnosis - I know what it's like to desperately want to understand yourself, your struggles/strengths, your relationships, your patterns, your big emotions, and still feel like you are missing pieces to the puzzle. I think many folks that I work with (neurodivergent diagnosis or not) have voiced how helpful leaning into curiosity and radical acceptance for who they are and learning to let go of who they think they should be has supported them along their journey. If this sounds like meaningful work you would like to do together, I believe you would feel especially understood and seen by my approach to therapy.

What do you do when someone does not know where to begin or what to say?

I really love to use tarot in these types of situations if the client is open to utilizing that as a tool. I've received training and education around tarot as a whole and also how to incorporate it ethically into clinical psychology. It is one that I consistently reach for to offer in these types of situations because it helps mirror the energies of your current lived experience and then you get to reflect on that and decide what you would like to do with that information moving forward.

How do identity, culture, family or community enter the work you do with clients?

Identity, culture, family, and community enter into the work that I do with clients in every single session. We all have a unique background and lived experiences that shape who we are and how we show up in the world - to ignore this frame feels unethical to me. I cannot expect to support genuine growth with the clients that I work with if I am not effectively attuning to their world view, values, and unique goals.