12/12/2025
🖤 Intentional Presence 🖤
Often, I’m asked, usually from a genuine place of curiosity, why people don’t see me at more community events or social gatherings within the community where I live and work.
It’s a fair question.
I work as a mental health clinician in a smaller community, one where people often know each other in layered, overlapping ways. Add to that the roles I hold as a business owner, advocate, and community partner, and it quickly becomes clear that I wear many hats across many settings.
Because of that, I made a very intentional decision years ago to step back from seeing clients as frequently and to be selective about the spaces I show up in.
Not because I don’t care about community.
But because I care deeply about clients.
When someone comes to therapy, they are often sharing the most personal parts of themselves, the trauma they’ve carried for years, the thoughts they’ve never said out loud, the things they fear most about being seen. I specialize in complex trauma, which means the level of vulnerability required in that space is often profound and, frankly, terrifying for many people.
It isn’t fair to ask clients to hold the additional worry of running into their therapist at social events, networking groups, or community gatherings on a regular basis. That overlap, especially in a small community, can quietly become another barrier to care.
So I choose discretion.
I choose boundaries.
I choose intentional presence.
I’m selective about the events I attend and the groups I’m involved in because protecting client safety, comfort, and confidentiality matters more to me than visibility or networking.
Additionally, as a practice owner, I’m often in community spaces not to build my own caseload, but to build pathways to care. I network and refer to the incredible clinicians who work alongside me. That distance helps preserve confidentiality and allows people to seek support without feeling exposed or scrutinized.
Mental health is still deeply stigmatized for many. The decision to reach out for help is delicate. It involves vulnerability, courage, timing, finances, insurance, availability, and just as importantly, fit.
Therapy should never be approached blindly.
True healing happens when someone finds the right provider for them. Someone whose training, personality, and approach align with what they need. Someone who can recognize when they are not the right fit and refer out with integrity. Someone who can set aside their own ego and show up fully present. Someone who sees a human being, not a paycheck.
That belief also shapes how I view large, corporate therapy platforms. While they may increase access on paper, they lack the individualized care and intentional matching that I believe therapy requires. These are corporations first. Profit-driven systems that often fail to protect clients and clinicians alike. Insurance companies, unfortunately, aren’t much better.
And yes, there are clinicians who are drawn to the idea of high income with minimal effort. That reality exists. But it is not what we stand for.
At Northern Lights Therapy, our foundation is built on service, adaptability, and community need. We continually adjust how we do business to meet people where they are. We partner with organizations and individuals who align with our values, and we step away from those who don’t.
We are not immune to what’s happening in the world.
We feel it too.
And because of that, our priority is to make therapy feel safer, not harder. More human, not more transactional.
This is also why I approach networking differently than many other businesses. While I absolutely believe networking groups can be incredibly beneficial, mental health care is different. It requires more intention, more discernment, and more respect for the weight of the work.
Referrals should happen because they are clinically appropriate, not because we share a room, a membership, or a logo.
I want our name to stand for something.
I want trust to remain our highest priority.
And I want the community to know that every decision, visible or not, is made with care.
Sometimes, doing the right thing looks quieter.
Sometimes, it looks like saying no.
And sometimes, it looks like choosing people over presence.
That choice will always be intentional.
- Brianna Reinhold, LPC, LPCC, CFRC, ERPSCC
Disclaimer:
The thoughts shared in this article reflect my personal views and professional perspective as a clinician and business owner. They are not intended to represent the views of all clinicians, nor do they necessarily reflect the beliefs or practices of every clinician employed at Northern Lights Therapy.
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Intentional presence means showing up with care, not frequency. In mental health work, boundaries help protect safety and trust.
