After nearly 5 years of serving in the United States Navy as a “Master at Arms”, providing law enforcement and anti-terrorism force protection, Heather McPaul came home to the country she once defended and set out to find her way. The transition to civilian life was less than easy and Heather found herself working through some difficult emotions and searching for meaning.
“I knew if it was rough for me, it had to be worse for others who had more life-threatening experiences, so I started a blog that helped me process through those low moments. I had hoped that others who where feeling down and defeated would see it and know they weren’t alone.”
Shortly after starting the blog, Heather got a job answering phones at a private therapy practice. She worked managing appointments and other administrative services for the 7+ therapists that worked there.
“One day I was frustrated trying to find a way to use my GI Bill. I wanted to go to school for something that interested me and put my military and civilian work history to use, but nothing was really coming to me. I asked one of the therapists at the practice what she thought and she told me ‘You should do this’. At the time I laughed because I could not imagine myself as a therapist but it also was very intriguing to me. My mind went back to the reason why I had started the blog and it kind of made sense to me, that this was a bigger way of helping.”
Heather applied to Walden University and worked hard to obtain her masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus on Trauma and Crisis Counseling all while working full time and taking over much of the administrative functions of the practice where she worked.
“The entire time my main focus was to help my military brothers and sisters heal through their experiences and learn how to transition back to life outside of the military. I had seen the power of good therapy and I wanted to show my military family, that it isn’t what you think it is, you don’t have to ‘suck it up’, you can work it through and we can do it together.”
After graduating, Heather got a job at a different private therapy practice and worked part time in intensive outpatient facilities and partial care programs.
“I got to experience all facets of this process. I got to work with all different kinds of needs such as grief, emotional dysregulation, sexual traumas, and dysfunctional family dynamics. I understood the needs of those suffering from a clinical standpoint but I also started with the administrative piece which was so helpful. I had helped run private therapy practices from the phones to insurance billing to creating operation and policy procedures, and I saw what it was like for people to go through higher levels of care and step down to outpatient services. I got a 360 perspective of how it all worked.”
Heather continued to work hard adding many trainings under her belt such as Level 1 trauma-informed expressive arts therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and a certification as a grief counselor. She continued to work as an employee in a private practice while she cultivated her craft and her identity as a professional counselor. But, the practice where she had been working wasn’t focused in the same areas that she felt were her calling.
“One day I just realized that where I was, wasn’t exactly where I needed to be. I was being pulled back to my original purpose, to help those military veterans struggling with life outside that culture, but I certainly didn’t want to leave my other interests that I had picked up along the way, especially since many of these themes are inter-related.”
October 2019, Heather founded Symmetry of Self Counseling Center a small therapy practice in West Deptford, New Jersey. Her work there includes helping veterans and first responders, those recovering from sexual assault, those wanting to heal from childhood traumas and grief counseling. She offers adult individual and group sessions through a holistic but relatable approach.
Symmetry of Self Counseling Center is founded in the core beliefs that no one should have to go through difficult things alone and that with the use of creative and evidence-based tools we can bring balance back to ones internal system. By re-calibrating our systems, we can once again live a calmer more meaningful life.
