WHAT’S IN A NAME?
November 16, 2022
Over 10 years ago, I began thinking about private practice. Unfortunately, this was not because it started as a dream. Rather, the job climate at the time (1-2 years post graduation from my masters, limited experience and a little known degree) was not conducive to finding a position and I was looking at other possibilities.
As I contemplated what that could look like, I played around with words in order to find a name that spoke to the way that I perceived life and wanted to be with clients. At the time, there were lots of practices that talked about stones and paths or just had the person’s name. For me, these just didn’t hit the mark, so I kept trying things on, writing things down, free associating, getting real familiar with my thesaurus….
Until one day, Journey Well landed on the page.
The more I played with that one, the more it fit.
As cliché as it sounds, I see life as a journey. We are all plugging along through the ups and downs, and doing the best that we can. We pick things up and put them down. Sometimes we walk along with others, feeling a sense of belonging, and sometimes it feels like we are in a wilderness, alone. The journey is integral to the experiences of our lives.
That journey is impacted by so many things, though, that sometimes we need to pause. A well, which is generally known for offering water, can be a source of rejuvenation in order to continue, whether from allowing our body to rest, refilling our “water” stores, or from the potential social connections that can be made at the well.
However, the word well has other meanings that align with the work that we do. A well can be fed from a spring and so that water wells up. It rises to the surface and flows forth. We want the good and the challenging to rise, to flow forth so that we can claim it, heal it, honour it, and keep walking that journey.
And finally, well can also describe the how: satisfactorily (I did the best I could), kindly, with skill, with careful attention, fully, and thoroughly. With that in mind, our wish for our clients is that they are able to walk along their journey well. It doesn’t mean it isn’t hard. It means we’ve done the best we could, we were aware, we developed the skills to manage, and we were better able to make choices that align with who we are and what we want for our journey.
As I played with this more, Journey Well Counselling Services was born and I started my private practice in 2013. It was just me at that time, but it was me working in an authentic way with my clients.
Since then the ideas have been percolating and evolving. My husband and I purchased an office where I could practice and maybe have a couple other therapists join me. Once there were a couple of therapists I wondered about more. I also began to wonder about how having other types of service providers might impact how I was able to support my clients in their journey to journey well.
And so began the dream of having a group of allied health professionals who could work smarter not harder together, supporting our own journey, while working with clients in ways that were more authentic and met the needs. In 2020, we established Journey Well Health & Wellness and began to partner with other service providers to develop that network.
With that dream of supporting others to journey well, we would ask what do you need to journey well? Do you have access to it? Do you need support to make that happen? What steps do you need to take to feel that you are journeying well or at least getting closer to that goal?
If we can be of any support at all with a part of your journey, please do not hesitate to reach out, even if that is to help you find the right supports. Know that we at Journey Well believe it is an honour to walk with others in their journey!