Therapist Unplugged
Welcome to Therapist Unplugged – Real Talk from Real Therapists.
Hosted by Laurie Poole of The Montfort Group, this podcast pulls back the curtain on what really happens in and around the therapy room. No jargon, no perfection—just honest conversations about the messy, meaningful, and deeply human parts of life.
We cover everything from burnout and boundaries to sex, shame, relationships, parenting, grief, identity shifts, and mental health in the modern world. Each episode features licensed therapists who get it—because we live it too.
If you're looking for emotional insight without the clinical lecture, you're in the right place.
New episodes drop regularly.
Subscribe, listen in, and stay a little more human with us.
Therapist Unplugged
Introducing Angela Johnson: The First Practicum Fellow of The Montfort Group
What if the hardest chapters of your life became the experience that makes you a steadier presence for others?
Angela Johnson joins Laurie for her first conversation as The Montfort Group’s inaugural practicum fellow — a role shaped by a long, honest road back to herself. Her path into counseling took the scenic route: a career in education, a complicated pregnancy, divorce, blended family challenges, and the quiet shock of the empty nest. The result is a therapist-in-training with an uncommon mix of humility, clarity, and practical wisdom.
In this episode, Laurie and Angela talk openly about what real-life experience brings into the therapy room, especially when clients are navigating the messy spaces between roles like co-parenting, blending families, redefining partnership, or figuring out who they are when the kids leave. Angela offers the kind of insight that comes from living it — slow pacing, healthy boundaries, clarity around discipline, respect for each child’s loyalties, and a deep understanding of what helps a new family system hold.
Angela begins seeing clients this December, and her work is especially supportive for women in transition, parents navigating blended families, and couples trying to protect the foundation they’ve built. If you’ve been thinking about starting therapy or finding a guide for this next chapter, this is a beautiful way to meet her.
🎙️ Therapist Unplugged is produced by The Montfort Group, a boutique therapy practice based in Plano, Texas, helping individuals, couples, and families build emotionally intelligent, connected lives.
Subscribe for real conversations with real therapists, because healing doesn’t happen in perfect soundbites.
To learn more about our team or schedule a session, visit: www.themontfortgroup.com
Follow us on Instagram: @themontfortgroup
Hello everyone and welcome to Therapist Unplugged. I'm Laurie Poole, therapist at the Montfort Group in Plano, Texas. And today my guest is Angela Johnson. Angela is a practicum fellow here at the Montfort Group in training to become a therapist. And I thought it would be fun to chat with Angela today to hear more about her background, what's brought her to therapy, and also to hear more about what it's like to be in this environment at the Montfort Group and getting ready to see her first clients in December. So welcome, Angela. It's so nice to have you here today.
Angela Johnson:Thank you. Yes, I'm honored to be here. What brought me to counseling is uh I started my career in education 20 plus years ago. I um decided that I wanted to go into counseling at a probably in early 2000 and started the degree. It was put on hold because I was having a challenging pregnancy. So I put it kind of on the back burner. Um and then thought, well, when she starts school, I'll go back and finish. And then I had an unexpected divorce. And then life happened, and here we are almost 20 years later. I decided after she graduated from school to pick it back up and kind of do something for myself after raising children for so many years. So I got to work, got my transcripts together, realized that nothing transferred. I had to start from scratch. So here I was at almost 50 years old, starting over. But I was really excited because it gave me something new to kind of focus on after children leaving home. So uh yeah, I got busy. Uh now I'm, you know, finished with all my coursework. I've taken my state licensure exam. I um really all I have left is just completing my hours. And I thankfully landed at such a wonderful place here at Montfort Group to do that. So I'm really excited to be here.
Laurie Poole:So you so you will be finishing, if I understand correctly, you'll be finishing everything you will officially graduate in December. Is that right? Do I have that right or no?
Angela Johnson:I will graduate in May. I officially start seeing clients in December. So December 8th is my first day to actually see clients. Um I've already started booking, so that's exciting. And um yeah, so May, I believe, I don't know, like middle of May, I will graduate and then start going forward with my associate license.
Laurie Poole:Okay, great. Okay, so that so what you're doing now is part of the requirement for your degree, like the clients and the hours you accumulate starting in December are clinical requirement for your master's degree.
Angela Johnson:Yes, that's correct.
Laurie Poole:Okay, all right. So tell me about what you're looking forward to when you see clients.
Angela Johnson:So I'm looking forward to just kind of like helping, helping people go through those seasons of change that I've experienced myself. That um, you know, whether it be, you know, uh relationship challenges, divorce, single parenting, co-parenting, blending families. I feel like I've got experience in all of that in my personal life. And I'm really excited to share, share that that walk with others.
Laurie Poole:When you've had that kind of life experience, I think it can really bring a richness into the therapy room when you're working with clients because you speak from your own experience. You also have, you know, a skill set in terms of listening, helping clients evolve the relationship with themselves, which I think is such a big, big part of therapy. And probably one of the most challenging aspects of being a therapist is helping clients learn about themselves through their own experiences in relationships, because relationships are our biggest teachers. At least that's my takeaway. Where I am, like in my third act, I think, oh my God.
Angela Johnson:You know, the the relationships that I've had throughout my life, whether it's as a mother, uh a partner, a friend, a sister, whatever daughter, those have been some of the biggest lessons. And to be able to understand or to pull out what we learn about ourselves in that process and how we change over time, how we evolve. You know, it's been one of the most exciting lifespan kind of experiences I've had. But I think, you know, like yourself, when you come into this profession with maturity and you've been through a few things, yeah. It brings the richness to the therapeutic experience for clients. Yeah, and and I know myself, even whenever I have sought counseling throughout my life, I absolutely look for someone who I can relate to and who has gone through similar situations. And so I feel like that's that's definitely one of my um offerings is that that I have lived. I have, you know, uh, you know, supported a husband through infidelity, I have, you know, gone through divorce. I have, you know, gone through infertility issues. Um, you know, I, you know, have raised children in a blended family. And now I'm going through empty nests and you know, starting this next chapter, you know, something to focus for me after giving so much to my family over these years. And that's exciting.
Laurie Poole:Yeah, that's a, you know, it is, it's a very um, I think what a lot of people don't realize, and maybe this is something you are starting to experience also, is that there is a developmental aspect of becoming a therapist. Like you can't speed dial through it. It's not add water and stir. And every client that sits in front of you is someone from whom you can learn. Yes, absolutely. And that's what makes it such a rich and uh challenging career and profession. It's a calling, really, I think those of us who who love what we do, it's not just a it's not a calling.
Angela Johnson:It really is. And like I've said earlier, you know, I started this process. Um, I think my transcript said 2001. And um, you know, so I I've wanted to do this for myself for a long time and putting putting my family and children first, you know, over the past 20-something years. Now I felt like it was time for me to do something, something that I can, you know, give back.
Laurie Poole:Is there anything in particular that you're really looking forward to in terms of, you know, you've talked like subject areas or experiences. I know you've talked about transition, and anyone who's listening can go to the mountfortgroup.com and read more about Angela's profile and her experiences and and what she looks forward to sharing with clients. But I'm just curious if there's anything in particular that you feel like you really have some insight and experience to help accompany clients through that. I'm thinking of what you wrote um on the website about transition.
Angela Johnson:Yeah, so really um I think that I have a lot to offer the the woman in transition, whether that be going through a marriage with challenges, uh, raising children, even being stay-at-home mom, uh, supporting your husband. On the flip side of that, the the husband that maybe is carrying the burden of and weight of the whole family, and you know, maybe feels like he has to be this perfect, perfect person, but feels the pressures that are really like coming on. I know the flip side of that too, just supporting my husband over the years. Going through co-parenting when you're in this, you know, blended family. That's so important. And that can be such a challenge for someone. Oh my goodness, to land in the office is the co-parenting. Well, and the in the blending of the families, because it's not, you know, you may, you know, fall in love with someone, but they do, if they come with children, that is a whole nother level of blending. That is it, it's not always uh something that you expect. It's not always blended. It doesn't. I mean and it can be very challenging. And I think that's something that a lot of people, you know, need to work through to find that that you know cohesiveness and blending so that it works and it's a positive factor instead of a negative factor pulling pulling a couple apart.
Laurie Poole:For listeners who may be experiencing the challenges of co-parenting in a blended family or partners who don't know what their job description is with their loved ones' children, uh, that kind of thing. What advice would you have? Like when you think about your own experience. I'm curious about, you know, what comes to mind in terms of recommendations or just kind of advice you would give people going through that experience?
Angela Johnson:I think it's I think it's very important to set boundaries early. And what I mean by that is when you come together and you've got, you know, his children, her children, don't rush into our children because it isn't always going to happen to be our children. It may, you may get lucky and it may just merge together seamlessly, but it's not something that you should expect overnight. There are boundaries there, and you need to be respectful of each other's boundaries, like disciplining and you know, just scheduling, just the schedules, uh, you know, because a lot of times, you know, this this blending of this family, you're coming from, you know, they were a single parent for so long, and they've got their own like structure. And then this side has their own structure. And so coming together, if you go move too quickly and try to blend it too quickly, I think that's where sometimes it can get a little uh eruptive and um really delay any type of cohesiveness that may happen because the kids don't necessarily appreciate the the pushing together so so quickly. And so you gotta you gotta be sensitive about that and and just you know observe that there are boundaries and and um you know that's something that the couple should discuss, you know, beforehand too.
Laurie Poole:That is excellent advice. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been in the company of a couple who actually didn't discuss what the vision would be like, like what their vision is of coming together. Because just because those two people are in love, to your point, doesn't mean that all the other family members are going to feel the same way. And people are going to move in their own time, space, and rhythm. And you can't force it. And you're quite right. If you if you go too fast, it will backfire. Kids need time, the couple needs time, it becomes a new system. It's like you're blending two family systems to your point again, that has their own way of operating, communication styles, rules, expectations. Discipline is a huge issue in a blended family when two parents may have very different disciplinary beliefs and values, styles. Um, anything you want to say about discipline? Because that seems to be a really big topic for a lot of people.
Angela Johnson:Well, I think that's that's probably one of the, I would say, a primary boundary that needs to be established. I mean, it in my own experience, um, my husband and I, we we made it to where, you know, I disciplined and corrected my children, and he disciplined and corrected his children. That way there was no like cross.
Laurie Poole:Yeah.
Angela Johnson:Because it, you know, he does have a different style than I do. You know, I'm probably a little bit more structured, and um, you know, and when we blended, and this was like 15 years ago, so they were very young. I feel like that would that was a a primary thing that I wanted to focus on is like, you know, these are our children, you know, together, but I will correct these, you will correct yours. And then it it worked really well for us. And on the note, I have several friends that have gone through the similar thing and their marriages did not last because the the blending did not work, because there was cross boundaries.
Laurie Poole:Well, you know, statistically that is supported because the failure rate of second marriages is about 65%. Yeah. And when children are not getting along, when uh there's tension and friction and conflict between a bonus parent and their partner's children, boy, that can just bring the whole vibe of the house right down. And then one parent feels like they have to make a choice, like they feel caught in the middle. It's just yes, it's it can really, it can really in in the vernacular be a shit show. Just a shit. Absolutely.
Angela Johnson:Yeah. I think it, I think another like uh very important boundary that I set was that uh I was never ever going to try to take place of their mother. I was always Angela and um Eric was always Eric. He was never, you know, we we never, even though like our children were very young. I mean, my son was 12, but then my daughter was five, his daughter was four, and then he had a very, very young child when we blended. And so there there could have been a cross-contamination of saying, you know, oh, this is mommy number two, or this is bonus mom. I never did that. I always kept that boundary there because they have it, they have a mother. They have my children, my children have their father on the other side. And so um that was really important for me too, because I didn't want them to be confused about that. And so we just used first names and they knew that I was 100% supporting them when they were with us, but um, you know, they also knew that they had mommy at at the other house. And I think that that was very important.
Laurie Poole:It it seems to me that that that's one of the biggest challenges is that children fear that their parent is going to be replaced by this other person.
Angela Johnson:Absolutely.
Laurie Poole:And their loyalties can feel divided. And in fact, many children really want their parents to get back together again.
Angela Johnson:Oh, I'm yeah, I'm sure that's it.
Laurie Poole:There's there's that whole dynamic that doesn't get spoken, uh, I think very openly. And so yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of issues sort of on the surface of the water, but it it's what doesn't get said or what doesn't get expressed. And I think having that vision of how you want the family to operate, as you say, the boundaries, and also understand what my role as the other adult in the house is going to be, whether it's discipline, scheduling, communication with the other spouse, the ex-spouse. I mean, it's it's all of that. It's it's uh it's quite a minefield for many people.
Angela Johnson:It really is. And then um, you know, moving on, another, you know, topic I'm I'm very, you know, close to is just that transition in life when your children leave. Like they've been such a a mainstay and focus in your life for you know 20 plus years if you have multiple children, you know, and um when they leave, it's quiet. It's very quiet. Things slow down. And um so navigating that that change, I think is uh something I'm very passionate about.
Laurie Poole:What have you learned about yourself in that transition?
Angela Johnson:Well, I learned that I'm not ready to retire. I was absolutely um, I mean, there's no other word to say. I was bored. I was bored. I uh, you know, I when I say I was a stay-at-home mom and stay-at-home wife slash supporter of my husband's career, I took that shit serious. That was a full-timer. I mean, I was up at school probably three days a week doing tear booster board, PTA, volunteering in the front office if they needed, you know, help answering phones. I just I filled my time with my children's lives. And my husband is a business owner, and so I helped him and still continue to help him, you know, behind the scenes in his in his career. And um, when my kids graduated, I had a uh oh. Now what? What what just happened? And I kind of explain it. Like I um the best way that I found is I got fired from being mommy. I'm always gonna be mom, but mommy, you age out of. And I aged out, and that's fabulous. Their lives are starting, and I think you know, it's it's it's a it's a fabulous thing to see, but then your life slows way down. And if you don't have something to keep your mind alive and to keep, you know, focused on something in your life, I just felt like I went really like, I mean, I shopped a lot, I tennis lessons, golf lessons, like you know, you can only do like so much before I felt like I just needed something to uh, you know, to keep me focused and and goal driven towards something. And this has absolutely been a lifesaver for me. And it's fulfilled a lifelong goal that I had for myself to get this degree 20 something years ago. It sounds too like it's Filled the void of having purpose. When you have children, so much of your day when they're living at home, so much of your day is around their activities and getting them from one place to another and supporting them, and then they leave. And there's this void of, well, who am I now? Absolutely. And I think that's true, whether you've been home full time. I think you you you definitely feel it keenly because that's been your job description. Yes. And even if you've worked, there is still something about kids leaving home, etc., except that the workplace remains intact. And I think it's a it's a little, you still have purpose. You go to work every day. There's a structure, and there's something about about that. But when when you've been at home full time and kids leave, it can almost be surreal. And I think a lot of um parents, men too, go through this milestone thing of oh my god, my kid has launched now. What? Right. Now what? What does that mean for us as a couple? Oh, absolutely. Time. Oh my God, we could have sex in the hallway. It's not a problem. Like we let's freedom and a rethinking of how what this relationship now means. Because we don't have to turn down the volume because we don't want to argue in front of the kids, or because we don't want to have too much PDA in front of the kids, or because we can't talk about that topic in front of the kids. Like you don't have an audience in the house anymore. It's just the two of you. And I think that can be a real transition for a number of couples. Well, I think that that, you know, brings to light, it's important to make sure that primary relationship, which is the husband and wife, gets the attention it needs early on, and not put, you know, the second. I consider the primary relationship, the husband and the wife. The kids are the secondary relationship because guess what? They always leave. The kids leave, they grow up, they go to college, they start their lives, and then you have that primary relationship. And if you haven't put that work in to keep it together, the foundation can crack easily once the kids leave, because you spent so many years pouring into, you know, making sure that the kids have everything that they need. So that brings to light, you know, make sure, make sure that that foundation with your primary is solid before those kids leave. It it is very, very important um that a relationship is nurtured the way you nurture children. That takes intent and time and commitment during what is typically the busiest period of someone's life. Yes. One of the things that I like to um think about or sort of reflect on is that children watch how their parents treat each other. They watch how how the adults engage, how they communicate, how they resolve conflict. They're watching. Absolutely. And observing, and they always know far more than parents give them credit for. And in that moment or in over that period of time, what a legacy for our children to experience is the love between two people at the head of the household. It's systemic. Yeah, absolutely. If if things are cool in that partnership relationship, whether it's two women, two men, a man and woman, I don't care who it is, when children witness that, that enables them to feel safe and secure in the family. Of course. It's when stuff isn't being said or secrets are being held or the communication goes silent and the adults avoid each other. It's so important that we prioritize that relationship because if that's good, everything else is good and the kids will the kids are going to be fine. Right. The kids are going to be fine.
Laurie Poole:Yeah.
Angela Johnson:In all of that. It's a pillar for sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because I think there's something about um, you know, and I'm well into my 60s. So when I think about, you know, what are the differences between folks parenting in their 40s or in relationship in their 40s, is the focus on children as the children are the priority. And there's plenty of times where that must be. But I think it comes at often the expense of continuing to build and connect and have emotional intimacy with your partner. Yeah. Because if those needs aren't met, I I think it's hard to show up as the best, your best self as a as a parent. And that's fun. I said earlier, I was a stay-at-home mom and a stay-at-home wife, and I took those jobs serious. I made that my full-time job. I still have the stay-at-home wife job, but it's not as, you know, needy as the stay-at-home mom job was. So uh, but yeah, it's important to take it serious and and really, you know, uh give back and put that as an important pillar in your life because when that falls apart, so many other themes crumble with it. Very true, very, very true. Um in closing, Angela, what is something that you would like listeners to know about you as you think about? Well, actually, before I ask you that question, what has it been like for you to uh be a fellow so far at the Montkort group? Anything that you've noticed or um I don't know, maybe learned something or seen something you didn't think about before, a new experience that you hadn't anticipated. You know, um funny story. When I first went back to school, my husband, he's very like ROI directive. And he he was like, before you even start this, like you need to do some research on practices in this area to make sure there's even any place that you want to be at. And so I did. I did probably spent, you know, a good week kind of going through looking at private practices that were in and around, you know, my geographic area. And uh Montper Group was always at the top of my list. I have kind of sat back and watched the evolution of your practice for the past couple of years. I saw the the new website. Um, for a while there it was it was all blondes. And I was like, they need a brunette. They need they need a brunette. We have the white blonde a profile. Right. And um, so I kind of had y'all, I don't know, I I don't have necessarily a vision board, but you were like at the top of my my focus. And so when it came time to find a practice to get my practicum hours at, of course, I I called Cory first. And I'm so blessed that she took my meeting. And when we came in, everything just, you know, was perfect fit, like our personalities merged well. And I'm honestly so thankful she took a chance on me because I know she's never taken a practicum level student before. And um, like I said, even though I already have my state licensure, I have to clock these hours, just part of the state requirement. And so that's where I'm at. And then, you know, I'll continue on after I graduate with my associate level hours. And, you know, I feel like I landed where I was supposed to land. And I'm so thankful. Um, I've learned a lot, so much uh already, you know, just being in the office and kind of seeing how everything, you know, works, uh attending the team meetings and meeting, you know, specialists in the area. It's it's been really exciting for me. It's kind of like having um, I was gonna say an internship, but it's one of those, like, you know, you learn the job on the job, which is why we have so many uh practicum hours and postgraduate hours that we have to accumulate. For listeners, just as a aside, when a therapist graduates with their master's degree, they have to accumulate 3,000 postgrad hours. Yes. Uh to then be licensed without supervision. So you have to be supervised for those 3,000 hours, direct supervision, uh, face-to-face contact with the uh clients and so on. So it's it's it's not a speedy dance through all of that. It takes no, it is not. And with every client that sits in front of you, it contributes to your education. Absolutely. The graduate studies continue. And how lucky am I that I get Corey Montfort to supervise me? I'm honored. Yeah. Well, we're glad you're here, Angela. And uh, we look forward to hearing more about your experience when you start to see clients in December. Anything before we close, anything else you'd like our listeners to know or that you would like to share? Well, I'm booking now. I've already booked my first couple of clients. Um, so my calendar is up, and I am looking forward to meeting meeting new people. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for spending time with me this morning and for um sharing some of your experience so far. And we'll look forward to you seeing clients in December. Sounds great, Lori. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Angela.
.jpg)