Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 291: Attachment Theory Changes Everything: A Conversation with Elizabeth Gillette of Heirloom Counseling
Celebrating a decade of therapeutic practice, Elizabeth Gillette of Heirloom Counseling shares her compelling journey from personal struggle to professional success in the mental health field. After overcoming Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 21—a diagnosis that temporarily derailed her graduate studies—Elizabeth channeled her experience into developing a unique approach to therapy focused on attachment and relational work.
What makes Elizabeth's perspective so refreshing is her candid take on the therapeutic process. She challenges the popular notion that healing follows a tidy trajectory with Instagram-worthy journaling and self-help books. Instead, she validates the messy, uncomfortable aspects of growth: "If you're uncomfortable, you're doing it right." This honesty provides crucial reassurance to those in the thick of their healing journeys who might otherwise feel they're failing when transformation doesn't come easily.
The conversation takes a profound turn when Elizabeth shares her core belief that "all of the work that you do on yourself radiates out to every aspect of your life." This powerful ripple effect means even small steps toward healing can transform relationships, work, and overall well-being. As a mother of two young boys balancing professional demands with family life in the beautiful landscape of Western North Carolina, Elizabeth embodies the integration she helps clients achieve. For listeners seeking support with relationships or self-understanding, Elizabeth's resources extend beyond traditional therapy to online courses, nearly 200 free blog posts, and her workbook "Attachment Theory for Couples." Whether you're ready to begin therapy or simply exploring tools for better relationships, Elizabeth's compassionate approach offers a path forward without judgment or pressure.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast live covering Tri-Cities in Western North Carolina. I hope everybody's doing well. I am super excited to have a very special guest with us in the studio for the first time, and I'm sure you will be too as well, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Elizabeth Gillette, who is the owner operator of Heirloom Counseling. Elizabeth, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. I'm really glad to be here.
Speaker 2:Well, we're thrilled to have you, like I said, really excited to learn all about your practice and what you do. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:Sure, so I am the owner of Heirloom Counseling, which is a therapy practice. I'm based here in Asheville, north Carolina, but I operate throughout the state. I also have a coaching practice, which is Elizabeth Gillette Coaching and Consulting. It's kind of an offshoot of the therapy business, but it allows me to practice the work that I do outside of the state. So I've been doing therapy for 15 years and my business actually turns 10 years old tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Wow, well, congratulations, happy anniversary, 10 years. That's nothing to sneeze at, I know it feels like a big deal.
Speaker 3:I'm really proud of it.
Speaker 2:It's a huge deal. Obviously something's working right.
Speaker 3:Yes so speaking of 10 years. How did you get into the counseling business? Yeah, so I've had lots of my own sort of ups and downs throughout my life and therapy was really, really helpful and supportive for me. And when I was in undergrad, I was working with some advocacy groups, some activism groups, and I just realized that I really wanted to do this work with my life, and so I graduated in 2010 from the University of Washington in Seattle and I was doing a lot of family work early on, and then, when I began my own private practice is when I really shifted gears and started moving into doing attachment and relational work, which is my specialty now.
Speaker 2:Attachment.
Speaker 3:Relational work.
Speaker 2:Relational work. Attachment relational work.
Speaker 3:I really focus on helping people have healthier relationships, being able to communicate more effectively, understanding themselves better, so that they can show up with integrity in their relationships awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, you said uh, you graduated from washington state. Are you originally from washington?
Speaker 3:university of washington and seattle, so I'm originally from michigan. I went to U of M for undergrad and then, yeah, I had a big adventure and moved out to Washington for my graduate degree.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, it's interesting. I've interviewed a few folks in the last several days that moved to Asheville or Western North Carolina from the Pacific Northwest Interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I feel like it's a good jump. You know I loved it there for so many reasons, and the rain was just really tough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what everybody says. It's just a little bit depressing but awesome. Well, speaking of, uh, attachment and relational therapy, what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the biggest one, especially now that popular culture is pretty into therapy and healing and working on yourself. I think there's a misconception that healing and therapy work is. You can kind of wrap it up in a bow and it's like you have a pretty journal and you read the books and you go to therapy and everything's great and you feel so much better. And in my experience this type of work can be really messy, it can be really difficult, it can really kind of turn your world upside down while you're in the process of trying to make things better. So I think you know, I would say that if you're somebody who's kind of in the midst of that, you're doing it right. If you're uncomfortable, you're doing it right. I think there's a lot of misconceptions that it's just something that you just kind of check off on your list and then you're done with it.
Speaker 2:And then you're fixed.
Speaker 3:Exactly, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Not the case. Not the case. We're all working on it, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not the case. Not the case. We're all working on it, right, we're all learning.
Speaker 2:Amen, it's a journey.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is.
Speaker 2:So outside of work, elizabeth, you live in a beautiful place part of the country.
Speaker 3:What do you like to do for fun? Yeah, so I have two small kids, which I think really informs what I'm doing outside of work. I have two boys, five and a half and two and a half, so we spend lots of time outside. We love being in our garden, we love going for walks, we love hiking, we like playing in the creek, so we're doing lots of outside stuff. That's kind of their favorite thing. I also love writing, I love to embroider and I love spending time in my community. We have a little garden club in our neighborhood this summer and it's just been so fun to get together with our neighbors and connect around like our very sort of hyper local place.
Speaker 2:Very cool, love it, love it. Two boys, huh, they keep you busy oh the understatement of all time. Wow. Well, I grew up, I had a brother growing up, an older brother, and he was 22 months older than I.
Speaker 3:And boy.
Speaker 2:We got into a lot of trouble.
Speaker 3:Oh sweet mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bless my mom's heart, bless your heart, so let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it's made you stronger in the end?
Speaker 3:I love this question For me. For me I've had a few, but I think the biggest one when I was 21, I graduated from college and I got diagnosed with cancer.
Speaker 3:Just a shock, obviously, as you can imagine, I was getting ready to leave Michigan and move to Seattle for graduate school and I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and so I had to have six rounds of chemotherapy, I had to have radiation, I lost all my hair. So it was a. It was a very big challenge and my family was just so wonderful. They took care of me throughout all of it. My friends were amazing. My community really surrounded me and supported me during that time, and I think it also, you know, obviously everything in my life was delayed, but I think it all really informs how I show up in my work now and really in every aspect of my life.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, but you look great. Now, apparently, everything's good.
Speaker 3:Yes, all is well. All is well, that's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, elizabeth, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about heirloom counseling, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I mean, I think the biggest thing would be that I am here to support you in the work that you want to do and that all of the work that you do on yourself, in therapy, in your relationships, I really truly believe that it radiates out to every aspect of your life and so, no matter what you're doing, even if it feels small, you know, we're kind of pulling the threads and it's connected to everything.
Speaker 2:So, um kind of trust in your own, in your own process kind of trust in your own, in your own process, and don't be afraid to ask for help. That's very important. Do not be afraid to ask for help. You know it's interesting what you were saying. I've always I've read about positivity and I've talked to a lot of counselors and interviewed a lot of therapists and they all talk about how positivity being not not toxically positive, but being positive radiates into you. Know, like when you're thinking good things are going to happen, good things happen. When you think bad things are going to happen, bad things start happening. Yeah, you know, so do you agree with that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're sort of designed to, you know, as human beings we're designed to seek out things that feel sort of unsafe or dangerous, because we're wired to survive, and so I think it's one of those things where, when we create a sense of safety in our bodies, we're then able to move into that place where we can see the positive things and we can be more grateful and we can start building up from there.
Speaker 2:Wow, awesome. I love it. I love it and, and agree, and, and believe that with all my heart. So, elizabeth, if any of our listeners are interested, intrigued, need help, would like to chat with you. How can they learn more?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So my therapy website is heirloomcounselingcom, and even if you're not quite ready to start therapy, I have probably close to 200 free blog posts on my website that are all about relationships, attachment theory, evidence-based practices, ways that you can improve how you feel in your body, how you can feel in your relationships. I also have a couple of online courses, um, that are self-paced, if folks are interested in that Um, and then, if you are outside of the state of North Carolina, you can check out my coaching website, which is elizabethgillettecom. I also have a book called attachment theory for couples and it's a workbook and you can do it with in a relationship with a partner or you can do it on your own. It's lots of really practical tools and strategies to learn about yourself and and grow your self-awareness.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Well, elizabeth, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, especially with two boys. You get that and let us know about you and your mission and your journey and your practice and we wish you and your family and your clients and business all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. It was really lovely to talk with you today.
Speaker 2:Well, it was lovely to talk with you as well, and we'd love to to have you back sometime Great.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP trycitiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.