Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 279: Love Yourself First® — A Therapist’s Guide to Inner Peace: Anne Chester's™ Journey

• Sophia Yvette

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EP 279: What Makes Anne Chester™ with Anne Chester™, LCSW a Good Neighbor?

Finding mental health support in your community just got easier. In this heartfelt episode, What Makes Anne Chester™ with Anne Chester™, LCSW a Good Neighbor?, we meet Anne Chester™, a seasoned therapist with over 20 years of experience, passionate about helping people find clarity, healing, and a deeper sense of self.

Anne provides individual counseling for adolescents and adults navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, and life transitions. Her approach is compassionate and down-to-earth, blending evidence-based modalities like Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and EMDR to support meaningful and lasting change.

Anne shares her inspiring journey from aspiring teacher to trusted therapist, revealing how a mentor’s insightful comment about her natural connection with students and families shifted the course of her life. “That was one of the best pieces of advice I ever received in my life,” Anne reflects, now 21 years into a thriving private practice.

Together, we challenge a persistent myth: that therapy is only for those in crisis. Anne believes you don’t have to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. Sometimes it’s simply about making space to breathe, reflect, and explore what life could feel like with more support. She meets each client with curiosity, compassion, and deep respect—no matter where they are on their journey.

With specialties in trauma recovery and modalities like ART, CBT, IFS, and EMDR, Anne helps clients move beyond surface symptoms to uncover and heal core wounds.

To those facing life’s hard moments, Anne offers a compassionate reminder: “You don’t have to do this alone.” She emphasizes the danger of isolation and the power of supportive connection. Her philosophy is rooted in self-compassion and personal growth—therapy isn’t about fixing brokenness, but uncovering what’s possible when we create space for healing.

As she beautifully says, when we learn to love ourselves and others, “the rest of the fruits of the spirit start to flow.”

To learn more about Anne Chester™, go to: annechester.com

 Anne Chester, LCSW, PA™

1-817-939-7884

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a mental health private practice? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ann Chester, with Ann Chester, lcswpa. Ann, how are you today?

Speaker 3:

I am doing well. How are you Sophia?

Speaker 2:

I'm also doing well and we are so excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start by telling our listeners just a little bit about your company?

Speaker 3:

Yes, but first I want to say thank you so much for having me on. I'm so excited. I love being a therapist, I love talking about it, so this is really fun. I started my counseling practice in 2004. I just have a desire to help people heal and grow. I love what I do and I love people. I offer individual counseling services for adolescents and adults. I primarily treat trauma, anxiety and depression, and I love just providing a compassionate and safe space for people to sit down and talk about their challenges.

Speaker 2:

So, anne, how did you originally get into this business?

Speaker 3:

I went to college, oddly enough, to become a a teacher and I started all the internships you do as a teacher. When I got in the classroom I realized just how much I hated lesson planning, teaching, grading, classroom management, but what I really loved was the playground and the family interactions and the social dynamics. I love the kids and building relationships with their families, and the teacher I worked with noticed that and encouraged me to go into the counseling side of things instead of teaching. You know what? That was one of the best pieces of advice I ever received in my life and so I pursued that. And here we are 26 years post-graduations. I've had a license for 26 years and I'm 21 years into private practice and I love my job and I love seeing people and it just feels like such a big privilege.

Speaker 2:

Well, anne, it sounds like you are a wealth of knowledge. So, on that note, what is the most common myth or misconception you come across in your industry?

Speaker 3:

So, whether it's friends in the neighborhood or people I run into on the street, one of the biggest things is counseling is only for people with serious mental problems. And that's not true because counseling most of the people that come into my private practice are people like you and me that are just average everyday folks and they're navigating stress. They're navigating transitions, grief, anxiety, loss, relationship challenges and and wanting personal growth. You don't have to be in any kind of crisis to benefit and you don't have to have a serious diagnosis to get help. My, my goal as a counselor honestly is to help you get where you need to go and graduate you, so it doesn't have to be some long-term process.

Speaker 2:

Who are your target patients and, in terms of marketing, how do you currently attract them?

Speaker 3:

So most of my patients are adults and they navigate a lot of trauma and a lot of anxiety and depression. And it's not necessarily the big T trauma like combat or you know, my house burned down, maybe it's just a series of events, maybe a toxic relationship, a toxic job, just maybe some family stuff going on. My favorite modes of therapy are accelerated resolution therapy, which is similar to EMDR but different in that it goes in and uses the bilateral stimulation to help with traumatic or bad memories. I use a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy, which goes in and says what is that thing that you believe, those thoughts that you have that are kind of holding you up.

Speaker 3:

I love acceptance, commitment, internal family systems and I also do EMDR, and so I really work to help clients go in and say, okay, what's the route and how do we move past that? And the way I usually attract clients is from client referrals. And then I do have a website and I have a Facebook page and I actually really like to write a little blog. So I keep that up to date and just write kind of some thoughts and things that I think are fascinating and hope that other people benefit from it, and so that's kind of how I run my business and I work with other professionals. I get referrals that way too.

Speaker 2:

So, and getting into things a bit deeper, what is the best advice you have for our listeners here who are trying to ground themselves while going through traumatic situations or swimming their way upstream in difficult situations?

Speaker 3:

So the biggest thing I would say to people is you don't have to do this alone. I think when we're going through bad situations, we often feel like a burden and it's hard to get past our own perspectives and emotions and where we are in that moment perspectives and emotions and where we are in that moment but recognizing that every human being that we come across it doesn't matter who they are has their own set of struggles, and so you don't have to go it alone. Not that you're necessarily going to process your issues on friends, but isolating and not addressing them just makes you feel worse and it makes you sick. So have a good support system, reach out, find some friends, find a counselor, find some people that you trust to work with, because you don't have to be isolated.

Speaker 2:

And so have you ever thought about having your very own podcast? And you have quite a bit of helpful information.

Speaker 3:

I would love to, but have no idea how to get started.

Speaker 2:

And what is one thing you would like our listeners to remember today about Anchester LCSWPA?

Speaker 3:

One thing I really wish people knew about my business and about counseling in general is that it's really not about fixing people or, you know, getting rid of something. It's about creating a space to heal. It's about growth and self-compassion, and you really just don't have to be falling apart to come in. You just need to be curious about what life could be like with more support.

Speaker 2:

And for our listeners who may be again interested in going into counseling or currently struggling, what are the most important fruits of the spirit you would say for them to hold on to throughout this time or to develop within themselves?

Speaker 3:

I love that the fruits of the spirit start with. The fruits of the spirit is love, and I love that it starts with love. So when we find a space to love ourself and love others, we also find the joy and the peace. Now happiness is that thing. That's contentment, a choice to be satisfied. I'm not happy when I go to a funeral, but I can experience joy in most spaces in life and I would just encourage clients to pursue a way to love themselves and love others and just be part of something bigger than themselves and out of that, I think, the rest of the fruits of the spirit start to flow.

Speaker 2:

And where is the best place for our listeners to go to learn more about Ann Chester LCSWPA?

Speaker 3:

My website annchestercom. Now my name has an E on it, so it's A-N-N-E Chester, C-H-E-S-T-E-Rcom.

Speaker 2:

Well, ann, I really appreciate you being on the show today, and we wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much. Thank you for your time.

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 GNPFriscocom. That's GNPFriscocom. Or call 469-2214-5.