Good Neighbor Podcast: Colorado Springs

EP #102: Finding Strength in Therapy: Amberly Gallagher's Journey with Tapestry Counseling, LLC

• Tony Hills & Amberly Gallagher • Episode 102

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What makes Amberly Gallagher with Tapestry Counseling, LLC a good neighbor?  

Imagine having someone in your corner who understands the complex tapestry of human relationships. Meet Amberly Gallagher, the compassionate force behind Tapestry Counseling, LLC who joins us to share her expertise as a trauma therapist supporting couples and women through life's challenges.

Amberly's journey to becoming a therapist wasn't straightforward. Beginning with early aspirations in psychology, navigating through corporate America, and eventually circling back to her true calling after facing personal hardships, her path demonstrates the power of following your purpose. Her practice now specializes in couples counseling and supporting women dealing with trauma or anxiety, with locations serving both north and south Colorado Springs.

The conversation tackles persistent myths about therapy, particularly the misconception that couples counseling is only needed when relationships are broken. As Amberly eloquently explains, therapy can serve as preventative care, strengthening already healthy relationships before problems escalate. She also shares her own experience of going through divorce while working as a marriage therapist—a profound challenge that ultimately deepened her practice and perspective.

What truly sets Amberly apart is her philosophy that clients are the experts of their own lives. "I joke that I'm barely the expert of my own life," she shares with refreshing candor. This approachable, non-judgmental style creates a safe space for clients to explore their challenges and find their own solutions. Whether you're currently struggling or simply want to fortify your mental health and relationships, Amberly's insights offer valuable perspective on the transformative potential of therapy. Discover more about her approach and services at www.tapestrymft.com and consider how therapeutic support might weave new strength into your life's tapestry.

To learn more about Tapestry Counseling, LLC go to: 

https://www.tapestrymft.com/

Tapestry Counseling, LLC

719-306-6222



Speaker 1:

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

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you looking for a trauma therapist supporting couples and women? Help might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing our good neighbor Amberlee Gallagher, with Tapestry Counseling LLC. Amberlee, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

I'm well, Tony. How are you?

Speaker 2:

I am awesome. We're excited to learn about your business, so tell us about everything that you do.

Speaker 3:

Oh wow. So I do a myriad of things. I am in private practice as a sole therapist at Tapestry Counseling. I primarily do couples work, so marriage and relationship counseling. And then I also specialize in working with women with either, you know, unresolved trauma, traumatic experiences or just kind of day-to-day management of anxiety and our life responsibilities and just navigating our roles out in the world.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's awesome. How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

Very circularly. I started my journey just right out of high school. I knew I wanted to be a therapist or counselor and I dabbled in psychology and social work. And then life had a different turn and I found myself in corporate America for a little while and focused my education differently, and then I kind of full circled back to that after some significant challenges in my own life and and found my way back to therapist journey and opened up my practice in 2013.

Speaker 2:

Okay, what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 3:

So many, so many. The big ones, I think, is therapy, especially for couples therapy. I think a lot of people believe that you know we go to marriage counseling or relationship counseling when things are broken, and I think that is highly mythicized, because I think therapy for relationships can not only prevent but also strengthen and fortify relationships that are already in really great shape. So while, yes, I do see a lot of couples who are experiencing challenges or maybe have had some big breaches in their relationship, couples counseling for sure can help prevent against those big breaches or damages.

Speaker 3:

And I think therapy in general. I'm glad to see culturally that we're making a shift over the stigma of going to therapy, but I think it still exists right that therapy is just sitting around and talking or it's just paying somebody to be your best friend or you know you only need therapy if something bad has happened in your life. We're starting to see a shift in that in society, but I think we could do more work around. You know, therapy can just be a brilliant tool to just get to know yourself and, again, you know, prevent and fortify self as well, if that makes sense OK so you mentioned, you mentioned, talked about your target customers.

Speaker 2:

Now, how do you attract?

Speaker 3:

them. I've been really blessed. I don't I've not done a whole lot of marketing. I started off part-time for many, many, many years. My practice was part-time while I also served El Paso County as a preschool behavioral health consultant, working with low-income families through our Head Start program, and so as I was building, I just began building a good reputation, word of mouth, so I haven't focused a lot in marketing. I am on insurance panels now so I do get referrals from folks looking for therapists that receive their insurance, but really primarily I'm word of mouth. I'm also blessed to have two locations. That covers a big portion of the springs and so geographically you know, I serve both the north end and the south end and the south end is a little underserved and so I think I get a lot of business that way People appreciate the geographic location of that self-location. So yeah, in a nutshell, I think I'm talking in circles, but in a nutshell I attract through word of mouth and referrals. Certainly I have a good network of colleagues as well that will share referrals through Okay.

Speaker 2:

When you're not counseling outside of work, what do you do for fun?

Speaker 3:

I am a mom of three, two who are no longer in the home, they are adults and living their lives, one who is still in the home, and I am a basketball mom, so basketball takes up a lot of our time. But also I'm a Colorado girl through and through, so you can find me in the mountains as often as possible, whether that's hiking or camping or taking a drive. Love all things outdoors paddleboarding, fishing but really that's just about enjoying the sun. I'm an avid reader. I recently became a plant mom, so I'm increasing my plant population in my home and learning that I'm not as terrible at it as I thought I used to be. So and enjoying time with family my family is number one important to me, so anything that we can do together I'm down for.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge you overcame, how it made you stronger and what comes to mind?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think so many, right, as most of us have lots of hardships and challenges, because that's kind of the nature of life. I think. Probably my divorce and I think what added a layer to that was being a marriage therapist going through my own divorce. There was a lot of identity issues that came with that for me and that was hard. We're on the other side of it now that was about five years ago and to look at and to be on the other side of it as close as we are, we are brilliant friends, we are excellent co-parents and I've been able to really actually use that in my practice and use that in my life and in my friendships to realize, when we're going through the darkest things there, always a lot of the times is this other side where you can look back in reflection and see why the things happened the way that they happened and come out stronger for that. But definitely divorce is a tricky, tricky thing, right, loss of identity in a lot of ways.

Speaker 2:

Okay, amberlee, please tell us just one thing that you should remember about tapestry counseling LLC.

Speaker 3:

The one thing that you should remember is I have a breadth of knowledge and experience. So, like I said, I've started and I'm migrating less away from, but I started working with families and young kiddos and so I have kind of that whole picture experience of from the individual within the family to the parents and the children, to the couples. But really and truly I pride myself on being nonjudgmental, direct and personable when you're in therapy with me, my number one goal is to build a relationship with you and make sure that you know that you're the expert of your life. I am not the expert of your life I joke that I'm barely the expert of my own life, so I can't be the expert of anybody else's. But you're always going to feel comfortable and you're going to feel like you've got somebody in your corner.

Speaker 2:

OK, awesome. How can our listeners learn more about Tapestry Counseling LLC?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely. I have a website at wwwtapestrymft, which stands for marriagefamilytherapistcom. Everything that you need to know about me is on my website. I do have a blog that I don't upkeep as much as I would like and make time for, but certainly there's other links there to any other experiences I have and who I am. Social media sites can be found there too.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, amberlee, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business much success moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, I appreciate you having me.

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 gnpcoloradospringscom. That's gnpcoloradospringscom, or call 719-679-4720.