Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County

E26: Jennifer Riapos' Mission to Create a Safe Place with Bright Transformations Therapy

• Milli M. & Jennifer Riapos • Episode 26

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Ever wondered what it takes to transition from corporate America to championing mental health? Join us as we chat with Jennifer Riapos, the remarkable founder of Bright Transformations Therapy Services in Vinings. Jennifer unfolds her inspiring journey to becoming a licensed clinical social worker, sharing the rigorous path to licensure and her dedication to making mental health care accessible. Her practice, nestled conveniently near Cumberland Mall, specializes in trauma, substance abuse, and LGBTQ support, offering vital services to individuals aged 13 and up. With Blue Cross and Aetna insurance accepted, and super bills available for other providers, Jennifer's commitment ensures that mental health support is within reach for more people in the community.

Our conversation with Jennifer also demystifies common misconceptions surrounding therapy, shedding light on the world of mental health services. With a rich background spanning community settings and inpatient facilities, Jennifer’s approach is uniquely informed and empathetic. She emphasizes the importance of outpatient resources to help clients avoid inpatient care, providing crucial support during challenging times. Tune in to hear Jennifer’s compelling insights and learn how Bright Transformations is playing a pivotal role in supporting mental well-being in the community.

Speaker 1:

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

Speaker 2:

M. Hello everybody, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am Millie M. Are you in need of mental health services? Well, one might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, jennifer Riapos of Bright Transformations Therapy Services. Hi, jennifer, how are you? Hi, millie, I'm good. How are you Doing quite well? Thank you so much. We are excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us more about Bright Transformations.

Speaker 3:

Yes, thank you, I'm excited to be here. So we are a private practice located in Vinings. We are actually right off of 285, 75, 285, that area of your Cumberland Mall so it's really convenient for people to get to and we have been open since 2020. I actually opened my doors during the pandemic Right when everybody else went into lockdown here I went, opened up a brick and mortar practice, but we service clients going from ages 13 and up, so there's not really any barrier towards age, other than, like the littles, I don't currently have any therapists who service them, but 13 and up is our target clients and we have different specialties.

Speaker 3:

I am the practice owner, so I specialize in working with clients with trauma and also substance abuse, and I specialize in working with LGBTQ population as well, and then we have other therapists that work with anger management and all different kinds of specialties. So we take insurance, and we just take Blue Cross and Aetna currently, but we also offer like super bills for people who want to submit to their insurance if we don't take their insurance. So we try to provide for everyone in the community and try to not have too many barriers to them getting mental health services to them getting mental health services.

Speaker 2:

I love that mental health is becoming more accessible to people of all ages ranges, economic statuses and 2020, during that pandemic, I think we needed a little bit of mental health. Oh yes, so how did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's a great question. So I went back to school later in life my former life I used to work in corporate America and back to school and I found social work and got my master's of social work. And I'm not sure if people know the process of getting into the mental health field in terms of licensure, but it's a long process. So once you graduate with your master's of social work, you are not just automatically a therapist. You have to find a place that's going to hire you so that you can then take your first preliminary or associate license and you have to take that exam. Past that, then you have a associate license or preliminary license a supervised license, sometimes they call it and then you have three years of supervision and 3,000 hours of direct client hours before you're fully licensed and you're actually not fully licensed until you take another exam, yeah. So then you become a licensed clinical social worker and then you have another two years before you can actually supervise others. So I've done that whole journey.

Speaker 3:

I went to Kennesaw State University local and great program there, highly recommend and I actually worked. When I graduated I started out working in the community. So I worked where I went into people's homes, I went and saw students in the schools. I even met people at your local library or the recreation center. So I did a lot of that community work. Then I went back to where I did, an internship at Devereux, which is an inpatient for teenagers, and I was there for almost three years and then I actually went to Ridgeview, which is a outpatient day hospital is where I went, and after that I just kind of had a lot of experience and a lot of things that I saw that I kind of figured I could be the outpatient resource for. So sometimes people refer a lot of high acuity clients to me because they I'm the type of therapist who helps them to stay out of going inpatient, if that makes sense Does.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic, perfect. So what are some of the myths and misconceptions about your industry or what you do?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's a great question. I think one thing is a lot of people think, oh, I don't want to tell some stranger, all my business, right. And I think that's the hugest or the biggest barrier to people even walking through that front door or making that first call, right, because they're like, oh, I don't know this person, it's a stranger. And one of the things I like to tell people is that it's not like you're talking to, like this person, random person you met on the street, right. Like this is something that we are, you know, educated in and we have, you know, obviously like 3,000 hours of experience right Before you're fully clinically licensed. So this is a warm environment where you're not judged. It's a space for you to be able to talk about anything, and the myth is is that you have to be and this is really horrible for me to say, but this is what people will say oh, you're crazy if you go to see a therapist, right. That used to be a stigma a long time ago. I love that.

Speaker 3:

Today's generation has removed that and we're talking about mental health and we have a lot of things online, but TikTok is not therapy. Yeah, I have to say that again. I could do a whole podcast on that. But yeah, I think that people, you know, you hear sound bites and things like that and so a lot of people are self-diagnosing and so you know, coming into a professional is where you're really going to get what you need. You're going to get a supportive, nonjudgmental environment to really help you navigate. And what I tell my clients is is that a diagnosis is more for the insurance companies because you don't need to attach yourself to that diagnosis. That set of symptoms is what we treat and we work on ways to, you know, kind of identify what are your struggles and how we can help you with them.

Speaker 2:

That's a big one, people identifying with their diagnosis, and you know it's good to, like you said, know it so you can treat it. But to make it all of who you are, I think is kind of a you know a slippery slope. Absolutely yes. So you say you deal with 13 plus, but who are your target, I guess clients, and how do you attract them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a great question. So I think me personally I get a lot of direct referrals from other clinicians because, again, I enjoy tougher cases, so to speak, or higher acuity is what I like to call it, and higher acuity just means that mental health struggles might be a little bit more significant, meaning that they're impairing whether it's occupation, relationships, you know day-to-day functioning. So that's where I tend to get a lot of those type of direct referrals. If you're asking kind of like what my ideal client is, I think that the type of client that I like to attract is someone who is interested in actually doing the work. So that's someone who might've experienced trauma and you know, they're maybe pushing it down and saying, oh, I'm okay, I'm fine. You know, yeah, you might be okay and you might be fine right now, but ultimately, when you don't work through those things, you really don't come out your best self, and part of what I do is helping people thrive, not just survive.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I love that phrase and I do think we have a lot of high functioning with some issues that they're suppressing and it would be good to get those people in to talk to someone. So let's kind of switch gears Outside of work. What do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Oh, I am big on traveling. I actually just my last travel, or big travel, was I spent a month in Jamaica. So that was awesome, that was yeah, it was really great. I got to, I jumped around the island so I got to see all different parts of the island, so that was amazing and I really enjoyed it. And so travel is my big one and I love to go to concerts, like music festivals. I'm big on those, actually even travel going to like concerts.

Speaker 2:

You can only go to State Farm Arena so many times, right, Exactly exactly so you know.

Speaker 3:

or Piedmont Park for whatever festival, right? So yeah, so those are my big ones. And of course, you know, just spending time with my family, my friends, you know, just really kind of connecting with people, is big for me.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. So another transition. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger?

Speaker 3:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

So just to clarify before I opened up my business or in my business Whichever one you think would give the best story of you overcoming A lot of people talk about their business challenges being some of their biggest. So, yeah, some people want to focus on personal and some people want to talk about the challenges in their business, so I'll let you decide.

Speaker 3:

Okay. So I think it actually can give context to why I work with the clients that I do Um, because I think my biggest challenge that I overcame um was when um addiction when I was younger. So, um, when I was about 19, 18, 19, I, um, I had some significant um substance abuse issues and I ended up going into a rehab facility and while at that time I was so young and I didn't really understand that or what addiction was and um, I think I kind of just got the gist of be abstinent, you can't do anything. Right, like that's it, you're done, you can't do anything. I didn't really understand the disease of addiction and I think over the years, you know, and throughout my life, and then going back to school and getting my master's of social work, it became such a calling for me to work with you know, individuals.

Speaker 3:

I always start with trauma and I'll tell you why. Because wherever you find addiction, you find weak or lack of connection and what that is to me is traumatic right, because any kind of experience you have where you're not feeling connected to others, there's something that's happened right, and there's a term that I I like to say I've coined I'm not sure if other people have said it before, but I like to tell my clients sometimes that there is something that I like to say I've coined, I'm not sure if other people have said it before, but I like to tell my clients sometimes that there is something that I refer to as perceived trauma, which is where it doesn't necessarily check off a box like a car accident or some type of abuse, but it's how I felt or how I interpreted a relationship or how someone treated me or what my experience was, and it can be a very traumatic feeling for me that that changes the pathways of my brain, right, and so now I'm responding or reacting to things with much more sensitivity or hypervigilance, and so because of that, I think that's why I work with clients, and I say with trauma, because you'll find you know clients, lgbtq clients a lot of times. A lot of times they've experienced trauma or they may have addictions. Sometimes you know clients LGBTQ clients a lot of times they've experienced trauma or they may have addictions.

Speaker 3:

Sometimes you know clients who have addiction. They've experienced trauma, right. There may be even some questioning of sexuality or gender identity, right. So those three kind of intersect with each other and I think that my experience of overcoming addiction, you know, in my youth, to get to the place that I am today is kind of that full circle, right where I'm able to give back and connect with clients who I understand those struggles and I understand kind of how the brain works in regards to addiction and things like that, so they don't feel judged and they feel supported.

Speaker 2:

Who better to guide them through that process than someone who's been there but then also has the education and the foundation to help them make it all the way through? I love that. So, Miss Jennifer, please tell our listeners one thing that you want them to remember about Bright Transformations.

Speaker 3:

Oh, that is really good. One thing is that we are here for you, like that, just to support whatever you need. That one hour is yours and you know it can. It doesn't have to be something that you're going through is so significant. It can just be a space where you're decompressed from you know, high achievers. A lot of times they resist going to therapy because they think I got it all under control and I'm doing all the things. And sometimes you just need that, that one hour just for you. And so, if you call it self-care, if you, you know, if it's mental health struggles, whatever you want to frame it, as we're here for you.

Speaker 2:

That's beautiful. We all need to have that reassurance. How can our listeners find out more?

Speaker 3:

Oh great, you can find me. You can go directly to my website, which is wwwbrighttransformationstherapycom. There's an option to book. Sometimes people will just reach out because when you click to book it sends an email for more information. But we do free consultation calls. So there are about 15 minutes. You can get those scheduled and then we kind of go from there.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for being here. You are such an engaging person. I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having me. 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 GNPCobbCountycom. That's GNPCobbCountycom, or call 470-470-4506.