Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County

E77: Beyond Affairs and Trauma: Rebuilding Connections That Last

• Milli M. & Ingrid Richardson • Episode 77

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What happens when you follow your true calling? For Ingrid Richardson, it meant leaving a 15-year corporate career to establish Renew Hope Counseling in Douglasville, Georgia – a decision she describes as "the most rewarding and fulfilling thing I've done in my life."

Specializing in relationship counseling, Richardson's practice offers both virtual and in-person services focused on rebuilding connections. Whether helping couples recover from affairs, individuals processing trauma, or new parents navigating perinatal mental health challenges, her approach centers on sustainable relationship health. "For me, it's about how do we start well and how do we last," she explains, acknowledging the complexity of maintaining connection between "two growing and changing people."

Richardson powerfully challenges the persistent stigma surrounding therapy. "Mental health is something we all deal with," she emphasizes, reframing counseling not as a sign of weakness but as essential self-care. This perspective is particularly important for communities where therapy remains taboo. When discussing male clients, Richardson shares: "I celebrate them all the time," expressing hope that as high-profile figures like Jay-Z normalize therapy, more men will seek support.

The conversation takes a personal turn when Richardson reveals her own health journey. Born with a chronic illness that limited physical activity throughout her life, she recently prioritized her wellbeing through increased exercise. The result? Her lung capacity reached 95% – a level previously unimaginable. This triumph perfectly illustrates her professional philosophy about self-care and boundaries: we must care for ourselves before we can effectively care for others.

Ready to prioritize your mental wellbeing? Connect with Renew Hope Counseling at 678-687-1224 or visit www.renewhopecc.com to learn how therapy might support your relationship with yourself and others.

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'm Millie M, your host. Are you in need of counseling services that focus on building, maintaining and sustaining healthy relationships of all sorts? Well, that service might be closer than you think. I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Ingrid Richardson of Renew Hope Counseling and Consulting. How are you, Ingrid?

Speaker 3:

I'm doing well. Thank you so much. How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

Doing quite well. We are so excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us more about Renew Hope.

Speaker 3:

So Renew Hope was established by me. I am the owner and director of Renew Hope Counseling. We are located in Douglasville, georgia, and we provide both in-person as well as virtual mental health building relationships, whether that is a relationship with yourself, um, or with others, whether it's your significant other or friends or parents, or even your children, um. We specialize in dealing with couples who are recovering and healing from affairs, as well as those who have experienced trauma, grief and perinatal mental health services.

Speaker 2:

So you cover the whole gamut from cradle to grave is what they say, and I think that's important because I find a lot of the issues that people have in their romantic relationships I go. Well, how would you handle this if this was your sister or your friend, Like I feel. Like sometimes we forget that a romantic relationship is similar to the others in our lives and we can apply those same principles.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, it was important to me, particularly with working with couples, which is really a passion of mine, and that starts with even premarital counseling, which I would recommend for anyone. Okay, If you think you're going to get married before you even plan that and get engaged to do the premarital counseling, and then for me is about once that happens and you get married now, how do you sustain a marriage? Okay, so, whether that is working with you know, communication or hey, there has been a breach, there has been something that happened and we build that. But the point for me, what's important, is to be able to look to how do we start well and how do we last.

Speaker 2:

Especially since we are two, growing and changing people within a relationship, and how to continue to grow together and still understand and know each other. So how did you get into this business? What made you decide you wanted to counsel people on relationships specifically?

Speaker 3:

So, interestingly enough, this is my second career. Ok, I knew at a very young age that I always wanted to help people and, from a personal standpoint, I thought that it was supposed to be as a medical doctor. But ultimately, I believe that God had a different plan for me, which, looking on it now, was always the plan. It's just I wasn't aware of it. So there's a part that says that I believe there was a lot that I was wired this way. So, after working in corporate in a corporate environment for about 13 to 15 years and not feeling fulfilled, I felt like I was called to do this and after fighting for about six months, I yielded and surrendered and it has the most rewarding and fulfilling thing that I've done in my life.

Speaker 2:

That is a beautiful story about really following that calling. So tell me about some of the myths or misconceptions about your industry or what you do in particular.

Speaker 3:

I think oftentimes people get the feeling that there has to be something wrong.

Speaker 3:

Okay, or you know well, if I feel in this way, then what does that mean?

Speaker 3:

And so there's a stigma that mental health is something that's bad and at the end of the day, it's something that we all deal with, okay, whether it is I've lost my pet, or I lost a loved one, or it is hey, this job is really frustrating and I'm not having a difficult time coping. And so oftentimes for someone to seek counseling services, they seem to be thinking that, oh, that means I'm sick, that means there's something wrong, that means, you know, oftentimes don't get me wrong, there is something Okay, and it is about caring enough for ourselves to be able to seek that service, but also knowing that that's not a bad thing. In this life we deal with a lot, and it is a balance to be able to juggle it all and to be able to do that well. So I think, when we think about mental health, it's important to consider that this is about how do we take care of ourselves. And there's another aspect of how do we care and take care of ourselves.

Speaker 2:

I love that mental health being a part of self care, and I've just gotten to the point where I'm able to like share with my friends. I said, oh, I'll talk to my therapist about this. Or I talked to my therapist about that and like even vocalizing. There's a little bit of hesitation, but I'm getting more comfortable saying it and I think it's giving them permission to be like it's OK to say you're talking to someone, you're seeing someone, you're working through it.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, I hear that more and more. You know, whether it is on social media or just watching a TV program. A lot of people are saying you know, I talk to my therapist, so it's so good to hear that people are feeling more comfortable with acknowledging yeah, I see a therapist.

Speaker 2:

People are feeling more comfortable with acknowledging yeah, I see it there. Even some big names like Jay-Z like to have a young hip hop mogul to say, yeah, I saw some things growing up in New York and I needed to work through that. I think that was a really big thing for young Black men in America. So you say you deal with all ages, all all stages of life. So, but who are your target clients and how do you reach them?

Speaker 3:

So for me, my target clients are and I need to say this so for me my target clients are couples, whether it is healing from an affair, going through some struggles or just learning how to communicate, or have entered to a stage of life and say, ok, we feel stuck, you know we've been doing this. How do we add the spark back in, ok, into into our marriage? And then there's the other aspect of working with individuals, and for me it is dealing with a lot of trauma which I think for most of us we have probably experienced some type of trauma in our life. I don't believe that there's anything as little trauma versus big trauma. Trauma is trauma and how it impacts us and really changes oftentimes our brain chemistry. So there's a trauma piece for me street. So there's a trauma piece for me.

Speaker 3:

In addition to that, I have another therapist in my office who has a certification in grief as well as in perinatal certification whether that is pregnancy, postpartum and she has a certification in doing that. So that's kind of our target. I think oftentimes we see a lot of females versus male. I do love my male clients when they come. I celebrate them all the time. I hope, especially with more celebrity men coming out that more men will actually seek therapy.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and I think you can help with that. Have you ever considered doing your own podcast to kind of get the word out and and help people with these mental health issues and encourage men to seek, you know, someone to speak with a little more often?

Speaker 3:

Well, I have not considered doing my own podcast.

Speaker 3:

I haven't done that, and for a number probably not a number of reasons. For me, also, what's important is maintaining our boundaries, okay, and I talk a lot about that in therapy, and that is about how do we make sure that we are taking care of ourselves as well as taking care of, before we take care of, the other people that we have to take care of, ok, and so I haven't considered that any time, because I need to make sure I have the room on my plate that it doesn't become something for me on my plate, that it doesn't become something for me that's like, oh, something else that I have to do, versus making sure that I have the time to put my all into doing that. Like I said, for me it's about, hey, how am I caring for myself and not stretching myself too thin, but it is important for me to know that, for people to know that I exist, that we exist, that this practice is here, that we're here to help and to serve, and that you could get in-person therapy.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I think the term that everyone's using now is bandwidth. I got to make sure I have the bandwidth to do it For sure, for sure.

Speaker 3:

So the emotional capacity to hold something else.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I've been there. So can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger? Hmm, Interesting.

Speaker 3:

I think I would say the biggest thing is, which is something that I've just recently learned is I grew up, ok, I was born with a, with, with an illness, ok, and for a long time it was a struggle, struggle for me, and it was about how do I cope with this, how do I live with this, how do I function at my optimum health? And so, over the years, you know, I take a medication, you know, in order to manage, manage it. And over the years, everyone, a lot of people, oh well, you should do this and you should do that and you should do this. And so, growing up it was a limitation for me and I understand, from my parents standpoint, how to keep me out of the hospital.

Speaker 3:

There was a lot of things physical activity that I just could not do, and so about three months ago, I was like I need to focus on doing something, putting me first and doing something different for me, and so I started with increasing my physical activity, increasing my physical activity. So I started with increasing my physical activity, increasing my physical activity, and I just got a wonderful report from my doctor last week that my lung capacity is at 95 percent, which for me it has never been, and so for me, it was about how do I start putting myself first, how do I start my day with me and increasing my physical activity, and I think it has absolutely paid off in a huge way for me.

Speaker 2:

Oh, congratulations. That is such a story of overcoming and I think a lot of times people use illnesses, or even educational, you know, maybe like dyslexia, they use the ADHD. They use them as crutches of I can't do, as opposed to making sure that they can overcome them and use them to their advantage. So I love that you were able to get that lung capacity up to 95. Inger. Can you tell our listeners one thing you want them to always remember about renew hope?

Speaker 3:

that we're here, okay, this isn't no. Seeking care for your mental and emotional well-being is important. It helps to be able to make sure, from an environmental standpoint, from a financial standpoint, from a um, a spiritual standpoint, that this is just part of how do we care for ourselves. We are available, we have openings and it is important to how do you prioritize your overall health, and I think our mental health is just part of that.

Speaker 2:

You've been a joy. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us and all the services that Renew Hope Counseling offers. If someone is ready to take that step and reach out and utilize you, how can they find you?

Speaker 3:

So one. They can give us a call at 678-687-1224. Or you could go to the website at wwwrenewhopecccom. That's wwwrenewhopecccom.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much. We really appreciate you. Good luck to you and your business moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much I appreciate 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 GNPCobbCountycom. That's GNPCobbCountycom, or call 470-470-4506.